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''For related and other uses, see Conservatism (disambiguation)

American conservatism is a political mindset within the United States that incorporates many different ideologies under the blanket heading of conservative. Included are fiscal conservatives, free market or economic liberals, social conservatives http://usconservatives.about.com/od/theconservativephilosophy/p/social.htm The Conservative Philosophy , and religious conservatives http://atheism.about.com/library/weekly/aa070898.htm About atheism http://www.icr.org/ Institute for Creation Research , as well as supporters of a strong American military, opponents of internationalism http://www.conservative.org/columnists/divine/001226dd.asp The American Conservative Union , and proponents of state's rights http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13067747/ .

Modern American conservatism coalesced in the latter half of the 20th century, responding over time to the political and social change associated with events such as the Great Depression, the Cold War, the American Civil Rights Movement, and the counterculture of the 1960s. Its prominence has been aided, in part, by the emergence of vocal and influential economists, politicians, writers, and media personalities. In 2000 and 2004, about 80% of self-described conservatives voted Republican.**

History

The Loyalists of the American Revolution were mostly political conservatives, some of whom produced political discourse of a high order, including lawyer Joseph Galloway and governor-historian Thomas Hutchinson . After the war, the great majority remained in the U.S. and became good citizens, but some leaders emigrated to other places in the British Empire. Samuel Seabury was Loyalist who returned and played a major role in shaping the Episcopal religion.

The Founding Fathers created the single most important set of political ideas in American history, known as Republicanism, that all groups have drawn from. The Federalist Party, followers of Alexander Hamilton, developed an important variation of republicanism that can be considered conservative. Rejecting monarchy and aristocracy, they emphasized civic virtue as the core American value. The Federalists spoke for the propertied interests and the upper classes of the main cities. They envisioned a modernizing land of banks and factories, with a strong army and navy.

On many issues American conservatism also derives from the republicanism of Thomas Jefferson and his followers, especially John Randolph of Roanoke and his "Old Republican" followers. They idealized the yeoman farmer as the epitome of civic virtue, warned that banking and industry led to corruption--that is the illegitimate use of government power for private ends. Jefferson himself was a vehement opponent of what today is called "judicial activism."* The Jeffersonians stressed States' Rights and small government. In the 1830-54 period the Whig Party attracted conservatives such as Daniel Webster of New England.

South Carolina Democrat John C. Calhoun introduced the word "conservative" into U.S. politics in the 1830s. The word was originally used by post-1815 French royalists and later by British Tories. Calhoun argued that a conservative minority should be able to limit the power of a "majority dictatorship" because tradition represents the wisdom of past generations. (This argument echoes one made by Edmund Burke, the founder of British conservatism, in Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)).

Since 1865 the Republican party has identified itself with President Abraham Lincoln, who was the ideological heir of the Whigs and of both Jefferson and Hamilton. As the Gettysburg Address shows, Lincoln cast himself as a second Jefferson bringing a second birth of freedom to the nation that had been born 86 years before in Jefferson's Declaration. The Copperheads of the Civil War reflected a reactionary opposition to modernity of the sort repudiated by modern conservatives.

In the late 19th century the Bourbon Democrats, led by President Grover Cleveland, preached against corruption, high taxes (tariffs), and imperialism, and supported the gold standard and business interests. They were overthrown by William Jennings Bryan in 1896, who moved the mainstream of the Democratic Party more-or-less permanently to the left.

The 1896 presidential election was the first with a conservative versus liberal theme approaching the way in which these terms are now understood in the U.S. Republican William McKinley won using the pro-business slogan "sound money and protection," while the anti-bank, anti-modernity populism of the Democratic nominee, William Jennings Bryan, had a lasting effect on his party.

Early 20th Century

In the Progressive Era (1890s-1932), regulation of industry expanded as conservatives led by Senator Nelson Aldrich of Rhode Island were put on the defensive. However Aldrich's proposal for a strong national banking system was enacted as the Federal Reserve System in 1913. Theodore Roosevelt, the dominant personality of the era, was both liberal and conservative by turns. As a conservative he led the fight to make the country a major naval power, and demanded entry into World War I to stop what he saw as the German attacks on civilization. William Howard Taft promoted a strong federal judiciary that would overrule excessive legislation. Taft defeated Roosevelt on that issue in 1912, forcing Roosevelt out of the GOP and turning it to the right for decades. As president, Taft remade the Supreme Court with five appointments; he himself presided as chief justice in 1921-32, the only former president ever to do so.

Pro-business Republicans returned to dominance in 1920 with the election of President Warren G. Harding. The presidency of Calvin Coolidge (1923-29) was a high water mark for conservatism, both politically and intellectually. Classic writing of the period includes Democracy and Leadership (1924) by Irving Babbitt and H.L. Mencken's magazine American Mercury (1924-33). The Efficiency Movement attracted many conservatives such as Herbert Hoover with its pro-business, pro-engineer approach to solving social and economic problems.

