Aim.org
| By Daniel Allen | April 5, 2009
Is this
the end of conservatism? Not quite. Some took the 2008
election results as a sign that it was time for America to
accept its progressive liberal destiny and pack conservatism
up with the rest of the traditions that we have left behind.
But Dr. Lee Edwards of the Heritage Foundation demonstrated on
April 1st that he knows better, characterizing the Democratic
gains as nothing more than a swing, awaiting the counter-swing
of conservatism, on the political pendulum.
“American
conservatism has undoubtedly suffered steep ups and downs in
the post-World War II period,” Edwards said. “But each
time, conservatism rose from the ashes like the fabled
Phoenix.” And if conservatism is headed for the “ash heap
of history,” as liberal pundits and historians keep
insisting, it is only that it might rise again stronger than
before.
This
process of regeneration may be a very good thing for the
conservative movement—a chance to rethink its strategies,
reorganize its base and reaffirm its ideals. Edwards wanted to
make one thing very clear—“Republicans lost in 2008 and in
2006 not because they ran on conservative principles, but
because they ran away from conservative principles.”
Edwards
suggested that the key change the conservative movement must
make is a transformation to a politics of inclusion. There is
no reason, he contends, that social conservatives,
neoconservatives, fiscal conservatives, and libertarians
cannot all come together on common beliefs to form a
comprehensive ideological movement. His is a philosophy of
“fusionism,” which includes the idea that the various
strands of conservatism still share the common traits that
have shaped the movement from the beginning, and can serve as
uniting forces.
In 1964,
the libertarian thinker Frank Meyer organized a group of
leading conservatives to answer the question, “What is
conservatism?” Edwards points out that “despite real
differences…the contributors, ranging from [Friedrich] Hayek
to [Russell] Kirk to [William F.] Buckley, agree on several
fundamentals.” This diverse group of conservative
intellectuals agreed that:
- They accept “an
objective moral order” of “immutable standards by
which human conduct should be judged”;
- Whether they
emphasize human rights and freedoms or duties and
responsibilities, they unanimously value “the human
person” as the center of political and social thought;
- They oppose
liberal attempts to use the State “to enforce
ideological patters on human beings”; They reject the
centralized power and direction necessary to the
“planning” of society; They join in defense of the
Constitution as “originally conceived”; and They are
devoted to Western civilization and acknowledge the need
to defend it against the “messianic” intentions of
Communism.
“I
believe that a rejuvenated fusionism” could reunite all the
branches of the “loosely bound” conservative movement,
Edwards said. Fusionism has an opportunity to take hold in the
conservative movement now, in its time of need. The movement
will not bring itself back to life, however. The rebirth of
the conservative Phoenix will require the cooperation of the
base, the thinker, the doer, the leader and the financier.
When these people begin to work together again, the fusion of
conservative ideologies into one powerful, coherent movement
will take place.
Democrats
control the House, the Senate, and the White House, but the
conscientious conservative opposition is far from dead. In
fact, conservatism is alive as ever, because it is a cause
born in the principles upon which this nation was founded.
Edwards closed his remarks by reminding his listeners of the
principles that have always pulled this nation through hard
times, the same principles on which conservatives have always
based their philosophy: “Prudence, not rashness. Custom, not
the impulse of the moment. A transcendent faith, not a fatal
conceit. Reform, not revolution.”
Originally Published on Aim.org
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