We Need To Stop Calling Ourselves Conservatives

[corbe]

We Need To Stop Calling Ourselves Conservatives

BY: JOHN DANIEL DAVIDSON
OCTOBER 20, 2022

The conservative project has failed, and conservatives need to forge a new political identity that reflects our revolutionary moment.

Given the state of America in 2022, conservatives should stop calling themselves conservatives.

Why? Because the conservative project has largely failed, and it is time for a new approach. Conservatives have long defined their politics in terms of what they wish to conserve or preserve — individual rights, family values, religious freedom, and so on. Conservatives, we are told, want to preserve the rich traditions and civilizational achievements of the past, pass them on to the next generation, and defend them from the left. In America, conservatives and classical liberals alike rightly believe an ascendent left wants to dismantle our constitutional system and transform America into a woke dystopia. The task of conservatives, going back many decades now, has been to stop them.

In an earlier era, this made sense. There was much to conserve. But any honest appraisal of our situation today renders such a definition absurd. After all, what have conservatives succeeded in conserving? In just my lifetime, they have lost much: marriage as it has been understood for thousands of years, the First Amendment, any semblance of control over our borders, a fundamental distinction between men and women, and, especially of late, the basic rule of law.

Calling oneself a conservative in today’s political climate would be like saying one is a conservative because one wants to preserve the medieval European traditions of arranged marriage and trial by combat. Whatever the merits of those practices, you cannot preserve or defend something that is dead. Perhaps you can retain a memory of it or knowledge of it. But that is not what conservatism was purportedly about. It was about maintaining traditions and preserving Western civilization as a living and vibrant thing.

Well, too late. Western civilization is dying.

<..snip..>

https://thefederalist.com/2022/10/20/we-need-to-stop-calling-ourselves-conservatives/

[Hoodat]

The Conservative project hasn't been tried.

[catfish1957]

I will grant that what is called a conservative is a ruse and shadow versus what we knew in the Goldwater and Reagan era. 

The lack of obstruction by allowing us to get to $31T in national debt is proof positive of that.

[DefiantMassRINO]

JOHN DANIEL DAVIDSON, take a long walk off a short pier.

I am a Conservative because I believe that the Rights of Man are given to us by God.

I am a Conservative because I believe that a Constitution is an agreement among the people to form a Government, and the rights of Government are those which are enumerated in that Constitution.

I am a Conservative because I believe that Adam Smith capitalism is moral and just.

I am a Conservative because I believe America should lead from the front, with strength.

I am a Conservative because I believe that the Government closest to the people governs best.

I am a Conservative because I believe in American Exceptionalism and Manifest Destiny.

I am a Conservative because I believe that our Founding Fathers were some of the greatest minds of the Age of Reason.

If those things seem revolutionary, it's because our nation has turned away from those ideals in its  embrace of kleptocratic globalism.

Those who envy European Socialism have forgotten that many of our ancestors risked their own lives to escape the tyranny of the Old World.

I may not be conservative enough to some, but, dammit, I am proud to be a Conservative.  I will not allow a fickle and trite political class to bend my will and reason.  I will not deny my identity as a Conservative to assuage the corrupt political whims of Swamp Creatures.

[sneakypete]

JOHN DANIEL DAVIDSON, take a long walk off a short pier.

I am a Conservative because I believe that the Rights of Man are given to us by God.

I am a Conservative because I believe that a Constitution is an agreement among the people to form a Government, and the rights of Government are those which are enumerated in that Constitution.

I am a Conservative because I believe that Adam Smith capitalism is moral and just.

I am a Conservative because I believe America should lead from the front, with strength.

I am a Conservative because I believe that the Government closest to the people governs best.

I am a Conservative because I believe in American Exceptionalism and Manifest Destiny.

I am a Conservative because I believe that our Founding Fathers were some of the greatest minds of the Age of Reason.

If those things seem revolutionary, it's because our nation has turned away from those ideals in its  embrace of kleptocratic globalism.

Those who envy European Socialism have forgotten that many of our ancestors risked their own lives to escape the tyranny of the Old World.

I may not be conservative enough to some, but, dammit, I am proud to be a Conservative.  I will not allow a fickle and trite political class to bend my will and reason.  I will not deny my identity as a Conservative to assuage the corrupt political whims of Swamp Creatures.

@DefiantMassRINO

While I will argue against the existence of a mythical creature named "God" being responsible for making America a nation of free people while allowing the rest of the world to be enslaved at the time America was created, WELL STATED!.

BTW, you are as welcome to hold your beliefs as I am to hold mine. The very fact that Americans can hold opposing views on something like religion without wanting to murder each other is a big part of what makes America great.

[roamer_1]

Outside forces have been trying to change what conservatism is for a very long time.
Renaming among the many assaults.

