What Are Conservatives “Conserving”?
The neocons of today do little to conserve the traditions of the old. In practice, they promote the opposite.
“Conservative” used to be a designator for someone who supported the original intentions of the nation. Which was the preservation of a constitutional, federation style government.
The founding fathers determined the principles of this style of government. They wanted a reasonably sized government with widespread individual and state rights.
The founding fathers of the United States were revolutionary. The people who want to conserve their revolutionary philosophies are conservatives.
Yet today, nearly all conservatives hold up their hands in favor of a large government, massive spending bills, overarching federal governments, and a demonstrable lack of support for the entire constitution (privacy rights, anyone?).
Are these not the exact opposite of what the founding fathers wanted? So what the hell are we even “conserving” at this point?
Conservatism is about conserving the traditions that make us who we are. They encourage, adapt, and support those cultural markers. This includes institutions that hold some form of value even though their immediate value was not clear. (Consider, for example, religion. The immediate value is negligible on a societal level. The long-term value is becoming more apparent with the destructive rise of secularism).
Over time, we’ve lost this. Politicians have abandoned these traditions and institutions in favor of short-term political gain that has costed us the long-term conservation effort. Even with the traditions and institutions we have left have been so far annihilated that their relevance is laughable at most.
It is really no wonder we are seeing a rise in socialism and communism among the younger generations. What do they have to hold on to? What are they being taught in the institutions we were to conserve?
The goal of the conservative has always been one of conserving the values and philosophies that would provide for long-term prosperity and sustainability of the nation. Instead, most conservative attitudes of the modern era are simply in favor of big business, elites, and unaccountable cultural institutions.
Consider just one of hundreds of examples: The founding fathers made it a felony to involve corporate money in politics. Now, the majority of the financial backing for conservatives (and liberals, for that matter) comes from corporate funds.
The term conservative is so far removed from reality that it doesn’t even make sense anymore.
What has happened to the term “conservative” is not that not much different from “liberal”. Pit a modern liberal against a classical liberal and you’ll have two people with nothing in common besides the name.
This trend signifies a stage in the cyclical nature of governments. We’ve lost the defenders of the original style of constitutional government. They aren’t coming back. They can’t, it’s too late. The only path from here is down.
This trend is not surprising to those that know about anacyclosis. The cycle of collapse has told us about the downfall of civilizations for years.
The best (modern) form of government was here. Now, we’re entering the degradation stage.
Get ready, it’s sure to be a fun (and fiscally irresponsible) ride.
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