Good By Definition: A Defense of Conservatism

The other day I was scouring the sink with Soft-Scrub, a non-abrasive bleach product that cleans without scratching. The bottle was just about empty, and though we had another unopened bottle under the sink, I added a small amount of water to the almost empty one, and found I was still able to employ what was left over in service of a clean sink. As I was doing all this, I got to thinking that I have always acted in this way, that I have always liked to conserve. If there is any left over, why waste it, why not get the most your money? And then my thoughts ran over to the meaning of conservatism. What does it mean to be a Conservative? I began to muse that I have always acted in this manner, so I guess I am conservative in many ways more than merely political and economic ones. I thought about the root meaning of the word conserve. The word itself comes from a Latin one meaning to save. Its root is also akin to the word meaning to serve or servant. It also relates to our word preserve.

Conservatism seeks above all to conserve, to save what was good from the past, to learn from its lessons, to preserve traditions that have proven themselves to work in society and to use them as stepping-stones toward ever-increasing progress. It seeks to understand what is “good” by way of a transcendent source. As a result, the interest it takes in understanding the negative attributes of the past is to ensure that those particular attributes are not carried forward. Thus “a more perfect union”. It does not wish to abandon the noble aspects of the past, its laws, its arts, its literature and its architecture. It remembers keenly the lessons of history and transmits the awareness of them to the present generations, for it knows full well that only by remembering the mistakes of the past can we avoid making them again.

Imagine an individual who awoke from his sleep with no recollection of his experiences the day before. If he burned his hand on a stove, he would most likely burn it again the next day. This may seem simplistic, but it reinforces the idea that collectively we must transmit the record of what has happened in the past, the good and noble accomplishments of human beings as well as the horrible and heinous ones. Together, in a spirit of cooperation, we can learn from the past, recognizing that certain efforts, however laudable they may seem, did not work in an earlier world, and will most likely not work in a future world.

To believe in a conservative mindset is to laud and applaud and apply those traditions and values that have worked in the past. It is to cherish those giants in our world, men and women of all persuasions from all times and cultures that have brought us to where we are, and to never be afraid to stand on their shoulders. As Conservatives, we must never be afraid to welcome progress and beneficial change if it is to improve our society. But change, merely for the sake of change, is not usually nor necessarily good or beneficial. And as Conservatives, we ought never apologize for our positions or our willingness to defend cherished values and ideals. In fact, we must contend even for our right to defend them, even to the point of offering our very lives. We must always remember those rights – rights enumerated in our American Constitution. They are enshrined in written law from the Magna Carta down to our present day – are rights that do not derive from human law, but rights afforded each individual person by a Higher Authority; rights written by that same Creator indelibly upon every human heart that has ever lived, is now living, or will ever have lived. 

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