During the Depression, other conservatives participated in the taxpayers' revolt at the local level. From 1930 to 1933, Americans formed as many as 3,000 taxpayers' leagues to protest high property taxes. These groups endorsed measures to limit and rollback taxes, lowered penalties on tax delinquents, and cuts in government spending. A few also called for illegal resistance (or tax strikes). Probably the best known of these was led by the Association of Real Estate Taxpayers in Chicago which, at its height, had 30,000 dues-paying members.

The Depression brought liberals to power under President Franklin Roosevelt (1933). Indeed the term "liberal" now came to mean a supporter of the New Deal. In 1934 Al Smith and pro-business Democrats formed the American Liberty League to fight the new liberalism, but failed. In 1936 the Republicans rejected Hoover and tried the more liberal Alf Landon, who carried only Maine and Vermont. When Roosevelt tried to pack the Supreme Court in 1937 the conservatives finally cooperated across party lines and defeated it with help from Vice President John Nance Garner. Roosevelt unsuccessfully tried to purge the conservative Democrats in the 1938 election. The conservatives in Congress then formed a bi-partisan informal Conservative Coalition of Republicans and southern Democrats. It largely controlled Congress from 1937 to 1964. Its most prominent leaders were Senator Robert Taft, a Republican of Ohio, and Senator Walter George, Democrat of Georgia.

In the United States, the Old Right, also called the Old Guard, was a group of libertarian, free-market anti-interventionists, originally associated with Midwestern Republicans and Southern Democrats. The Republicans (but not the southern Democrats) were isolationists in 1939-41, (see America First), and later opposed NATO and U.S. military intervention in Korea. According to historian Murray Rothbard, "the libertarian intellectuals were in the minority...* theirs was the only thought-out contrasting ideology to the New Deal."

Later 20th century: Goldwater, Buckley, the Dixiecrats

By 1950, American liberalism was so dominant intellectually that author Lionel Trilling could dismiss contemporary conservatism as "irritable mental gestures which seek to resemble ideas." 2004

In the 1950s, principles for a conservative political movement were hashed out in books like Russell Kirk's The Conservative Mind (1953) and in the pages of the magazine National Review, founded by William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955.

Whereas Taft's Old Right had been isolationist the new conservatism favored American intervention overseas to oppose communism. It looked to the Founding Fathers for historical inspiration as opposed to Calhoun and the antebellum South.

Ironically, as the Democratic Party became identified with the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s through 1970s, many former southern Democrats joined the Republican Party, even in the face of greater proportional support for civil rights legislation among Republicans, thereby increasingly cementing the Republicans' alignment as a conservative party. Senator Barry Goldwater, sometimes known as "Mr. Conservative," argued in his 1960 Conscience of a Conservative that conservatives split on the issue of civil rights due to some conservatives advocating ends (integration, even in the face of what they saw as unconstitutional Federal involvement) and some advocating means (constitutionality above all else, even in the face of segregation). Republicans joined northern Democrats to override a filibuster of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, an event that marked the end of the Conservative Coalition. Later that year, Goldwater was resoundingly defeated by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Out of this defeat emerged the New Right, a political movement that coalesced through grassroots organizing in the years preceding Goldwater's 1964 presidential campaign. The American New Right is distinct from and opposed to the more moderate/liberal tradition of the so-called Rockefeller Republicans, and succeeded in building a policy approach and electoral apparatus that propelled Ronald Reagan into the White House in the 1980 presidential election.

Nixon, Reagan, and Bush

See also: Nixon and the liberal consensus

The Republican administrations of President Richard Nixon in the 1970s were characterized more by their emphasis on realpolitik, détente, and economic policies such as wage and price controls, than by their adherence to conservative views in foreign and economic policy.

Thus, it was not until the election of 1980 and the subsequent eight years of Ronald Reagan's presidency that the American conservative movement truly achieved ascendancy. In that election, Republicans took control of the U.S. Senate for the first time since 1954, and conservative principles dominated Reagan's economic and foreign policies, with supply side economics and strict opposition to Soviet Communism defining the Administration's philosophy.

An icon of the American conservative movement, Reagan is credited by his supporters with transforming the politics of 1980s America, galvanizing the success of the Republican Party, uniting a coalition of economic conservatives who supported his economic policies, known as "Reaganomics," foreign policy conservatives who favored his staunch opposition to Communism and the Soviet Union over the détente of his predecessors, and social conservatives who identified with Reagan's conservative religious and social ideals.

It is hotly debated whether the successive Republican Administrations of Presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush are truly conservative. George W. Bush campaigned in 2000 as a "compassionate conservative," but in his second term, conservative critics have negatively cited his expansion of the Medicare program and his increases in Federal spending; in contrast, he is often lauded by some conservatives for his commitment to conservative social and religious values, tax-cut initiatives, and a strong national defense.

Types of conservatism

Defining "American conservatism" requires a definition of conservatism in general, and the term is applied to a number of ideas and ideologies, some more closely related to core conservative beliefs than others.

1. Classical or institutional conservatism - Opposition to rapid change in governmental and societal institutions. This kind of conservatism is anti-ideological insofar as it emphasizes process (slow change) over product (any particular form of government). To the classical conservative, whether one arrives at a right- or left-leaning government is less important than whether change is effected through rule of law rather than through revolution and sudden innovation.

