What is the nature of Conservatism

[temporal1]

^^Interesting responses.

For me, it’s helpful to distinguish between Conservatism, and being conservative.
i know little about Conservatism, other than it’s mostly used as a political label, possibly church label.

Being conservative, though, is what i find most people in the world to be, regardless of politics or religion, people that value traditional families, work, respectful, established social norms, law abiding, etc. Even atheists and pagans, in general, being God-created, share many conservative beliefs and values.

i believe i’m pretty conservative, i don’t wear Plain clothes, i enjoy music, including worldly music. i often embrace change, with the caveat of God is supreme. i believe life can be confusing, God is not confused.

Lots of words have multiple meanings, changing meanings, and can be confusing.

“Conservatism” is currently so confusing (to me) i prefer to think of present political parties as The Deplorables and The 20-Percenters. New labels are warranted, whether those or others.

Maybe if “Conservatism” is described in past tense, it will be easier to describe?

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i have a virtual friend in Ireland, Catholic.
At times i have to stretch to be careful to understand meanings of words we both use, but may have different meanings, used in one country versus others. i expect he knows more about how i think than i know about how he thinks, we in the U.S. are generally pretty ignorant of other countries/cultures. Even our close neighbors, Canada and Mexico!

[Bootstrap]

Being conservative, though, is what i find most people in the world to be, regardless of politics or religion, people that value traditional families, work, respectful, established social norms, law abiding, etc.

I don't think of Donald Trump or Elon Musk as conservative in that sense. I think of myself as conservative in that sense.

[temporal1]

Being conservative, though, is what i find most people in the world to be, regardless of politics or religion, people that value traditional families, work, respectful, established social norms, law abiding, etc.

I don't think of Donald Trump or Elon Musk as conservative in that sense. I think of myself as conservative in that sense.

Regardless of how they live, wrt policies+politics, i find them of the most conservative. i don’t equate being conservative, or even wanting common sense, as necessarily stodgy. Trump+Musk are definitely not stodgy.

Possibly some presume conservatives are stodgy. That probably happens.

i believe most people in the world are conservative, ^^by that definition. partisans and activists organize for division.
i believe most will benefit from Trump’s policies, the die-hards will refuse to admit it. He knows that.

A definition:

stodg·y [ˈstäjē] adjective
dull and uninspired:
"some of the material is rather stodgy and top-heavy with facts"

i don’t fnd them lacking in facts, not when fairly asked.
there are accusations. often meant to be destructive, often debunked.

[temporal1]

^^The intent of this topic is to find historical roots, not contemporary politics.

OP:

I would like to see what people judge to be the essence of political Conservatism. What is it at the root, where does it begin, what are the guiding principles, who are the leading figures and what did they contribute. This is intended to be a look back, hence the placement in the history forum.

Conservatism was? ..

[barnhart]

Not that long ago GK Chesterton offered the "Chesterton's fence" analogy of Conservatism to illustrate the reluctance to tear things (institutions) down until you have a comprehensive understanding of why it was built in first place.

[joshuabgood]

I really don't think there is a fixed ideology. Hence the vacillation between things like free trade and protectionism, a dynamic foreign policy and isolationism, libertarianism and quite a few "pet" rules...

Some people feel it is rooted in Biblicism...but I don't know...

[Soloist]

I think if one tears it down to the most basic level, conservative is how you were raised or how things were as you expected them. Liberal is a change from that.

I think this is why people speak of the older days as better (from a conservative standpoint) and liberals speak of things getting better or worse for the future

[joshuabgood]

Liberals/Progressives see things getting better as we progress along. Conservatives see them getting worse and wish for the good old days.

[JohnH]

One of the things I'm proudest of is that I've never been a political conservative.

[barnhart]

Liberals/Progressives see things getting better as we progress along. Conservatives see them getting worse and wish for the good old days.

This is likely residual from Hegelian thought, that societies take predictable courses of development, but I'm not so sure Hegel would recognize it. I read him as predicting development but not offering the moral component that progress is inherently better. That came later with thinkers like Marx, Stalin, Lenin, Mao, Pol Pot etc...