I will be a Conservative till I die. And the Good Lord willing, a long time after that.
I will call it nothing else.
I will not change its precepts.
I will not lower its expectations.

It is what it is.

[Bigun]

JOHN DANIEL DAVIDSON, take a long walk off a short pier.

I am a Conservative because I believe that the Rights of Man are given to us by God.

I am a Conservative because I believe that a Constitution is an agreement among the people to form a Government, and the rights of Government are those which are enumerated in that Constitution.

I am a Conservative because I believe that Adam Smith capitalism is moral and just.

I am a Conservative because I believe America should lead from the front, with strength.

I am a Conservative because I believe that the Government closest to the people governs best.

I am a Conservative because I believe in American Exceptionalism and Manifest Destiny.

I am a Conservative because I believe that our Founding Fathers were some of the greatest minds of the Age of Reason.

If those things seem revolutionary, it's because our nation has turned away from those ideals in its  embrace of kleptocratic globalism.

Those who envy European Socialism have forgotten that many of our ancestors risked their own lives to escape the tyranny of the Old World.

I may not be conservative enough to some, but, dammit, I am proud to be a Conservative.  I will not allow a fickle and trite political class to bend my will and reason.  I will not deny my identity as a Conservative to assuage the corrupt political whims of Swamp Creatures.

Great list! For which I will offer this summation: "I'm a conservative because I am, first and foremost, a Constitutionalist!"

[sneakypete]

Great list! For which I will offer this summation: "I'm a conservative because I am, first and foremost, a Constitutionalist!"

@Bigun

Nobody but a fool can argue with that one.

BTW,why do you own a Bi Gun,and why are you bragging about it?

Where did you even find a Bi sexual gun for sale,LA?

[Bigun]

@Bigun

Nobody but a fool can argue with that one.

BTW,why do you own a Bi Gun,and why are you bragging about it?

Where did you even find a Bi sexual gun for sale,LA?

My screen name refers to my physical size @sneakypete (6' 1" 250) My family started calling me that very early on and it stuck.

[Right_in_Virginia]

I don't think the author is asking for a definition or defense of conservatism.

He's bi*ch-slapping conservatives for not using the tools of government to stop the Marxist's growing influence over the past 20 years into every nook and cranny of American society  ---- rendering conservatives a relic, a failure, an obstacle.

Prove him wrong.

[roamer_1]

I don't think the author is asking for a definition or defense of conservatism.

He's bi*ch-slapping conservatives for not using the tools of government to stop the Marxist's growing influence over the past 20 years into every nook and cranny of American society  ---- rendering conservatives a relic, a failure, an obstacle.

Prove him wrong.

Actual Conservatives have only very nominally been in power once in twenty years in the form of the TEA party.

[roamer_1]

That is not the fault of Conservatism, but rather the varied hyphenated posers that seek to stand in its place.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Actual Conservatives have only very nominally been in power once in twenty years in the form of the TEA party.

In those 20 years have conservatives developed a strategy to fight harder and smarter to expand ther power, keep their power and use their power to achieve results?  I've not seen one.

[Right_in_Virginia]

That is not the fault of Conservatism, but rather the varied hyphenated posers that seek to stand in its place.

Have conservatives developed a strategy to fight harder and smarter to expand their power, keep their power and use their power to achieve results? 

"It's not our fault" is a weak excuse.

[roamer_1]

In those 20 years have conservatives developed a strategy to fight harder and smarter to expand ther power, keep their power and use their power to achieve results?  I've not seen one.

Sure @Right_in_Virginia ... We keep preaching it.
Unfortunately, populism always wins the day - Pragmatism with no legs, and no principles... feeding on fear and pointing at Democrats.

It's very effective, and very useless.

Stop building coalitions with defecting democrats and enforce the existing coalition.

Or don't. I know all y'all are not committed to the principles that make things go - well satisfied instead by candy thrown by the clown at the front of the parade.

But sooner or later, the truth will out. And sooner than you think, those principles will be self-evident. All I can do is keep preaching and wait for that day. Till then y'all will be running around aimlessly.

[roamer_1]

Have conservatives developed a strategy to fight harder and smarter to expand ther power, keep their power and use their power to achieve results? 

"It's not our fault" is a weak excuse.

Asked and answered.

[sneakypete]

My screen name refers to my physical size @sneakypete (6' 1" 250) My family started calling me that very early on and it stuck.

@Bigun

Ok,just checking to make sure you don't buy any California Guns.

[sneakypete]

Actual Conservatives have only very nominally been in power once in twenty years in the form of the TEA party.

@roamer_1

Just imagine how different America would probably be today if we had just elected Barry Goldwater President instead of that corrupt ,TOTALLY amoral slimeball from Texas.