2. Ideological conservatism or right-wing conservatism -- In contrast to the anti-ideological classical conservatism, right-wing conservatism is, as its name implies, ideological. It is typified by three distinct subideologies: social conservatism, fiscal conservatism, and economic liberalism. Together, these subideologies comprise the conservative ideology of people in some English-speaking countries: separately, these subideologies are incorporated into other political positions.

3. Neoconservatism, in its United States usage, has come to refer to the views of a subclass of conservatives who support a more assertive foreign policy coupled with one or more other facets of social conservatism, in contrast to the typically isolationist views of early- and mid-20th Century conservatives. Neoconservatism was first described by a group of disaffected liberals, and thus Irving Kristol, usually credited as its intellectual progenitor, defined a "neoconservative" as "a liberal who was mugged by reality." Although originally regarded as an approach to domestic policy (the founding instrument of the movement, Kristol's The Public Interest periodical, did not even cover foreign affairs), through the influence of figures like Dick Cheney, Robert Kagan, Richard Perle, Ken Adelman and (Irving's son) William Kristol, it has become more famous for its association with the foreign policy of the George W. Bush Administration.

4. Small government conservatism -- In contrast to cultural conservatism, which in recent years has greatly increased the power of the federal government over the states, and more than doubled federal spending, small government conservatives look for a decreased role of the federal government, a return to the states of the power to set educational standards, to legalize or prohibit drugs, abortion, welfare, gun ownership, pornography, marriage, and religion. Small government conservatives agree with cultural conservatives on the strict interpretation of the constitution, but rather than focusing of the strict interpretation of the bill of rights, they focus on the strict interpretation of the clause that reserves to the states all powers not specifically granted to the federal government. The framers of the constitution were suspicious of a centralized, unitary state like the United Kingdom, from which they had just won their freedom.

Conservatism as "Ideology," or political philosophy

In contrast to classical conservatism, social conservatism and fiscal conservatism are concerned with consequences as well as means. The current appplication of fiscal conservatism is not absolute as advocates have advanced social spending programs not specificially deliniated in the Constitution. As such, fiscal conservatism today exists somewhere between classical conservatism and contemporary consequentialist political philosophies. Classical conservatives tend to be anti-ideological, and some would even say anti-philosophical *, promoting rather, as Russell Kirk explains, a steady flow of "prescription and prejudice". Kirk's use of the word "prejudice" here is not intended to carry its contemporary pejorative connotation: a conservative himself, he believes that the inherited wisdom of the ages may be a better guide than apparently rational individual judgment.

There are two types of social conservatives--the traditional and the religious. Traditional conservatives oppose radical social change, such as was found in the culture wars of the 1960s. Tradional conservatives have a strict interpretation of the Constitution, and generally oppose the expansion of social entitlements or programs that expand government's role in an individual's life.

Religious conservatives are usually evangelical and fundamentalist Protestants. Some maintain that the United States was founded under Christian principles and they often support the inclusion of religious concepts into American life. Some religious conservatives support the inclusion of religious concepts in the courts, such as displaying the Ten Commandments, and in public schools, such as dedicating time for students to pray. Fundamentalist Christians often oppose abortion, homosexuality, and euthanasia for the terminally ill.

Economic conservatives support limited government, limited taxation, an income tax, a consumption tax, and reductions in "double taxation" such as the capital gains and the inheritance tax. Economic conservatives often argue that competition in the free market is more effective that the regulation of industry with the exception of industries that exhibit market dominance or monopoly powers. For some this is a matter of principle, as it is for the libertarians and others influenced by thinkers such as Ludwig von Mises, who believed that government intervention in the economy is inevitably wasteful and inherently corrupt and immoral. For others, "free market economics" simply represents the most efficient way to promote economic growth: they support it not based on some moral principle, but pragmatically, because it "works."

Throughout much of the 20th century, one of the primary forces uniting the occasionally disparate strands of conservatism, and uniting conservatives with their liberal and socialist opponents, was an opposition to communism, which was seen not only as an enemy of the traditional order, but also of western freedom and democracy.

Social conservatism and tradition

Main article: Social conservatism

Social conservatism or "Cultural Conservatism" is generally dominated by defense of traditional social norms and values, of local customs and of societal evolution, rather than social upheaval, though the distinction is not absolute. Often based upon religion, modern cultural conservatives, in contrast to "small-government" conservatives and "states-rights" advocates, increasingly turn to the federal government to overrule the states in order to preserve educational and moral standards.

Social conservatives emphasize traditional views of social units such as the family, church, or locale. Social conservatives would typically define family in terms of local histories and tastes. To the Muslim or fundamentalist Mormon, social conservatism may entail support for polygamy. To the Protestant or Catholic, social conservatism may entail support for defining marriage as between a man and a woman and laws placing restrictions on abortion.

From this same respect for local traditions comes the correlation between conservatism and patriotism. Conservatives, out of their respect for traditional, established institutions, tend to strongly identify with nationalist movements, existing governments, and its defenders: police, the military, and national poets, authors, and artists. Conservatives hold that military institutions embody admirable values like honor, duty, courage, and loyalty. Military institutions are independent sources of tradition and ritual pageantry that conservatives tend to admire. In its degenerative form, such respect may become typified by jingoism, populism, and perhaps even bigotry or isolationism.

