The Problem With Conservatism

Conservatism’s problem is that it generally doesn’t become majority thought except in a crisis. Conservative principles would have prevented the housing boom/bust cycle, but people didn’t care about fiscal responsibility either with their own wallets or the government’s until things got bad. Now living frugally is chic and people are saving more and paying off debts. Eventually this will spread to our government, and just as we saw an era of unbridled deficit spending ushered in and hopefully peaking at this moment, there will be a similar reversal when the American people decide to put the government in order just as they are putting their own houses in financial order, and those who cut costs and lower taxes will be welcomed as those who tax and spend will be kicked out. We don’t have to look farther than the Carter administration or the 1994 turnover in Congress for a precedent.

But why bother with these cycles? Why not get things safely on conservative ground so that we don’t have to go through these boom/bust cycles? The real problem is that the conservatism that gets people like Ronald Reagan elected or the Congress of 1994 is reactive as opposed to being rational, intelligent, and purposeful. Reagan wasn’t elected because he was a conservative, he was elected because he wasn’t Carter, just as Obama was elected because he convinced people he wasn’t Bush (so far he’s turned out to be quite a bit like Bush, only a bigger spender). The kind of conservatism that got Reagan and the Republicans of 1994 elected wasn’t real conservatism, it was merely a change from the status quo. In order to prevent the cycle from continuing there must be more people who become what I call “on-purpose” conservatives. That is, they are conservatives on-purpose, identify themselves as conservative, and actively work towards conservative objectives.

And this leads to the next step in defining this problem of the conservative movement–evangelism. Not to be confused with any sort of religious fervor, evangelism is “spreading the word”. In other words, education. Conservative principles appeal to people because they make sense, just as liberal principles appeal to people because they seem nice. But whereas many liberal ideals must merely be heard to sound good, conservative ideals must be understood, and I’m afraid too many of our conservative voices are preaching to the choir without much thought for those who don’t buy it. What conservatism needs is an outreach movement.

Tea parties are great for rallying the troops, but how many minds were changes as a result of them? When I post links to articles that show the success of conservative ideas vs. the failure of liberal ideas, I rarely get comments from people who disagree with me. If only those who already agree with me are reading the articles, what good is that? Conservatives can educated themselves all they want about the founding fathers, the Constitution, etc., but if conservatives never break past 40% of the population, what good is it all? In order to break the cycle, on-purpose conservatives need to make up a firm majority. That way, in those moments when the winds change and it’s tempting to say “All is well” and relax a little, there will be enough people who are wary of the dangers and who will keep an eye on things to make sure we’re progressing in the direction of freedom and individual responsibility.

Thus conservatives need to focus on creating new conservatives. Here are some tips:

1. Get educated. Read. Listen. Think.

2. Start with your kids, then your family, then friends, then associates, then strangers.

3. Don’t get emotional. We’re out to convince people, not win arguments. Arguments can be won by talking over the other guy and talking the loudest, but this usually just entrenches those we disagree with and can ruin good relationships. Conservatism should be spread through reason, logic, and education.

4. If you’re a “convert” to conservatism, remember how you used to think. What worked on you and how can you create the same circumstances for others?

5. Open your mouth. Get started talking to people, sharing conservative books with them, challenge them to listen to Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck for a week (I like Sean Hannity as a person but I would never recommend a liberal listen to him because I don’t think he’s as good at changing minds as Rush and Beck).

6. Don’t just band together with like-minded people, associate with those who disagree with you and start a dialogue. Again, what’s the good of joining a book club where everyone is already a conservative and after you read a few conservative books you’re all more conservative than you were when you started? Ok, there is some good there, but it won’t change who’s getting elected to office. Invite a bunch of liberals to start a book club with you and then tell them that if they’ll read Glenn Beck’s Common Sense, or Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg, that you’ll read Al Gore’s book or something.

The great thing about conservatism is that it makes sense on an intellectual level and it works, because it’s the truth. But if we only spread that truth amongst ourselves the cycle of boom and bust will continue, and the bust cycles might get pretty bad.