Tuesday, May 17, 2016

What Sort of Conservative?


What is the good of words if they aren't important enough to quarrel over? Why do we choose one word more than another if there isn't any difference between them? If you called a woman a chimpanzee instead of an angel, wouldn't there be a quarrel about a word? If you're not going to argue about words, what are you going to argue about? Are you going to convey your meaning to me by moving your ears? The Church and the heresies always used to fight about words, because they are the only things worth fighting about.
- GK Chesterton

(As there are many Democrats who read this blog, many whom are dear and respected friends of mine, I am not writing to argue with or persuade you to change your mind. If you choose to read this, think of it as something that may offer some insights as to how to converse or debate with conservatives, as well as how to tell what sort of conservative you are encountering.)

Fear Based Conservatives

Fear of change These people’s fears are not so much a dread of future consequences based on principles, but simply a mindless loyalty to “how things have always worked.” Any change, for these people, is perceived as a threat to the foundations of their way of life.

Fear of Loss These men and women see their earning power dwindling, the cost of onerous regulations forcing them to charge more for their products or services, and the omen of higher taxes, and, “Dammit, this needs to end.” The problem is, however understandable, that this is a fear based gut reaction, not a principled belief in justice.

And why does this matter?

Because each of these fears belies a sense-based or sentimental conservatism that rarely has any intellectual foundation.  While you may applaud their voting for your preferred candidate or cause, such “conservatism” is ephemeral: tomorrow, they will support whoever buys off their fears with impossible promises. Remember: Fearful people vote their fears not their principles. (Note to liberals: these people are low-hanging fruit!)

Politically Ideological Conservatives

These True Believers have turned conservatism into a Political Religion - with dogmas and anathemas thrown in for free! These people are like Roger Williams (the Puritan, not the singer), whose demand for purity led him to refuse to eat the Lord’s Supper with sinners, which, at the end of his life, left him eating alone.

Conservatism is not a religion. This mindset is something that any principled conservative - from Edmund Burk to Russell Kirk – would vehemently oppose. Frankly, properly understood, it is not even an ideology. Conservatism is a mindset, a particular kind of character and approach to life, and the quest to discover and live by and for the “permanent things.” (TS Eliot) While a conservative mindset affects how one engages within the sphere of politics and political economics, it is about far more than politics.  

Instinctual Conservatives

These people’s hearts resonate with conservative principles. However, as they have yet to spend time reading and reflecting, they have no intellectual basis upon which to stand or from which to debate. Quite often this leaves them as “reeds in the wind,” not to mention lousy debaters.  (Note to liberals: higher hanging fruit but ripe with possibility.)

Principled Conservatism

Conservatism is about reverence for the permanent things: those values, precedents, and traditions that have been winnowed and sifted throughout history, where God has revealed His purposes for our existence and how societies can best live and function in harmony.

Conservatives believe in a constitutional limited government, not in populism or in “despotic democracy.” (Tocqueville)

Conservatives see an inexorable link between respect for private property and freedom.

Conservatism has a deep regard for what will make humans truly happy: virtue, not net-worth. Trust me here: if you meet a professing conservative who places no value on virtue, the public’s or his own, his conservatism is dying or already is dead, if it ever existed. (Note to {some} liberals: seize the day!)

Conservatives believe that tragedy will always be a part of human existence. While its effects can be ameliorated by the charitable acts of others, it cannot be eradicated. There are no utopias in our future.

Conservatives believe in the equality of worth of all humans before God, as well as equality before the courts. They do not believe, however, that equality of character and abilities exists, so do not advocate legislating an equality of results from demonstrably unequal people. Such equality has never existed and no matter what is legislated never will.

Conservatives believe in individuality but not individualism. Individuality is about respecting the diversity, variety, and uniqueness of all people. (This is one of the reasons for the Bill of Right’s Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Association, Freedom of Religion, and etc.) Individualism is about self-glorification (or deification) with no regard for living in community, societal harmony, or of permanent things.

Conservatives are averse to alterations of long standing norms, traditions, customs and institutions. I do not say that they are “against” change, only that they believe it should be organic - the culmination of a long and deliberative national conversation, rather than legislated by the fiat word of the Powers That Be.