Support for socially conservative policies may not indicate political conservatism. For example, many Communist parties and most Communist regimes have been very puritanical with respect to sexuality, arguing, for instance, that homosexuality was a bourgeois vice. Examples include the "No Child Left Behind" program, support for a constitutional amendment prohibiting homosexual marriage, support for federal laws overruling states that attempt to legalize marijuana or assisted suicide, and increased power for the federal government to search and detain citizens.

Conversely, while classical conservatives may embrace traditional values in their personal lives, they are generally wary of government intervention into the private lives of citizens, even when that intervention is in support of traditional values.

Fiscal conservatism

Fiscal conservatism is the economic and political policy that advocates restraint of governmental taxation and expenditures. Fiscal conservative argue that government must "live within its means" and therefore they oppose excessive government debt. The argument in favor of balanced budgets is often coupled with a belief that government welfare programs should be narrowly tailored and that tax rates should be low, which implies relatively small government institutions.

This belief in small government combines with fiscal conservatism to produce a broader economic liberalism, which wishes to minimize government intervention in the economy. This amounts to support for laissez-faire economics. This economic liberalism borrows from two schools of thought: the classical liberals' pragmatism and the libertarian's notion of "rights." The classical liberal maintains that free markets work best, while the libertarian contends that free markets are the only ethical markets.

Burke, in his Reflections on the Revolution in France, articulated the principles of fiscal conservatism:

...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...[The 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.

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.

Fiscal conservatives tend to be conservative in their entire outlook but they confront high-spending conservatives, such as Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush, especially regarding military spending.

Economic liberalism

The economic philosophy of conservatives in America tends to be liberalism. Economic liberalism can go well beyond fiscal conservatism's concern for fiscal prudence, to a belief or principle that it is not prudent for governments to intervene in markets. It is also, sometimes, extended to a broader "small government" philosophy. Economic liberalism is associated with free-market, or laissez-faire economics.

Economic liberalism, insofar as it is ideological, owes its creation to the "classical liberal" tradition, in the vein of Adam Smith, Friedrich A. Hayek, Milton Friedman, and Ludwig von Mises.

Classical liberals and libertarians support free markets on moral, ideological grounds: principles of individual liberty morally dictate support for free markets. Supporters of the moral grounds for free markets include Ayn Rand and Ludwig von Mises. The liberal tradition is suspicious of government authority, and prefers individual choice, and hence tends to see capitalist economics as the preferable means of achieving economic ends.

Modern conservatives, on the other hand, derive support for free markets from practical grounds. Free markets, they argue, are the most productive markets. Thus the modern conservative supports free markets not out of necessity, but out of expedience. The support is not moral or ideological, but driven on the Burkean notion of prescription: what works best is what is right.

Another reason why conservatives support a smaller role for the government in the economy is the belief in the importance of the civil society. As noted by Alexis de Tocqueville, a bigger role of the government in the economy will make people feel less responsible for the society. The responsibilities must then be taken over by the government, requiring higher taxes. In his book Democracy in America, De Tocqueville describes this as "soft oppression".

It must be noted that while classical liberals and modern conservatives reached free markets through different means historically, to-date 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 blurring is very much a product of the merging of the classical liberal and modern conservative positions under the "umbrella" of the conservative movement.

The archetypal free-market conservative administrations of the late 20th century -- the Margaret Thatcher government in the UK and the Ronald Reagan government in the U.S. -- both held the unfettered operation of the market to be the cornerstone of contemporary modern conservatism (this philosophy is sometimes called neoliberalism). To that end, Thatcher privatized British Airways, with remarkable success, and British Rail, with rather more negative results. Thatcher cut taxes and slowed governmental growth. Reagan raised taxes and increased government growth. In constant dollars, US government spending increased from about 700 billion in his first year in office to about 900 billion in his last year, according to the World Almanac.

The interests of capitalism, fiscal and economic liberalism, and free-market economy do not necessarily coincide with those of social conservatism. At times, aspects of capitalism and free markets have been profoundly subversive of the existing social order, as in economic modernization, or of traditional attitudes toward the proper position of sex in society, as in the now near-universal availability of pornography. To that end, on issues at the intersection of economic and social policy, conservatives of one school or another are often at odds.

Conservatism in the United States electoral politics

See also: Dixiecrats, Southern strategy, Solid South, Contract with America

In the United States, the Republican Party is generally considered to be the party of conservatism. This has been the case since the 1960s, when the conservative wing of that party consolidated its hold, causing it to shift permanently to the right of the Democratic Party; also, in varying degrees at various times over the second half of the twentieth century, numerous conservative white southerners left the Democratic Party and (in most cases) became Republicans.

In addition, many United States libertarians, in the Libertarian Party and even some in the Republican Party, see themselves as conservative, even though they advocate significant economic and social changes – for instance, further dismantling the welfare system or liberalizing drug policy. They see these as conservative policies because they conform to the spirit of individual liberty that they consider to be a traditional American value. It should be noted that although libertarians have had closer ties with conservatives, they do not typically believe themselves to be conservative.

