Sorry, I am returning to the political problem. This is a fundamental post about the difference between conservatism practiced by the right and the ideals of the US Founders.
I've pointed out multiple times that "conservatism" is an ideology created by King William IV, youngest son of King George III, to rebrand the Tory Party in the wake of electoral reforms. Conservative MPs still call themselves Tories.
Conservatism was importanted into the US in reaction to the Civil Rights Movement.
The big differences between the ideals of the US Founders and conservatives is as follows:
Conservatism is a partisan ideology. The ideology was created for a party. The ideology focuses heavily on bringing members of the partisan group into power. In contrast, the US Founders had a deep distaste for the factions of Europe. The US Constitution does not mention parties because the founders didn't want them. The Federalist Papers have chapters warning against the dangers of factions.
Conservatives are driven by culture war while the Founders appears far more interested in discussing the nature of government and the relation of free people to their government.
Conservatism is a globalist movement. There is a Conservative Party in most English speaking countries including England, Australia. The movement is unified by things like "News Corporation" that owns Fox News. The US Founders preferred local government.
In my opinion the most important difference is that Conservatives have adopted the modern logic of Hegel and friends while the US founders had a classical liberal education steeped in Aristotelian logic (as presented by Isaac Watts and Arnauld.)
Partisan modern conservatism is substantially different from the ideas of the US Founders. Conservatives use an oppositional approach to discourse. This oppositional approach to life has the desired effect of concentrating power; however it has a negative impact on society.
Conservatives in the United States have been in a shrill culture war for over a half century. In this time we have seen a systematic erosion of liberty and they are losing the culture war.
Scholars often use the term "classical liberalism" for the ideals of the US Founders and the Party of Lincoln. The term was used by Hayek and Von Mises.
Prior to the Civil Rights Movement the Republican Party was the Liberal Party. We would call their ideas classical liberal. Conservatives infiltrated in reaction to Civil Rights and have since taken control of the party.
There are still some vestiges of the classical liberal tradition of the GOP in some remote corners of the US.
I've been watching #walkaway videos on Youtube. A small percent of the videos end with people who Democratic Party and who found Republicans who were willing to discuss ideas and who actively promoted liberty.
The sad truth is that, as Republicans become more partisan and more conservative, they become close minded.
I suspect that most of the people who Walk Away from the Democrats will find themselves wandering in a disenfranchised political wilderness as independents and Libertarians.
Conservatives and progressives play the same games. The partisans engage in culture war to divide people while the ruling class sweeps up the spoils.
I say that the best hope for America is that people walk away from the base partisanship at the heart of both left wing and right wing party. The idea behind partisans is that partisan activists will use culture war to divide people.
Partisan get vicious.
It is the partisanship. Anyway, I'd love to see comments about my description of the difference between the ideals of the US Founders (classical liberalism) and modern conservatism. (I have to repeat Conservatism was created by the Tories)
I really hope to get off this political discourse. But I feel that it is critical to explain the difference between the ideals of the US founders and the Tories.
