Conservative

[Dr. Goodword]

• conservative •

Pronunciation: kên-sêr-vê-tiv • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective, Noun

Meaning: 1. Favoring traditional values, reluctant to change or support change. 2. Moderate, cautious, not risky, underestimated, as a conservative estimate. 3. Not extravagant, modern, or flashy, as a conservative suit.

Notes: Like its antonym, liberal, this adjective may be used as a noun. A conservative is someone who adheres to the first definition above, usually a member of the Republican Party in the US and the Conservative Party elsewhere. The adverb for this word is conservatively and, again like liberal, it offers two nouns: conservatism for the political conviction and conservativeness for the other meanings.

In Play: A true conservative likes things the way they are. That notorious liberal, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, once said, "A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward." However, this word has many more meanings than the political one: "Despite the conservative outfit she wore, Sally Forth had been rather liberal in applying cosmetics to her face."

Word History: Today's Good Word is Latin conservativus "preserving, maintaining" from conservare "to preserve, maintain". The Latin verb is made up of con- "(together) with" + servare "to keep, protect". Some still debate whether servare comes from servus "slave", a word borrowed from Etruscan, possibly along with some slaves who spoke that long lost language. While some slaves did serve as guardians of their masters' property, it is difficult to think of a class of people considered servile as protectors. The phonological similarity is very striking, however, and we can see a semantic path from servants to protectors to preservation.

[George Kovac]

“Conservative” and “liberal” are fraught terms in American politics. The contents of the beliefs of an adherent of either label are filled with inconsistencies and anomalies. We often reach back to historical figures, and try to align them with present day conventional wisdom—an exercise that is disingenuous at best.

So, we conventionally think of Thomas Jefferson as the “liberal” among the founding fathers. Taking some liberties with history, the modern Democratic party claims Jefferson as part of its heritage. So that means that Jefferson’s adversary, Alexander Hamilton, must therefore be “conservative.” Indeed, The Federalist Society, founded in 1982 and self-described as “conservatives and libertarians dedicated to reforming the current legal order” (an organization much favored by Republicans and conservative jurists like the late Antonin Scalia) took its name from the party and writings with which Hamilton is associated.

If Jefferson traditionally is the favorite founding father of liberals (that is, except until recently because of concern over Jefferson’s unfortunate relationships with his slaves), then Hamilton has been the traditional patron saint of conservatives (that is, except until recently due to Hamilton’s new-found celebrity among the coastal elites attending the eponymous hit musical).

But was Hamilton “conservative”? He favored a massive expansion of the US economy based on trade, finance and manufacturing, as opposed to the older conservative agrarian society dear to Jefferson. He thought an interventionist government should be vigorously deployed to create and sustain the institutions and policies necessary to support this visionary reordering of markets. When it came to using the levers of government to reshape the economy, Hamilton championed the primacy of a strong federal government over the states and their provincial world view.

Ron Chernow begins his excellent biography of Hamilton with a quote from his subject. For a decade, I have puzzled over this much-cited quote, which seems to be a mission statement for conservatism: “I have thought it my duty to exhibit things as they are, not as they ought to be.”

Or, not so fast... Hamilton was a realist and a visionary and an agent of change. He believed in strong government and vigorous markets. We can’t properly label that.

[Perry Lassiter]

George Kovac's comments (& on liberalism) are excellent. As a centrist, leaning conservative, I find two points left out. Liberals have lately confiscated the "progressive" term as if a conservative could not be forward looking or creative. The basic difference to me in the political usage is their differences in the role of federal government, plus state and local government. Results of the last election are finally bringing into discussion the difference between city and rural values. A conservative might favor the same ends as a liberal, but prefer the state or local government do it. One could agree the wealthy could afford to pay more taxes, but prefer they be leviedby the city or state.

The issue comes from the use of "liberal" on the international scene to refer to liberal democracies, those who value freedom, human rights, and democratic values. The oppositeof this usage is notconservatism, but tyrrany or suppression.

Liberal Arts has become a technical term for a particular college within a university or a stand-alone college carrying those subjects. An anomaly is small colleges may have science departments, whereas in universities they would comprise a college.

[Philip Hudson]

In my not so humble opinion, a Christian in the USA has no political party to support. To me the real Christian is conservative in moral and social issues and liberal in other polity.

[George Kovac]

esprit d'escalier...

“The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of Conservatives is to prevent mistakes from being corrected." --G. K. Chesterton.

[Perry Lassiter]

Hard to argue with GKC!