On the other end of the scale, some Americans see themselves as conservative while not being supporters of free market policies. These people generally favor protectionist trade policies and government intervention in the market to preserve American jobs. Many of these conservatives were originally supporters of neoliberalism who changed their stance after perceiving that countries such as China were benefiting from that system at the expense of American production. However, despite of their support for protectionism, they still tend to favor other elements of free market philosophy, such as low taxes, limited government and balanced budgets.

Finally, some see the entire American political mainstream as having reached a conservative consensus, with the federal government being run by successive "Republicrat" and right-wing Republican administrations. In support of this theory, they point out that the only recent Democratic President (Bill Clinton) was from the moderate-to-conservative wing of the Democratic Party. They also suggest that many progressives are switching to the Green Party and thus largely leaving the electable mainstream. In a February 2005 speech, Republican political consultant Karl Rove declared, "Conservatism is the dominant political creed in America."

Americans are often stereotyped by western Europeans as conservative due to the religious and right-wing tendencies as well as what the Europeans consider to be puritan attitudes towards sex and drugs (particularly alcohol).

Conservative geography, "Red States"

Today in the U.S., geographically the South, the less industrial parts of the Midwest, and the non-coastal West plus Alaska are conservative strongholds. However, the division of the United States into conservative red states and liberal blue states is artificial and does not reflect the actual distribution of voters of either stripe. College towns are generally liberal and Democratic. People who live in rural areas and the suburbs tend to be conservative (socially, culturally, or fiscally) and vote Republican. People who live in the urban cores of large metropolitan areas tend to be liberal and vote Democrat. The medium cities are split. Thus, within each state, there is a division between city and country, between town and gown. **

Other topics

Conservatism and change

"Conservatism" is not opposed to all change. For example, the Reagan administration in the U.S. and that of Margaret Thatcher in the UK both professed conservatism, but during Reagan's term of office, the United States radically revised its tax code, while Thatcher dismantled several previously nationalized industries and made major reforms in taxation and housing; furthermore, both took, or attempted, significant measures to reduce the power of labor unions. These changes were justified on the grounds that they were changing back to the conditions of a better time.

Various "Conservative" parties have presided over periods of economic expansion which have been disruptive of previous social and political arrangements, for example the Republican Party in 1920s America, and the BJP in late 1990s India.

Political memory can be of various durations, and the traditions conservatives embrace can be of relatively recent invention. The prevalence of the nuclear family is, at most, a few centuries old. Western democracy itself is a late 18th century invention. Corporate capitalism is even newer. The reference to God in the Pledge of Allegiance only goes back to the 1950s. The race-blind meritocracy now embraced by many U.S. conservatives as an alternative to affirmative action would have seemed quite radical to most U.S. conservatives in the 1950s.

Conservatism and conservation

In modern times, the "third wave" environmental movement, popularized by Ronald Reagan hearkens back to the classical conservative's justification for free markets: simply, free markets are viewed as the best instrument for protecting the environment. Given that pollution is an inefficiency, and given that some consumers like "eco-friendly" or "organic" products, it makes sense to the third-wave environmentalist that being environmentally friendly is a boost to sales. "Second-wave" environmentalists, represented by "command-and-control" techniques and the radical social change of the 1960s, were generally not conservative in any sense of the word. Yet the nationalist overtones of the second-wave environmental movement did appeal to many populists and social conservatives, who were not averse to anti-commercial values. Many of these viewed ecological conservation as necessary to preserve traditional values. Mistakenly, many note the generally social democratic and sometimes radical economic goals of Greens and conclude that they have nothing in common with conservatives. In the UK, a Blue-Green Alliance is an alignment of these "green" and "right" forces, although in the U.S. the terms Green Republican or Green Libertarian have come into use to imply the same.

Contemporary conservative platform

In the United States and western Europe, conservatism is generally associated with the following views, as noted by Russell Kirk in his book, The Conservative Mind:
  1. "Belief in a transcendent order, or body of natural law, which rules society as well as conscience."
  2. "Affection for the proliferating variety and mystery of human existence, as opposed to the narrowing uniformity, egalitarianism, and utilitarian aims of most radical systems;"
  3. "Persuasion that freedom and property are closely linked: separate property from private possession, and the Leviathan becomes master of all."
  4. "Faith in prescription and distrust of 'sophisters, calculators, and economists' who would reconstruct society upon abstract designs."
  5. "Recognition that change may not be salutary reform: hasty innovation may be a devouring conflagration, rather than a torch of progress."

There is currently debate over whether the policies of the George W. Bush Administration accurately reflect American conservative values: Peggy Noonan, writing for the Wall Street Journal, recently said, "For this we fought the Reagan revolution? A year into his second term, President Bush is redefining what it means to be a Republican and a conservative, and most of us who proudly call ourselves both don't like the results."

