Conservatism

Conservatism is a major political philosophy supporting traditional values or an established social order. Etymologically, the word conservatism implies that conservatives seek to conserve the existing social order or to reinstate an ideal social order now in decline. This can take a peaceful democratic form or violent radical form, and there are historical examples of both.

Conservatism and liberalism

In the USA, conservatism and liberalism are frequently seen as polar opposites, but in Europe, the situation is more complex. A major area of difference in the USA is that between social liberalism and social conservatism. Social liberals advocate policies promoting equality and tolerance for a wide variety of behaviour and mores, including many which conservatives feel run contrary to the established norms of American society. This difference arises in issues such as same-sex marriage, sex education, the status of Christianity relative to other religions, and others. The conflation of social and economic conservatism in the US means that the term Liberal is often especially associated with government spending on programs such as welfare. This is seen by conservatives as irresponsible spending, and encouraging behaviours resulting in poverty, whereas (social) liberals understand it as an attempt to use government intervention to promote equality, or alleviate inequality.

Related Topics:
Liberalism - Social liberalism - Social conservatism - Same-sex marriage - Sex education - Christianity - Welfare

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The situation in Europe is different. The philosophy denoted in America by the phrase Economic conservatism would, in Europe, be called market liberalism, neoliberalism, or simply liberalism. It can be considered as the political movement associated with free-market or laissez-faire economics, which in Europe traditionally corresponds with the Liberal Parties. The term may be a synonym for classical liberalism, in the tradition of Adam Smith, Friedrich A. Hayek, Milton Friedman, and Ludwig von Mises. Differences in meaning and usage of the term 'liberal' have contributed to the confusion, see Liberalism. In Europe, 'liberal-conservative' is an accepted term.

Related Topics:
Neoliberalism - Free-market - Laissez-faire - Liberal Parties - Classical liberalism - Adam Smith - Friedrich A. Hayek - Milton Friedman - Ludwig von Mises - Liberalism

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Theorists of liberalism often assert a moral justification for the free market, grounded in principles of individual liberty and individual choice. Their support is not moral or ideological, but driven by the Burkean notion of prescription: what works best is what is right. Conservatives might also emphasise the importance of civil society in this context: government intervention in the economy will make people feel less responsible for the society.

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Historically, many arguments have been advanced for the free market, and liberal principles in general. Present western classical-liberalism and political conservatism may have reached their pro-market position by different routes, but by now the lines have blurred. Rarely will a politician claim that free markets are "simply more productive" or "simply the right thing to do" but a combination of both. This merging of the classical liberal and conservative positions is found in most western conservative movements.

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In any case the free market itself is not an issue, for western conservative movements. They operate in long-established market economies: it is the degree of government intervention that is at issue. One archetypal free-market conservative government of the late 20th century - the Margaret Thatcher government in the UK saw deregulation as the cornerstone of contemporary economic conservatism. Thatcher added privatisation to this policy, and privatised British Airways, with remarkable success, and British Rail, with rather more mixed results. Both cut taxes (especially on the upper income brackets) and slowed governmental growth. Proponents of Thatcherism attribute the unparalleled economic boom of the early 1980s to the late 1990s to these policies.

Related Topics:
Margaret Thatcher - Deregulation - Privatisation - British Airways - British Rail - Thatcherism

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Capitalism, and the outcome of the free market, may conflict with value conservatism. At times, as the Communist Manifesto emphasised, capitalism and free markets have been profoundly subversive of the existing social order:

Related Topics:
Capitalism - Communist Manifesto

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The bourgeoisie, by the rapid improvement of all instruments of production, by the immensely facilitated means of communication, draws all, even the most barbarian, nations into civilisation. The cheap prices of commodities are the heavy artillery with which it batters down all Chinese walls, with which it forces the barbarians? intensely obstinate hatred of foreigners to capitulate. It compels all nations, on pain of extinction, to adopt the bourgeois mode of production...

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That economic system continues to conflict with traditional attitudes, for instance in its massive distribution of pornography in many western countries. So it is possible to be a value conservative without supporting market liberalism - at present, this is a common political stance in, for example, Ireland. And not all supporters of the free market are social conservatives.

Related Topics:
Pornography - Ireland

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Fiscal conservatism is not a political philosophy, and more a tradition of prudence in government spending and debt. Edmund Burke, in his 'Reflections on the Revolution in France', articulated its principles:

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...t is to the property of the citizen, and not to the demands of the creditor of the state, that the first and original faith of civil society is pledged. The claim of the citizen is prior in time, paramount in title, superior in equity. The fortunes of individuals, whether possessed by acquisition or by descent or in virtue of a participation in the goods of some community, were no part of the creditor's security, expressed or implied...he public, whether represented by a monarch or by a senate, can pledge nothing but the public estate; and it can have no public estate except in what it derives from a just and proportioned imposition upon the citizens at large.

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In other words, a government doesn't have the right to run up large debts and then throw the burden on the taxpayer; the taxpayers' right not to be taxed oppressively takes precedence even over paying back debts a government may have imprudently undertaken.

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