If you've paid any attention to political discourse these days, you've noticed that there seem to be two groups of people, Liberals and Conservatives, who never agree on anything. Supposedly, Liberals want bigger government; Conservatives smaller government. Liberals want more government involvement domestically, especially increased taxes; Conservatives want less government intervention domestically, especially lowering taxes. Liberals want a weak foreign policy; Conservatives want an aggressive foreign policy. If you've looked closely enough and long enough, you've also found that this dichotomy is false.
One thing to keep in mind is that most people who identify themselves as either Liberals or Conservatives, don't have the faintest idea what either actually means. Nor do they particularly care. Most people in general don't bother even trying to understand the world and their place in it, whether in studying history, politics, economics, or philosophy. This is not necessarily a bad thing--such studies take time and effort that most people simply don't have or would rather apply to other ends, many of which benefit us all in terms of material well-being. The problem arises when such people attempt to change their world, especially when empowered by democratic process to place other, only slightly better educated people into high office.
However, if you've felt a certain affinity for Conservatives, or simply want to try to understand them a bit better, you've come to the right place. Below, I will describe some characteristics of Conservative thought of the intellectual variety, at least as I see it. I'm sure you can find plenty of people who will say Conservatism is something other than what I describe--if they say it's more complex, they're probably right; if they say it's simpler, they're probably wrong.
I've had great difficulty arriving at a good formal definition of Conservatism. However, I have identified at least one fundamental characteristic: while the commonalities amongst people are to be understood and respected, it is ultimately the differences between them that are of greatest importance. This is not to say that all differences are important in the same way, but rather that true and complete understanding must involve apprehension of differences.
A corollary of this, at least in human relations, is a respect for quality over quantity. Conservatism rejects the idea that sufficiently many incompetents, or even ordinary people, can be substituted for even a single expert and specialist. This seems intuitively obvious as well: if we are sick, we don't turn to a host of random volunteers, but to a single skilled physician. However, this principle is a radical departure from modern orthodoxy when applied to political matters. Whereas today the proper course of action for government is, at least theoretically, to be determined by majority opinion, a Conservative would claim that the best policy should be adopted, regardless of what the majority believes, and that majority rule is certain to result in misrule.
We can clearly see that true Conservatism is not an ideology that easily blends with politics today. It is not simply an array of policy prescriptions, nor even a formula for arriving at the proper policy. While it mean seem that Conservatism would say "leave policy-making to the experts," this does not fully capture the room for nuance provided by these basic principles. Conservatism does not by itself say who the experts are; it does not say that the experts are always right; it does not say that the experts should have no oversight; and it does not say that the experts should enact whatever decisions they arrive at. It certainly does not say that the same rules are all equally viable for different cultures and societies. Two people can be firm Conservatives, but irreconcilably disagree on all manner of important issues.
If, having read through this brief examination of Conservatism, you think you agree with it and want to know more, I'll provide further details in a later post.
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