Conservatism and the Courts

One stream of conservatism exemplified by William Howard Taft extols independent judges as experts in fairness and the final arbiters of the Constitution. However, another more populist stream of conservatism condemns "judicial activism" -- that is, judges rejecting laws passed by Congress or interpreting old laws in new ways. This position goes back to Jefferson's vehement attacks on federal judges and to Abraham Lincoln's attacks on the Dred Scott decision of 1857. In 1910 Theodore Roosevelt broke with most of his lawyer friends and called for popular votes that could overturn unwelcome decisions by state courts. President Franklin D. Roosevelt did not attack the Supreme Court directly in 1937, but ignited a firestorm of protest by a proposal to add seven new justices. The Warren Court of the 1960s came under conservative attack for decisions regarding redistricting, desegregation, and the rights of those accused of crimes.

A more recent variant that emerged in the 1970s is "originalism", the assertion that the United States Constitution should be interpreted to the maximum extent possible in the light of what it meant when it was adopted. For example, the Constitution mandates a right to bear arms. Some argue it does not mandate a right to privacy, although prominent conservative Chief Justice John Roberts said in his confirmation hearings in 2005 that it does indeed include a right to privacy in the Fourth and Ninth Amendments. Originalism seems to assume that historians can solve modern problems by discovering what the founding fathers thought. This is impossible in many cases. For example, there is almost no surviving documentation from late 18th century America regarding abortion, so it is impossible to say what the Founders thought on that subject. Furthermore, historians are not neutral scientists discovering incontrovertible facts. Different perspectives result in different historians using the same fragmentary evidence to arrive at very different conclusions.

Originalism should not be confused with a similar conservative ideology, strict constructionism, which deals with the interpretation of the Constitution as written, but not necessarily within the context of the time when it was adopted.

Semantics, Language and Media

Language
In the late 20th century conservatives found new ways to use language and the media to support their goals and to shape the vocabulary of political discourse. Thus the use of "Democrat" as an adjective, as in "Democrat Party" was used first in the 1930s by Republicans to criticize large urban Democratic machines. Republican leader Harold Stassen stated in 1940, "I emphasized that the party controlled in large measure at that time by Hague in New Jersey, Pendergast in Missouri and Kelly Nash in Chicago should not be called a 'Democratic Party.' It should be called the 'Democrat party.'" 1994 In 1947 Senator Robert A. Taft said, "Nor can we expect any other policy from any Democrat Party or any Democrat President under present day conditions. They can not possibly win an election solely through the support of the solid South, and yet their political strategists believe the Southern Democrat Party will not break away no matter how radical the allies imposed upon it." Papers 3:313. The use of "Democrat" as an adjective is standard practice in Republican national platforms (since 1948), and has been standard practice in the White House since 2001, for press releases and speeches. It seems to be quite common on conservative talk radio.

Radio
Conservatives gained a major new communications medium with the advent of talk radio in the 1990s. Rush Limbaugh proved there was a huge nationwide audience for articulate and heated discussions of current events from a conservative viewpoint. Major hosts who describe themselves as either conservative or libertarian include: Michael Peroutka, Ben Ferguson, Lars Larson, Sean Hannity, G. Gordon Liddy, Laura Ingraham, Michael Savage, Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, Larry Elder, Michael Reagan, and Ken Hamblin. The Salem Radio Network syndicates a group of religiously-oriented Republican activists, including evangelical Hugh Hewitt and Jewish conservatives Dennis Prager and Michael Medved. Libertarians such as Neal Boortz (based in Atlanta), and Mark Davis (based in Ft. Worth and Dallas, Texas) reach large local audiences. Many of these hosts also publish books, write newspaper columns, appear on television, and give public lectures (Limbaugh was a pioneer of this model of multi-media punditry). At a more rarefied level, University of Chicago professor Milt Rosenberg has been hosting a talk show "Extension 720"on WGN radio in Chicago since the 1970s. Talk radio provided an immediacy and a high degree of emotionalism that seldom is reached on television or in magazines. Pew researchers found in 2004 that 17% of the public regularly listens to talk radio. This audience is mostly male, middle-aged, well-educated and conservative. Among those who regularly listen to talk radio, 41% are Republican and 28% are Democrats. Furthermore, 45% describe themselves as conservatives, compared with 18% who say they are liberal.[http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?PageID=834

Television
Pew further reports that conservatives and liberals are increasingly polarized in their TV news preferences. The cable news audience is more Republican and more strongly conservative than the public at large or the network news audience. Among regular cable news viewers, 43% describe their political views as conservative, compared with 33% of regular network news viewers; 37% of cable viewers are moderate, compared to 41% of network viewers; and 14% are liberal vs. 18% of network viewers.

The audience for the Fox News Channel has grown since 1998, becoming much more conservative and more Republican. In 1998, the Fox News audience mirrored the public in terms of both partisanship and ideology. However the percentage of Fox News Channel viewers who identify as Republicans has increased steadily from 24% in 1998, to 29% in 2000, 34% in 2002, and 41% in 2004. Over the same time period, the percentage of Fox viewers who describe themselves as conservative has increased from 40% to 52%.*

Conservative political movements

Contemporary political conservatism — the actual politics of people and parties professing to be conservative — in most western democratic countries is an amalgam of social and institutional conservatism, generally combined with fiscal conservatism, and usually containing elements of broader economic conservatism as well. As with liberalism, it is a pragmatic and protean politics, opportunistic at times, rooted more in a tradition than in any formal set of principles.

