manning5 Loc: Richmond, VA

Conservatism's Main Line

This post dates back to 2017, but I wanted to show the plusses and minuses between Conservatism and the Liberal/Progressive strain we are trying to cope with in simple words.

The essence of Conservatism in government is to preserve and reinforce the good things, good ideas, and good laws in the nation, and to work diligently to eliminate the bad things, bad ideas and bad laws as permanently as possible.

While these things, ideas and laws are not precisely all good or all bad, the tendency is to group them into good and bad lists, with the understanding that in the process of undoing a bad thing, idea or law, its good part will be preserved by government as nearly as possible. As in most cases in life, the Devil is in the details.

So, you are a Conservative if you sign up to:

Good Things, Good Ideas, and Good Laws

1. T***h and Honesty

2. Freedom and Liberty

3. Morality and Moral Rectitude

4. Christian Religion, Charity and Religious Tolerance

5. Natural Law

6. Natural Rights

7, Natural Duties

8. The Declaration of Independence

9. The Constitution of the United States (Read Plainly)

10. The Federal System: A Sovereign Nation with Sovereign States

11. Checks and Balances on Power in Government

12. An E*******l System as Prescribed by the Constitution

13. Customs, Traditions, and Institutions Designed to Preserve the Nation

14. Individual Responsibility

15. Common Sense and Practicality; Rejecting Collectivism

16. Fiscal Responsibility and Frugality in Government

17. Balanced Budgets Yearly, with Debt and Debit Reductions Included

18. Prudent Changes to Laws as Needed

19. Prudent and Humane Foreign Policies

20. An Adequate and Modern Defense Force

21. Subsidiarity: Make Decisions at the Lowest Level of Government

22. Free Market System with Adequate Regulation and Tariffs Where Needed

23. Fair Trade and Mutual Defense Treaties with other Nations

24. A Space Policy and Program to Keep the Nation at the Forefront

25. A Judicial System that is Bound only to Interpret the Laws of the Nation

26. A Legislative System that can Extend the Laws at the Will of the People

27. The Will of the People is Represented Properly

28. Prudent Stewardship of the Nation’s Land and Natural Resources

29. Strict Maintenance of the Sovereignty of the Nation

30. Participation in Global Efforts to Improve Other Nations

31. Effective Immigration Policies and Procedures

32. Government Seed Money Properly Used

33. Social Conservative Principles, i.e. Ant-A******n, Anti-SSM

34. Just K*****g (Death Penalty), and Just War

35. Care for the Ill, the Disabled, the Old, and the Handicapped

36. Majority Rule with Minority Protections


Eliminating Bad Things, Bad Ideas, and Bad Laws

1. Lies and Dishonesty in Government

2. Government Restrictions on Freedom and Liberty

3. Moral Relativity and Indiscrimination in Every Way Possible

4. Full Secularization and Depressing Religions

5. Laws Impinging on the Natural Order

6. Laws Impinging on Natural Rights

7 Shirking Natural Duties

8. Bending the Declaration Improperly

9. Bending or Subverting the Constitution Without Due Process

10. Increasing Federal Power at the Expense of the States

11. Subverting the Checks and Balances

12. Championing a Fully Democratic E******n (Meaning No E*******l College)

13. Trashing the Existing Customs, Traditions and Institutions Without Proper Cause

14. Collectivism: Socialism. and C*******m---Halting Attempts to Gain Power

15. Flights of Do-Good-ism, Irrationality, and Undue Humanitarianism

16. Tax and Spend and Tax and Spend ad nauseam

17. Deficit Spending Year-in and Year-out

18. Imprudent and Hasty Changes that End Up Being Counterproductive

19. Uneven or Detrimental Policies towards the World of Nations

20. A Mediocre, Out-of-Date or Deficient Military

21. Keeping Decision-Making at a Very High Level Unnecessarily

22. Overregulation or Even Collectivizing the Economy

23. Looking Inward not Outward

24. K*****g the Space Programs

25. Judicial Activism and Allowing Foreign Influences in Decisions

26. Government that Ignores the Will of the People

27. The Will of the People is Actively Thwarted

28. Poor Stewardship of our Natural Resources and Land

29. Allowing Foreign Influences to Impinge on our Sovereignty

30. Ignoring the Plight of Other Nations

31. Not Solving either Immigration Problem: I******s; or Desirables.

32. Government Takeover of Industry

33. Social Hedonism

34. Unjust K*****g and Unjust War

35. Minimizing the Care Needed by the Unfortunate

36. Minimizing Minority Protections

Seth

Extremely well summarized.

