Quotes About Conservatism

The victory of conservatism and the profound transformation brought about over the course of the next three decades was thus far from inevitable: it took an intellectual revolution.

here, it was not until the mid-1970s that a new generation of conservatives felt emboldened to challenge the 'statism' of their predecessors and offer radical prescriptions for dealing with what they described as the 'sclerosis' of over-ambitious governments and their deadening impact upon private initiative.

Conservatism—not to mention the ideological Right—was a minority preference in the decades following World War II.

The last bastion of conservatism,' she commented, 'is food.

Growing older, I have lost the need to be political, which means, in this country, the need to be left. I am driven into grudging toleration of the Conservative Party because it is the party of non-politics, of resistance to politics.

Rossiter said that conservatism had a "high duty to maintain its historic links with American liberalism," and vice versa. "The American, like his tradition, is deeply liberal, deeply conservative," Rossiter wrote. "If this is a paradox, so, too, is America

Just because you're not uptight doesn't mean you're irresponsible. And vice versa. When will those Conservatives ever learn?

We might say that the whole recent controversy between conservatism and liberalism is utterly wrongheaded and ignorant. Since the true role of conservatism must be to conserve the tradition of our society, and since that tradition is a liberal tradition, the two should be solely allied in their aim at common goals. So long as liberals and conservatives have as their primary goals to defend interests and to belabor each other for partisan reasons, they cannot do this. Tragedy & Hope, p. 1232

In contrast to status quo conservatism, authoritarianism is primarily driven not by aversion to change (difference over time) but by aversion to complexity (difference across space). In a nutshell, authoritarians are "simple-minded avoiders of complexity more than closed-minded avoiders of change" (Stenner 2009b: 193).

in the event of an "authoritarian revolution," authoritarians may seek massive social change in pursuit of greater oneness and sameness, willingly overturning established institutions and practices that their (psychologically) conservative peers would be drawn to defend and preserve.

Deeply embedded in conservative and liberal politics are different models of the family. Conservatism, as we shall see, is based on a Strict Father model, while liberalism is centered around a Nurturant Parent model. These two models of the family give rise to different moral systems and different discourse forms, that is, different choices of words and different modes of reasoning. Once

Rudd proved to be too conservative for the nation he led, while Gillard's campaign for re-election was too cynical. But the problem goes deeper than any individual's failure. Labor in office suffered a return of the identity crisis that has plagued it in its wilderness years in Opposition... the party had given up its soul to the machine. p208

I'm here to tell you: under-education + lack of faith in the political and economic system that has failed them + Christianity + 40 years of conservatism becoming more and more extreme + right wing talk radio + virtually no mental healthcare + lack of interaction with anyone outside of their race mixed with stereotypes that have become "normalized" + social media + no good jobs + poor health from over-work/dangerous jobs + economic desperation x magical savior = trumpism.

Errors sanctified by long usage are not easily relinquished.

Liberalism is trust of the people tempered by prudence; conservatism, distrust of the people tempered by fear.

The fact that a reactionary can sometimes be right is a little less recognized that the fact that a liberal can be. . . .

The trodden path is the safest.

When you try to figure out what the religious right is, it ultimately comes down either to one man, Pat Robertson, or anyone who believes in a higher being and wants their taxes cut.

True conservatives fear anything that is at odds with the status quo, even to the extent of being unable to recognise when the status quo represents injustice. And reactionary conservatives actually want to tear down the gains of the past.

I have unbelievable support among Republicans.

No deals with the Tories; it's war.

Wars always bring about a conservative reaction. They overwhelm and destroy patient and careful efforts to improve the condition of man.

give a mental assent to the customs of their forefathers

I am an Anglo-Catholic in religion, a classicist in literature and a royalist in politics.