It is certainly possible for one to be a fiscal and economic conservative but not a social conservative; in the United States at present, this is the stance of libertarianism. It is also possible to be a social conservative but not an economic conservative — at present, this is a common political stance in, for example, Ireland — or to be a fiscal conservative without being either a social conservative or a broader economic conservative, such as the "deficit hawks" of the Democratic Party (United States). In general use, the unqualified term "conservative" is often applied to social conservatives who are not fiscal or economic conservatives. It is rarely applied in the opposite case, except in specific contrast to those who are neither.

It can be argued that classical conservatism tends to represent the interests of the Establishment. Yet, this is not always the case. Considering the conservative's opposition to political abstractions, the "true" conservative ought never support a contrived social state, be that on the left (Communism) or on the right (Fascism). There is an independent justification of the attitude of conservatism, which tends to favour what is organic and has been shaped by history, against the planned and artificial.

Criticisms

Criticism of American conservatism on ideological or philosophical grounds is different from personal criticism of politicians or thinkers who have conservative views. Some of the most common criticisms of conservatism include:

  • The cornerstone of modern conservative economic philosophy is monetary policy, specifically modifications taken on the supply side. Traditionally, American conservatism supported economic liberalism and limited government, whereas its current application has deviated to an amalgam of limited government and social programs not specifically delineated in the US constitution. Critics, specifically supporters of modern liberalism, believe that this structure of fiscal and monetary policy leads to concentration of wealth and impedes social justice and equality.
  • Some conservative ideas have roots in tradition and in religion, in particular the Judeo-Christian tradition. Liberal critics object to particular religious beliefs or rules being taught in the public schools, being displayed in the courts, being written into law, or being used to decide scientific questions. http://www.christianlaw.org/lawrence_case.html Christian Law Association http://www.pfaw.org People for the American Way. http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/edwards-v-aguillard/amicus1.html Nobel prizewinners on creation science.

  • Modern and classical American conservatism has traditionally supported individuality and free market forces in economic development. Liberals have criticized Conservative opposition to government preference for historically disadvantaged racial and social groups in government contracts and in college admissions. http://www.nationalcenter.org/AA.html The National Leadership Network of Black Conservatives

References

Historical (to 1980)

  • David T. Beito, Taxpayers in Revolt: Tax Resistance during the Great Depression. University of North Carolina Press, 1989.
  • Bell, David. ed, The Radical Right. Doubleday 1963.
  • William J. Bennett, America: The Last Best Hope: Volume I: From the Age of Discovery to a World at War (2006); Bennett, a prominent conservative leader, tells conservatives to NOT honor Calhoun, Know-Nothings, Copperheads and isolationists.
  • Davidson, Donald. The Attack on Leviathan: Regionalism and Nationalism in the United States University of North Carolina Press, 1938.
  • Coser Lewis A., and Irving Howe, eds. The New Conservatives: A Critique from the Left New American Library, 1976.
  • Charles W. Dunn and J. David Woodard; The Conservative Tradition in America Rowman & Littlefield, 1996
  • Filler, Louis. Dictionary of American Conservatism Philosophical Library, (1987)
  • Bruce Frohnen et al eds. American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia (2006) ISBN 9781932236446, the most detailed reference book
  • Genovese, Eugene. The Southern Tradition: The Achievement and Limitations of an American Conservatism Harvard University Press, 1994
  • Gottfried, Paul, and Thomas Fleming. The Conservative Movement Twayne, 1988.
  • Guttman, Allan. The Conservative Tradition in America Oxford University Press, 1967.
  • Jeffrey Hart. The Making of the American Conservative Mind: The National Review and Its Times (2005)
  • Russell Kirk. The Conservative Mind. Regnery Publishing; 7th edition (2001): ISBN 0895261715
  • Huntington Samuel P. "Conservatism as an Ideology." American Political Science Review 52 (June 1957): 454-73.
  • Kendall Willmoore, and George W. Carey. "Towards a Definition of 'Conservatism.' " Journal of Politics 26 (May 1964): 406-22.
  • Lora, Ronald. Conservative Minds in America Greenwood, 1976.
  • Ronald Lora; The Conservative Press in Twentieth-Century America Greenwood Press, 1999
  • Forrest McDonald, States' Rights and the Union: Imperium in Imperio, 1776-1876 (2002)
  • Malsberger, John W. From Obstruction to Moderation: The Transformation of Senate Conservatism, 1938-1952 2000.
  • Frank S. Meyer, ed. What Is Conservatism? 1964.
  • George Nash, The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945 (1978)
  • Nisbet Robert A. Conservatism: Dream and Reality. University of Minnesota Press, 1986.
  • Patterson, James. Congressional Conservatism and the New Deal: The Growth of the Conservative Coalition in Congress, 1933-39 (1967)
  • Rick Perlstein. Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus (2004) on 1964
  • David W. Reinhard; Republican Right since 1945 University Press of Kentucky, 1983
  • Ribuffo, Leo P. 1983. The Old Christian Right: The Protestant Far Right from the Great Depression to the Cold War. Temple University Press.
  • Rossiter, Clinton. Conservatism in America. 2nd ed. Harvard University Press, 1982.
  • Shelley II, Mack C. The Permanent Majority: The Conservative Coalition in the United States Congress (1983)
  • Melvin J. Thorne; American Conservative Thought since World War II: The Core Ideas Greenwood: 1990
  • Peter Viereck; Conservatism: from John Adams to Churchill 1956, 1978
  • Wilensky, Norman N. Conservatives in the Progressive Era: The Taft Republicans of 1912 (1965).

