Moderate Reformists Need to Reclaim Conservatism
It is the antidote to far-left vs far-right polarization
What is a conservative? It seems that too few people are willing to ask this question. After all, it is not an unreasonable question to ask. One of the two major parties in each English-speaking Western country is considered a conservative party, and a substantial minority of citizens in each of these countries identify as conservatives. If some people think that 'what is a woman' is such an important question to ask, then 'what is a conservative' definitely merits some attention too. In an era where people with very different views, people like Donald Trump, Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss and David Cameron all claim the label, there must indeed be some controversy around the question that is worth exploring.
Some seem to think that 'conservative' is whatever policies are being pursued by conservative parties and politicians, but this is a highly unsatisfying answer. Firstly, since a word must have meaning a-priori for people to be able to identify with it in a meaningful way, ‘conservatism’ must have a meaning not entirely dependent on whoever chooses to identify with the label at the moment. Secondly, different conservative politicians and parties might choose to have different stances on a given question. For example, during the mid-2010s, the US Republican Party, as well as the Australian Liberal-National Coalition under the leadership of Tony Abbott, opposed gay marriage, while the British Conservatives under David Cameron embraced it. Similarly, both Abbott and the Canadian Conservatives under Stephen Harper were skeptical of many forms of climate policy, while Cameron was very pro-climate action. If 'conservative' was simply the position adopted by conservative parties, then who actually represented conservatism in the English-speaking West in the mid-2010s?
If we accept that conservatism needs to have a consistent definition, then we need to go back to its roots. British philosopher Edmund Burke is considered by many as the father of conservatism, at least in the English-speaking West, so looking at Burke's approach to politics would tell us a lot about what conservatism is. It turns out that, at least by the standards of his time, Burke was a lifelong liberal, who generally supported the liberal stances of his time. His break from his fellow liberals came during the French Revolution, which he saw as too radical. Therefore, if we take Burke as an example, a conservative, at least in the English-speaking West, is a liberal who is skeptical of taking things too far, too quickly, and especially when only justified by abstract ideals and philosophy. A conservative is a reformist whose reforms are rooted in practical reality, and made to be in line with the nation's traditions as much as possible. Even revolutionary change might be consistent with Burkean conservatism: America's Founding Fathers' revolution was an example of a 'conservative' revolution, while the French Revolution, with its anti-traditional cultural radicalism, was certainly not. The difference is that the American Revolution preserved core British cultural norms and values, while parts of the French Revolution aimed to destroy core French cultural norms and values. Conservatism is therefore welcoming of reform and change, as long as it does not destroy core cultural norms and values. It is therefore, above all, not meant to be reactionary.
Given this analysis, we can be clear that reactionary culture war politics is certainly not conservative at all. It can be many things, e.g. right-wing, populist, even pre-fascist, but it is certainly not conservative. Right-wing plans that would cause a fundamental upheaval in society and a break with long-standing norms, like plans to radically reduce the autonomy of government departments, and actions to fight 'woke corporations' with government power, are certainly not conservative. Attempts to borrow from the more authoritarian traditions of Eastern Europe in order to curtail the long-standing liberalism of the English-speaking West are not conservative. The likes of Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis and Liz Truss are therefore not conservatives, if we are to be honest about the real meaning of the word. On the other hand, someone like David Cameron would come closer to embodying the conservative spirit, as it is meant to be.
Over the past few decades, conservatism has been increasingly marginalized among reformist intellectuals, due to the increasing influence of philosophies from the far-left. These philosophies state that the status quo, in its entirety, is inherently oppressive, and needs to be ruthlessly critiqued and dismantled in its entirety. Disciplines like sociology became heavily influenced by these philosophies, and turned away from the consensus theory represented by thinkers like Talcott Parsons (whose work 1960s radicals singled out for vicious attack). This has led to the situation where, in some circles, even admitting that there are parts of the status quo you want to keep has become taboo. This was how progressivism essentially turned from reasonably reformist to radically revolutionary, and hence unsustainable, over time, like we discussed yesterday. Meanwhile, 'conservatism', in an increasingly distorted form, has been embraced by right-wing ideologues, reactionaries, and even pre-fascists, as their own, in order to add a veneer of comfort and respect to their brutal and inhumane political programs. This, in turn, has made good-faith reformists more and more reluctant to identify with conservatism in public, lest they be misunderstood to be reactionaries.
To get out of this vicious cycle, moderate reformists who actually agree with the Burkean conservative approach to reforming society need to reclaim conservatism, and take a stand against far-right reactionaries sullying the conservative tradition. We need to speak up about what a genuine, good faith conservative approach to politics might look like. We need to make it clear again that it is OK to harbor conservative sympathies, even as a reformist progressive, and it is indeed a good dose of conservatism that makes progressive movements sustainable over the long run.
TaraElla is a singer-songwriter and author, who is the author of the Moral Libertarian Manifesto and the Moral Libertarian book series, which argue that liberalism is still the most moral and effective value system for the West.
She is also the author of The Trans Case Against Queer Theory and The TaraElla Story (her autobiography).