6 Core

Principles of
Conservatism
 While campaigning for president,
Abraham Lincoln asked:

“
What is conservatism? Is
it not adherence to the old
and tried, against the new
and untried?

For years Americans have defined conservatism in many ways.

Some of those definitions are true.

Some aren’t.

But what most people don’t know is that conservatism isn’t ideological. In fact, it’s
“the negation of ideology.” It’s not a dogmatic belief system, to be professed and
defended from all heterodox thinking.

So what is it?

Conservatism, as the great thinker Russell Kirk writes, can be explained in guiding
principles “best discerned in the theoretical and practical politics of British and
American conservatives.”

In other words, the principles that guided the Magna Carta, the establishment of the
British constitutional government, and the American Founding.

What are those “guiding principles” he refers to?

Kirk describes six. Let’s cover each one:

1. Transcendent Order

Conservatives believe that there is a

transcendent moral order and that we
ought to conform our society to that
order.

Maybe you describe that order as

“natural law” or “social justice.”
The important thing is that you
ultimately recognize the existence of
an enduring moral authority—not the
order enforced by arbitrary decisions
and legislation, but the knowable
order established by God and found
in
the human heart.

Contrast this with the progressive

utilitarian view of the state as a tool
for an arbitrary, man-made order.

There’s a big difference.

2. Social Continuity

Conservatives recognize the principle of “social continuity,” or the ancient links

between generations and communities. Everything we do is informed by context,
culture, history, human experience, and religious or philosophical belief.

No personal or social change happens in a vacuum, and human beings and societies
are not machines to be manipulated or replaced at will.

When change does need to happen, it ought to happen gradually. Kirk points out
that “revolution slices through the arteries of a culture, a cure that kills.”

History is packed with examples of violence, oppression, injustice, dehumanization,

and atrocities—sometimes committed for the sake of what is perceived as a good
cause.

Our concepts of order, justice, and freedom are the results of years of painful social
experience, and of “centuries of trial and reflection and sacrifice.”

The continuity of society should be respected, not dismissed.

3. Prescription

Like social continuity, wisdom and

knowledge are passed on from others.
Everything we know, we learned
from someone else.

Or, to put it another way, we stand on

the shoulders of giants.

Conservatives believe in
“prescription,” which basically
means the “wisdom of our
ancestors.” We respect and listen to
the experiences and knowledge of
those who came before us, we learn
from them, and we pass the best
lessons on to those we love.

Moral, political, and social

prescriptions evolved from years of
experience and study, so we respect
those prescriptions. They weren’t
developed in a vacuum. Ignoring
them has bitter consequences.

It is dangerous to try to resolve

pressing issues using private
judgment or rationality alone.
They should be weighed against
long-established prescriptions and
customs.

As the great conservative thinker

Edmund Burke wrote, “The
individual is foolish, but the species
is wise.”
4. Prudence

Prudence is one of the most important virtues a human being can possess,
particularly if he or she is in a public service role.

We should examine any new public policy, piece of legislation, or law based on its
long-term consequences, not its temporary advantage or popularity.

Human societies are complex. What appears to solve injustice today might inflict it
tomorrow. Move too fast, and the supposed cure could create new and even worse
problems.

As Russell Kirk observes,

“ Sudden and slashing reforms are

perilous as sudden and slashing
surgery. The march of providence
is slow; it is the devil who always
hurries.
5. Variety

Contrary to popular opinion,

conservatives cherish diversity:
cultural, political, religious,
intellectual, and so on.

True diversity, or variety, is critical to

the health of any society. Egalitarian
systems and narrow uniformity
murder the human spirit and slam the
brakes on progress.

True equality exists only before a

just court of law. Enforcing equality
any other way cultivates mediocrity,
frustration, and unhappiness.

Respect variety and you respect

individuals. Believe that everyone
should be the same and you create
misery.
6. Imperfection

Conservatives recognize that while human beings are capable of great good, we are
equally capable of evil. No one has perfect knowledge or impeccable motives.

Which means we’ll never create the perfect social order, and it’s dangerous to try.

Think Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia.

Does that mean we do nothing?

Not at all. We work for a tolerably ordered, just, and free society. There will
always be suffering, injustices, and evils; we must strive to reduce them as much as
possible.

So long as we don’t assume that one person or a few privileged people, imperfect as
everyone else, can or should create utopia or the “perfect” society.
To Sum Up

There’s probably no better way

to summarize the conservative
perspective than to quote Russell
Kirk one last time:

“
Politics is the art of the
possible, not the art
of the ideal.

Authentic conservatism respects the

nature of human beings and their
cultures and experiences. Unlike
progressivism, it doesn’t seek
immediate, radical change, or take a
mechanistic view of the world.

Conservatism honors the past,

respects the present, and proceeds
gently into the future.

It’s not a dogmatic belief system; it’s

a reflective state of mind.
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This has been adapted from Russell Kirk’s essay on the fundamental premises of
conservatism.