Biographies

  • H. Lee Cheek Jr.;Calhoun and Popular Rule: The Political Theory of the Disquisition and Discourse University of Missouri Press. 2001. Stresses Calhoun's Republicanism
  • Robert M. Crunden. The Mind and Art of Albert Jay Nock (1964)
  • Dierenfield, Bruce J. Keeper of the Rules: Congressman Howard W. Smith of Virginia (1987), leader of the Conservative coalition in Congress
  • Fergurson, Ernest B. Hard Right: The Rise of Jesse Helms, 1986
  • Fite, Gilbert. Richard B. Russell, Jr, Senator from Georgia (2002) leader of the Conservative coalition in Congress
  • Goldberg, Robert Alan. Barry Goldwater (1995)
  • John B. Judis, William F. Buckley, Jr.: Patron Saint of the Conservatives (1988)
  • Daniel Kelly. James Burnham and the Struggle for the World: A Life (2002)
  • Patterson, James T. Mr. Republican: A Biography of Robert A. Taft (1972)
  • Marion Elizabeth Rodgers, Mencken: The American Iconoclast (2005)
  • Michael P. Federici. Eric Voegelin: The Restoration of Order (2002)
  • Pemberton, William E. Exit with Honor: The Life and Presidency of Ronald Reagan (1998)
  • Kevin J. Smant, Principles and Heresies: Frank S. Meyer and the Shaping of the American Conservative Movement (2002) (ISBN 1882926722)
  • Smith, Richard Norton. An Uncommon Man: The Triumph of Herbert Hoover (1994) strongest on 1933-64
  • Sam Tanenhaus. Whittaker Chambers: A Biography (1997) (ISBN 0394585593)
  • Whittaker Chambers, Witness (1952), a memoir his Communist years

Recent Politics

  • John B. Bader; Taking the Initiative: Leadership Agendas in Congress and the "Contract with America" Georgetown University Press, (1996)
  • Berkowitz, Peter . Varieties Of Conservatism In America (2004)
  • Allan Bloom. The Closing of the American Mind (1988)
  • Diamond, Sara. Roads to Dominion: Right-Wing Movements and Political Power in the United States. (1995) , sharply negative
  • Gerson, Mark. The Neoconservative Vision: From the Cold War to Culture Wars (1997)
  • Halper, Stefan & Clarke, Jonathan, America Alone: The Neo-Conservatives and the Global Order (Cambridge University Press, 2004) ISBN 0521838347
  • Himmelstein, Jerome and J. A. McRae Jr., "'Social Conservatism, New Republicans and the 1980 Election'", Public Opinion Quarterly, 48 (1984), 595-605.
  • Koopman; Douglas L. Hostile Takeover: The House Republican Party, 1980-1995 Rowman & Littlefield, 1996
  • Lapham, Lewis H. "Tentacles of Rage" in Harper's, September 2004, p. 31-41.
  • Martin, William. 1996. With God on Our Side: The Rise of the Religious Right in America, New York: Broadway Books.
  • Micklethwait, John, and Adrian Wooldridge. The Right Nation (2004)
  • Geoffrey Nunberg. Talking Right: How Conservatives Turned Liberalism into a Tax-Raising, Latte-Drinking, Sushi-Eating, Volvo-Driving, New York Times-Reading, Body-Piercing, Hollywood-Loving, Left-Wing Freak Show (2006)
  • Geoffrey Nunberg, "Language and Politics"
  • Rae; Nicol C. Conservative Reformers: The Republican Freshmen and the Lessons of the 104th Congress M. E. Sharpe, 1998
  • Schoenwald; Jonathan . A Time for Choosing: The Rise of Modern American Conservatism (2002)
  • Stelzer, Irwin. Neo-conservatism (2004)

Primary sources

  • Buckley, William F., Jr., ed. Up from Liberalism Stein and Day, (1958)
  • Buckley, William F., Jr., ed. Did You Ever See a Dream Walking? American Conservative Thought in the 20th Century Bobbs-Merrill, (1970)
  • Mark Gerson, ed., The Essential Neo-Conservative Reader (Perseus Publishing, (1997)) ISBN 0201154889
  • Irving Kristol, Neoconservatism: the Autobiography of an Idea, ISBN 0028740211
  • Gregory L. Schneider, ed. Conservatism in America Since 1930: A Reader (2003)
  • Irwin Stelzer ed. The NeoCon Reader (2005) ISBN 0802141935
  • Wolfe, Gregory. Right Minds: A Sourcebook of American Conservative Thought. Regnery, (1987)

See also

Outside USA

External links

Conservatism

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "American conservatism".

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