The Principles of American Conservatism

(Note: The following was originally exclusively written for a conservatism section of my website, Captain Justin’s Page N’at, but is now being published here on this blog as well for the potential of giving it greater exposure. Its content has not been changed. You can see that version by clicking here if you wish.)

HOW CAN CONSERVATISM be defined? What beliefs label someone as a conservative? While I as a conservative could easily give you a list of my positions on every political subject of the times, what good would that do to further the conservatism movement and the great traditions of America? No one can form an opinion on a matter without first believing in something greater: individual principle. These principles define people, their morals, their ethics, their judgments. It is with these principles that one can decide what is right and what is wrong in their own eyes.

Which brings us to conservative principles. What people who consider themselves to be conservatives believe as their underlying principles are the very root of what they base their social and political views on. Without underlying principles, there is no bedrock on which to build a position.

I as a proud conservative have drafted 20 conservative principles on which I believe conservatives’ opinions take root from. These principles can then be applied to a particular issue to determine if it is an issue to support or oppose.

Written in a semi-legal tone with the occasional specific and direct clarification, the 20 principles below can be applied to and interpreted to cover a strong majority of social and political issues.

ON THE CONSTITUTION

1. A True Conservative All-American believes in and adheres to the principles ingeniously drafted by our Founding Fathers in the greatest document of freedom ever penned by man, the United States Constitution.

2. A True Conservative All-American believes that the Constitution is indeed the law of the land and must be interpreted based upon the way framers intended, not through the biases of judges who want to enact their own ideological interpretations. Amendments to the Constitution are the only way to change the great document, not through an activist judiciary.


ON THE AMERICAN DREAM

3. A True Conservative All-American believes in the American Dream: that all Americans have an equal opportunity to live their lives to the fullest, succeed, be prosperous, and live in the pursuit of happiness. The government ought not interfere with this goal and ought to keep intervention at the minimalist of levels.

4. A True Conservative All-American believes that the excessive taxation of those who have gone out into the world and made successes of themselves hinders the American Dream by punishing those who have become “overly successful.”


ON RACE

5. A True Conservative All-American believes that the race and ethnicity of an individual are not grounds on which they are to be judged, but rather they are to be judged by their character, morals, and worth to society. Neither racial bigotry nor preference is justified, as no race is superior.


ON THE RULE OF LAW

6. A True Conservative All-American believes in the rule of law and that those who fail to follow it shall be brought to justice. No one is above the law. Punishments for failure to adhere to the law ought to be based upon the severity of the crime committed, with the most stringent of punishments applied to those worthy of such.


ON LIFE

7. A True Conservative All-American believes that life has value and should not be destroyed or desecrated by those who allege they have a right to do so.


ON RELIGION

8. A True Conservative All-American believes that America was founded by individuals who strongly believed in a power higher than themselves: a Creator.

9. A True Conservative All-American believes in the Constitution’s right to the free exercise of religion, and believes that this provision was meant to prohibit the government from establishing a national church, not to outlaw religious presence – regardless of whatever faith represented – from the public square or traditional capacities of government.

10. A True Conservative All-American believes America, because of its founding and heritage, is, in practicality, a Christian nation, and although no requirement that Americans must follow Christianity ought to ever come to be, it is incorrect to deny that the word of God is in the blood of the nation.


ON THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT

11. A True Conservative All-American believes that the best government is that which governs least, and that bureaucracies and overregulation infringe upon individual liberties.

12. A True Conservative All-American believes that the government ought not to act as a “nanny” by regulating or criticizing actions of the individual that are best suited to be decided by the individual.

13. A True Conservative All-American believes that the role of the government is to provide for only what cannot be done or provided by the American people themselves. Such principle was said by Abraham Lincoln long before the 20th and 21st century liberals began to create dependencies looking for handouts: “You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.”


ON FISCAL MATTERS

14. A True Conservative All-American believes that government ought to exercise sound fiscal judgment, cut spending, resist increasing taxes, and cut taxes to allow and encourage economic growth.

15. A True Conservative All-American believes that government funds ought not to be allocated for items of trivial importance or for items that ought to be funded or established by the willful citizenry.


ON NATIONAL & PERSONAL PROTECTION

16. A True Conservative All-American believes that in order to protect the freedoms and rights cherished by the people of the nation that we must first defend the nation and the nation’s interests from attack or detriment by establishing a strong military supremacy and by always perusing victory in any endeavor involving its use, as well as the use of additional sensible methods of protecting the nation, defending the nation, and averting threats to the nation, the people, or pertinent interests.

17. A True Conservative All-American believes in the right of an individual to protect their wellbeing and the wellbeing of property or entities of which they hold ownership.


ON PATRIOTISM & TRADITION

18. A True Conservative All-American believes in maintaining the time-tested, longstanding traditions of our nation and opposes altering tradition to pander to those who wish to undermine these traditions in order to form a “new” America. We believe in patriotism and pride in our nation and its culture.


ON MORALS & COMMON SENSE

19. A True Conservative All-American believes in morality and decency and fully understands right from wrong.

20. A True Conservative All-American practices and stresses common sense, sound judgment, personal responsibility, and rationality towards all situations and issues.


© 2008 Justin Margeson for A Forum for Freedom. All rights reserved.