Radiance3

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You always have brilliant ideas, a mind rich in wisdom, manning5. Your mind is the product of the old conservatism that needed to be preserved for life.
Cleaning up the SWAMP or eliminating all the bad elements from our system of government however, is a very difficult task, but must be done if we are to survive.

If we could only have all the great and good, without the Swamp, we will be living like in heaven.

Zemirah Loc: Sojourner En Route...

Excellent summary, Manning, and an excellent division of the sheep from the goats.

To clarify the motivation and possible self delusionment of those wannabee elitists who are promulgating the bad rather than good, those who would substitute Evil for the good in our land, I'm posting a summary from a 2014 Christian Post:

Conservatism vs. Progressivism; The Good Versus the "Feel Good"

According to pervading political stereotypes, Progressives are the group concerned with and committed to the betterment of the "common man" while Conservatives are characterized by a parochial desire to preserve the institutions and traditions that have served the interests of the white majority for the last few centuries.

This is the narrative being promulgated by the gatekeepers of American political and pop culture, and these are the assumptions informing the attitudes and beliefs of students at America's most elite institutions of higher learning.

Engage a self-proclaimed "progressive" on any of the hot-button social issues of the day, and these stereotypes immediately come into play. The greatest impediment to "progress" on issues of social justice, they insist, are bigoted, r****t, and misogynistic "old white men" who cling fervently to an antiquated worldview in which women, the poor, and other minorities are consigned to second class status. Because these enemies of e******y still wield enormous political and economic power, they insist, America's promise of liberty and justice for all remains unrealized.

In order to change this, Progressives are convinced that the old order and everything it represents must be o*******wn. So long as even one person "feels" stymied, excluded, or shamed by prevailing social, cultural, and moral norms, our nation is not living up to the true meaning of its creed.

The gay teen seeking acceptance, the single mom with no family or friends to support her, the tomboy who wants to try out for the football team, the t*********red man who wants to use the ladies' room at his workplace, the starving artist forced to wait tables or sell insurance in order to pay his rent, the feminist determined to eschew the constraints of marriage and family in exchange for a life of unbridled self-seeking. . . these are the faces of the Progressive crusade to demolish the moral, cultural, and political norms, the assumptions that have informed the social order for hundreds of years.

If one considers these issues carefully, however, it quickly becomes apparent that the good of the commons is the least of Progressives' true concerns. Not only are the "social justice" issues they champion boutique at best, the policy solutions and moral/cultural paradigm shifts they advocate are positively harmful to the average run of men.

In the January 2014 issue of First Things, editor R.R. Reno examines this phenomenon in some detail, in the context of the recently passed Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which "prohibits discrimination on the basis of an 'individual's actual and perceived sexual orientation or g****r identity.'"

"Progressive elites," he suggests, "set themselves above and apart from the culture and society they inhabit. They view themselves as superior to the average person, and thus uniquely qualified to use wh**ever means at their disposal to advance their agenda in the name of the common good."

Wh**ever one thinks of gay marriage, one has to admit that "the great civil rights issue of our time" addresses the needs of a very small, miniscule even, number of people. The same goes for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. It concerns the world of the one percent (1%) and their navel-gazing about 'sexual identity.'

This does not mean that elites are completely selfish or self-centered. Elites can be philanthropic and committed to social causes of all sorts, often thinking in terms of therapeutic, legal, or economic interventions designed to get the best results. What it means is this: "As I stand at a distance from particular cultures and communities, I constitute myself..."

They emulate the Biblical "good" Pharisee's self love, but unfortunately, lack his dedication to even abiding by the letter of the law, or of obeying the spirit of the Ten Commandments.

Thus political correctness, is perhaps the most telling feature of today's elite culture. The politically correct are invariably those who think of themselves as the best of people. Unlike the ordinary run, they have risen above xenophobic patriotism, r****m, sexism, classism, heterosexism, and every other "ism."

"We're inclusive!" Political correctness compliments the vanity of elites. It's a confirmation of their moral right to rule.

At the same time, political correctness serves as a powerful weapon with which to destroy competitors for power and status. If a traditional Christian doesn't disagree with what they deem to be the ruling consensus; he's a homophobe. A parent who opposes sex education for ten-year-olds doesn't have moral standing to speak; he's benighted (intellectually and morally ignorant).