Copyright, Monte E Wilson, 2016

Friday, May 6, 2016

Patriotism and Nationalism Are Not Synonyms


Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first.  - Charles de Gaulle

Nationalism is a silly cock crowing on his own dunghill.  -Richard Aldington

It seems to me a lot of people are using the words “patriotism” and “nationalism,” interchangeably. I beg to differ, as these words are not synonyms. Sure, I get that some people use them as such but, given our present national conversation where so many are touting the glories of nationalism and others are hearing “patriotism” when they shouldn’t be, I think it’s time to clear up our language, as well as to ask others to define their terms.
As I understand these two mindsets:

Patriots are proud of their nation’s culture and accomplishments and, at the same time, are aware of its failures.
Nationalists only tout their nation’s glories (real and imagined) but are willfully blind or indifferent to its failures.

The antisemites who called themselves patriots introduced that new species of national feeling which consists primarily in a complete whitewash of one's own people and a sweeping condemnation of all others. – Hanna Arendt

Patriots generally respect the accomplishments and cultures of other nations.
Nationalists belittle, resent, and are belligerent toward other nations and cultures.

Nationalism is an infantile thing. It is the measles of mankind. - Albert Einstein

Patriots are proud of their nation’s achievements, but they never, in dealing with other nations, seek to “achieve” at the expense of morality and justice.
Nationalists give no thought to right or wrong: only to what advances their nation’s interests.

Nationalism is power hunger tempered by self-deception. - George Orwell

Patriots admire and appreciate their way of life and, if needed, will fight to defend it.
Nationalists want to force other nations to adopt their nation’s way of life.

Patriots have a sense of “national responsibility.” (Adlai Stevenson)
Nationalists take no responsibility for and give no thought to the effects their nation’s actions have on other nations, as they couldn’t care less.

Nationalism is the last refuge of scoundrels.  - Winston Churchill

Patriots place duty to God, family, personal integrity, morality, and justice, high on the list of their life’s priorities, which, in turn, governs their approbation of or obedience to the state.
Nationalism is a political religion: the worship of a particular state that commands its citizens has no other gods before it.

Pervading nationalism imposes its dominion on man today in many different forms and with an aggressiveness that spares no one. The challenge that is already with us is the temptation to accept as true freedom what in reality is only a new form of slavery. – John Paul II

Nationalism is idolatry. It is also the hubristic whitewashing of evil, a lust for blood (metaphorically or literally), a justification for injustice, the validation of greed, and the road to destruction. Patriots hear calls for nationalism as a harbinger of evil and will do her or his all to stand against it.

Or so I believe …

Copyright, Monte E Wilson, 2016

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Political Activism and the Reality of Evil II


Some follow-up thoughts on my last post, Political Activism and the Reality of Evil

Striving for a societal utopia via political/ institutional machinations and alterations is a foolish and dangerous delusion. Any project or program for reforming society that does not take the existence of evil and its constancy into account is doomed to failure.

There is no such thing as “social progress,” as the term is typically used: there is only the infinitely slow and often imperceptible progress of the individual who is seeking, by the grace of God, to bring moral order into a soul mired in moral disorder. Therefore, the reformation that matters most is the reforming of the individual’s morals, which begins with embracing God’s grace and forgiveness and in seeking after virtue.

Politics deals with the problems of ethics and ethics are defined by religious faith. (Two of this nation’s primary religions are self-worship and the religion of despotic democracy - the majority is always right-eous.) The state exists to enforce morality. The only question, then, is, Whose Morality? However -

Passing all the “right” laws will never reform society, never eradicate evil. The belief in “salvation” by law and regulation is an evil in and of itself, leading us to look to the state, a politician, or a political party as a messiah who will usher in the peaceable kingdom.   

Dealing with evil in society must always begin with my own heart. Most strident and overzealous reformers have failed to deal with the logs in their own eyes (Matthew 7.3), which leaves them Pharisaical. Combating societal evil with evil attitudes and behaviors is just plain stupid, not to mention destructive.

Discarding any belief in objectively defined evil, we have marginalized the importance of churches and spiritual communities to societal health, as well as the critical nature of electing virtuous men and women to political office. Yes, wisdom, sound principles developed through deep reflection, and political savvy are also critical for our political leaders (as well as for ministers, priests, and rabbis!). However, I don’t see how anyone who is either agnostic or antagonistic toward virtue is going to have an adequate mindset regarding justice, the rule of law, or personal accountability.

Ameliorating the effects of evil doesn’t happen by simply counting votes, erecting “better” institutions, or inflicting evil on the despised minority de jure. It is always hearts and minds that must be at the forefront of our concern. Imagine if we put as much effort into sharing our faith and understandings regarding God’s love, grace, and wisdom with our neighbors for the last 30 years as we put into advocating specific social programs, political policies, and candidates … or in tearing them all down. The mind boggles.

Copyright, Monte E Wilson, 2016