I did MY part by voting for Goldwater and never voting for a Dim candidate since afterwards. The Dim campaign was one full of desperation and lies,and that alone should have discouraged people from voting for LBJ. Remember the little girl counting pedals of a flower being equated with America being nuked and the voice over hinting this is what would happen if Goldwater was elected because he wanted to resist Communism?

[Right_in_Virginia]

We keep preaching it.   Unfortunately, populism always wins the day - Pragmatism with no legs, and no principles... feeding on fear and pointing at Democrats.

But sooner or later, the truth will out. And sooner than you think, those principles will be self-evident. All I can do is keep preaching and wait for that day. Till then y'all will be running around aimlessly.

The author isn't arguing against the principles of conservatism @roamer_1   --  he's arguing against the "preaching and waiting" conservatives embrace.

FTA--

Conservatives are still invoking these things as if they are magic incantations that can roll back time, just as they did during the crucial decades of the past half-century when a cultural and technological revolution was re-making America before their eyes, and they did nothing to stop it.

Davidson is not advocating throwing out conservatism----he is advocating throwing out the current poitical philosophy of losing to our domestic enemies without even bothering to engage in the battle.  He's saying *this* conservatism has failed us miserably and has to to go ---- even the label ---- because today's political conservatism is beyond salvage.

FTA ---

So what kind of politics should conservatives today, as inheritors of a failed movement, adopt? For starters, they should stop thinking of themselves as conservatives (much less as Republicans) and start thinking of themselves as radicals, restorationists, and counterrevolutionaries. Indeed, that is what they are, whether they embrace those labels or not.

[roamer_1]

Davidson is not advocating throwing out conservatism----he is advocating throwing out the current poitical philosophy of losing to our domestic enemies without even bothering to engage in the battle.  He's saying *this* conservatism has failed us miserably and has to to go ---- even the label ---- because today's political conservatism is beyond salvage.

FTA ---

Then you will find out the hard way @Right_in_Virginia ... That's the only other method.

No skin off my nose. Kinda f*** around and find out. 

[roamer_1]

@roamer_1

Just imagine how different America would probably be today if we had just elected Barry Goldwater President instead of that corrupt ,TOTALLY amoral slimeball from Texas.

I did MY part by voting for Goldwater and never voting for a Dim candidate since afterwards. The Dim campaign was one full of desperation and lies,and that alone should have discouraged people from voting for LBJ. Remember the little girl counting pedals of a flower being equated with America being nuked and the voice over hinting this is what would happen if Goldwater was elected because he wanted to resist Communism?

I will never vote for a BOOSH again @sneakypete ... I did vote for the old man after Reagan... Because I was a shiny new Republican... I don't believe I voted for Dubya his first run through - If I did I held my nose. I wanted Keyes in that election, and I do believe I wrote him in.

But I DID vote for Dubya in the second run... For the troops only. And I have regretted that vote ever since. That vote is what eventually positioned me like I am today.

I don't trust them bastards one bit more than I trust Democrats. Which is healthy.

[sneakypete]

I will never vote for a BOOSH again @sneakypete ... I did vote for the old man after Reagan... Because I was a shiny new Republican... I don't believe I voted for Dubya his first run through - If I did I held my nose. I wanted Keyes in that election, and I do believe I wrote him in.

But I DID vote for Dubya in the second run... For the troops only. And I have regretted that vote ever since. That vote is what eventually positioned me like I am today.

I don't trust them bastards one bit more than I trust Democrats. Which is healthy.

@roamer_1

And why should you or anyone else trust them as a group? The majority are nothing less than professional liars and thieves, with a few actual traitors thrown in for diversity.

I have to modify the above statement because the people/corporations that pay them all the bribes can clearly trust them because if the pols screw them,the offshore cash flow stops and they get investigated by the IRS and the Feebs.

It's CITIZENS that can't trust most of them.

[roamer_1]

@roamer_1

And why should you or anyone else trust them as a group? The majority are nothing less than professional liars and thieves, with a few actual traitors thrown in for diversity.

I have to modify the above statement because the people/corporations that pay them all the bribes can clearly trust them because if the pols screw them,the offshore cash flow stops and they get investigated by the IRS and the Feebs.

It's CITIZENS that can't trust most of them.

@sneakypete

That's right. I now stand exactly and firstly upon the very conservative principle that NO government should ever be trusted and that the only government worth having is the smallest one you can find.

And that is not one that is spending more than the entire country makes. That is not one who has so many employees that the employees voting in their own interests threaten the liberties the government was created to protect.

And I don't give a shit which way you vote - a government that big has got to be stopped. NOT increased. Something actual Conservatives would happily do.

[EdinVA]

Gotta love labels...  How about "American"... nah.

[roamer_1]

Gotta love labels...  How about "American"... nah.

Conservatism is not a label. That's the point.