Others get dismissed as economically naive, or as unable to recognize cultural differences. The cultural progressive believes he knows how traditional authority works – will to power, patriarchy, heteronormativity, - or wh**ever occurs to them. Anybody with a "real" education is in the know about these things. The people who don't "get it," or in today's vocabulary are not "woke," are by definition unqualified to rule.

Prominent historian and social critic, Christopher Lasch, was an implacable enemy of this elite hauteur. He came to believe that cultural progressivism of the sort that wants to tear down existing forms of life to rebuild them in accord with new and supposedly better principles "boils down to a deep contempt for ordinary people."

Failed postwar urban planning provided one of his favorite examples. Were he alive today, redefining marriage might be another.

Anthony Esolen touched on the same exact issue, albeit in a radically different context, in an article for Public Discourse in which he examines the relationship between collegiate sports and the common good. Taken to task by a colleague for diminishing the public significance of women's hockey, Esolen took the opportunity to examine the corrupting influence of Progressive ideology on college sports:

"If a college really believed in the camaraderie that sport helps to foster and the excitement of watching one's friends struggle to win fair and square – if its administrators truly believed that such benefits should be extended to as many students as possible, regularly and in a wide variety of ways – then it could take a tiny portion of what is now spent on coaches, recruiters, physicians, staff, and travel, and dev**e it to promoting club sports and a robust program of intramurals."

By and large, this doesn't happen. Esolen has a theory why:

"Club sports cannot serve the political end that women's sports are meant to serve..."

The public appearance of e******y must be adored above all, even if it implies a staggering ine******y in other respects; unequal access to precious space on campus; and unequal opportunity to win a scholarship.

The whole interchange has demonstrates how little concern anyone in our time evinces for the common good. We worship abstractions... But if we looked at young men and young women and the common good, and not abstractions, we might begin to think of other things besides the ratio of members of each sex participating in this or that activity.
We might think about love for them, and concern for their well being.

It is rather odd, when you think of it that way-when you move away from regarding everything, even women's hockey, in a political light. You see that the first thing that the "political" lose sight of is the polis (citizenry)... "Worship politics, and you lose the polis."

Both of these men are worth quoting at length because they both articulate so brilliantly the concern for the common good that is at the heart of the true conservatism, and conversely, the lack of concern for the common good that characterizes so much of Progressive ideology.

Conservatives recognize that for most people, having a married mother and father is a good thing; that being married yourself, to a member of the opposite sex, and raising a family, is a good thing; that celebrating the natural and innate differences between male and female, and allowing society to reap the respective strengths of each, are good things.

Not only are these things practical goods, they are metaphysical goods. This conviction, of course, flows from the belief that man is a created, contingent being. In other words, there is someone who knows us better than we know ourselves because he made us, and he knows better than we do what we need. Conservatives believe that metaphysical goods should be promoted, defended, and preserved.

Of course, this can, and should, at all times be done in a respectful and appropriate way. Civil dialog is always better than straw man attacks and rhetorical bomb throwing. But these discussion need to be had, and conservatives shouldn't shy away from engaging on these issues in the public sphere. The future of the American republic will be determined by how readily we embrace what's truly good for us, not merely what "feels good."

lpnmajor Loc: Arkansas

So...........................where the hell are they?

manning5 Loc: Richmond, VA

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Marvelous post! Thank you for it!!

manning5 Loc: Richmond, VA

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I thank you Radiance, you are most kind!

Seth

Spot-on, straight to the heart of things, thanks!

Seth

We're all around you. Unfortunately, you seem to have issues that blind you to the motives of those who don't follow the shallow Utopianism you do.

Perhaps you read and believe the wrong media, perhaps you live in isolation or perhaps you simply look around you without seeing.

Unintended Consequences

Look no further than Mitch McConnell stalling on a stimulus package while spending his time packing the courts with conservative judges, many of them unqualified." The greatest impediment to "progress" on issues of social justice, they insist, are bigoted, r****t, and misogynistic "old white men" who cling fervently to an antiquated worldview in which women, the poor, and other minorities are consigned to second class status. Because these enemies of e******y still wield enormous political and economic power, they insist, America's promise of liberty and justice for all remains unrealized."

Rose42

Excellent post.