December 22, 2016
Conservatism and Progressivism: Two Irreconcilable Worldviews
By E. M. Cadwaladr
Contemporary conservatism and progressivism are not just two points along some abstract right-left continuum, but are utterly different and irreconcilable worldviews. It is possible to illustrate this point by examining each side’s understanding of two, long-hallowed words from the Enlightenment – “freedom” and “equality”.
Conservatives
Ask a conservative what conservatism is about and the likely response will be that it is about freedom. What is meant by “freedom,” more than anything else, is the freedom from government interference. Conservatives want to be left alone to make their own decisions, to do with their property as they see fit, and are willing to relinquish to government only those things that cannot be reasonably entrusted to private individuals. Apart from a few anarcho-capitalists, no one believes that roads, the military, or the courts should be private enterprises. However, conservatives do not believe that it is the proper role of government to either right social wrongs or to artificially perpetuate them. They believe that, fundamentally, the individual should be free to prosper or to fail in accordance with his or her choices and abilities, and that each individual is responsible for his or her own destiny. Conservatives acknowledge that there are among us people who need and rightly deserve our help, but believe that charity is an individual virtue -- not, in most cases, the prerogative of government. Further, they believe that the purpose of charity is to raise the unfortunate to a state of self-sufficiency if possible, or to sustain them at the level of bare decency if they truly lack the capacity to support themselves. They do not believe that the purpose of charity is to produce economic equality or to undo the consequences of history.
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