Conservative

Previous Breaking News: Conservatives

A conservative is one who adheres to principles of limited government, personal responsibility and moral values. A conservative would likely agree with the statement in George Washington's Farewell Address that "religion and morality are indispensable supports" to political prosperity. Conservatism arose in the 19th century as a response to liberalism, particularly as manifested in the French Revolution.

Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States, is the epitome of American conservatism.

Conservatives in the United States

In the United States, conservatives are generally characterized by adherence to limited government, public morality and free enterprise. Specifically, conservatives tend to support these policies:

• Return of prayer in school
• Prohibition of abortion
• Opposition to same-sex marriage licenses and homosexuals
• Support of laws against pornography
• Support of the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms
• Economic allocative efficiency (as opposed to popular equity)
• Stronger law enforcement and anti-crime laws, including the death penalty
• Parental control of education
• Private medical care and retirement plans
• Weakening or canceling failed social support programs
• Generally opposed to the United Nations
• Support enforcement of current laws regarding immigration
• Support tightening of border security
• Respect for our military... past and present
• Literal interpretation of the Bible and rejection of evolutionism
• Low taxes, especially for families
• Opening foreign markets to U.S. products
• Less power for the federal government and more for local and state governments
• A strong national defense

Every so often a conservative has been elected president of the United States. All presidents combine some liberal and some conservative elements, as well as some policies that do not fit into categories.

In the last 125 years the most prominent conservative presidents include:

• Grover Cleveland (1885-1889, 1893-1897)
• William McKinley (1897-1901)
• William Howard Taft (1909-1913)
• Warren G. Harding (1921-1923)
• Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929)
• Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961)
• Ronald Reagan (1981-1989)
• George W. Bush (2001-2009)

Other influential figures in the conservative ideology and movement within the past 125 years include:

• Barry Goldwater - 1964 Republican candidate, lost to liberal Democrat Lyndon Johnson but revived the conservative movement inside the GOP
• Russell Kirk - Theorist & intellectual
• Irving and William Kristol - Notable neoconservatives
• Pat Buchanan - Popular paleoconservative figure and occasional presidential candidate
• Margaret Thatcher - British prime minister between 1979 and 1990, held similar views as Ronald Reagan
• Milton Friedman - Chicago-school libertarian economist, influential during Reagan administration; leader of the Chicago School of Economics

US Voters

In America, most conservatives tend to align with the Republican Party, but not exclusively so. In the 2008 election, 35% of the voters identified themselves as conservatives. Of them, 78% voted for McCain and 20% for Obama, with the 20% accounting for Obama's margin of victory. Only 22% of the voters were liberal; they favored Obama 89%-10%. In the middle were 44% who called themselves moderates. They split for Obama by 60%-39%. (Minor candidates won 2% of the vote.)

Religious differences between political conservatives and political liberals

The Barna poll conducted in November 2008 shows significant differences between the 32% of Americans who called themselves as “mostly conservative” on social and political matters; and the 17% who called themselves “mostly liberal” on social and political matters. The others --50%--were moderates with positions somewhere in-between.

Some findings: Political liberals are less than half as likely as political conservatives to firmly believe that the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches (27% versus 63%, respectively); to strongly believe that Satan is real (17% versus 36%); and to firmly contend that they have a personal responsibility to share their religious beliefs with others (23% versus 48%).

[Note: "Liberal" and "conservative" in this survey are based on politics]

Liberals are also far less likely than conservatives to strongly believe each of the following:

• their religious faith is very important in their life (54% of liberals vs. 82% of conservatives);
• a person cannot earn their way into Heaven by doing good deeds or being a good person (23% vs. 37%);
• their faith is becoming an increasingly important moral guide in their life (38% vs. 70%);
• the church they currently attend is very important in helping them find direction and fulfillment in life (37% vs. 62%);
• their primary purpose in life is to love God with all their heart, mind, strength and soul (43% vs. 76%);

political conservatives were more likely than liberals to:

• read the Bible, other than at church events, during the past week (57% vs. 33%, respectively)
• attend a religious service during the past week (62% vs. 35%)
• pray to God, other than at a religious service, during the past week (91% vs. 76%)
• share their religious beliefs with others, during the past year (56% vs. 39%, among the born again Christians interviewed from each segment)
• have ever participated in a short-term missions trip, either within the U.S. or in another country (12% vs. 6%)

• 2% of conservatives and 11% of liberals were atheist or agnostic
• 15% of conservatives and 2% of liberals were Christian evangelicals
• conservatives were twice as likely as liberals to be categorized as born again, based on their theological views about salvation (63% vs. 32%)
• 21% of conservatives were associated with the Catholic church, compared to 30% among the liberals.

Conservative news organizations

Some of the more notable news organizations which tend to be more conservative are Fox News, NewsMax, and WorldNetDaily.

Conservative magazines and blogs

Well known conservative magazines in the United States include National Review, Policy Review, The Weekly Standard and others.

Some notable conservative political blogs include the Heritage Foundation's Policy Weblog, Human Events, Michelle Malkin, Newsbusters, Townhall.com and others.

Neoconservatives

American commentators who ally themselves with the conservative movement but reject its religious or moral underpinnings are generally known as neoconservatives.

In the United States, conservatives are generally characterized by the following beliefs:

1. Support of limited government.
2. A preference for freedom of opportunity over equality of result.
3. Patriotism, nationalism, and support of a strong defense.
4. Support of the institution of marriage.
5. Emphasis on social values, like prayer and pro-life principles.

However, neoconservatives generally support bigger government and globalism, and tend to downplay the significance of social values.

Paleoconservatives

Paleoconservatives are conservatives who are more focused on opposing multiculturalism, and suspicious of both big government and big business. They also lean more towards isolating America from the problems of other continents. Neoconservatives might criticize this as "isolationism", as they believe we can promote democracy worldwide.

Among paleoconservatives was Democratic Congressman from Georgia, Larry McDonald. He was also second Chairman of the John Birch Society, and President of Western Goals. McDonald was aboard Korean Airlines Flight 007 when it was shot down by the Soviets in 1983.

Personal conservatism

Because Conservatives often have strong political views, there can be a tendency to see conservatism as a purely political ideology. However, there is also a strong personal side to conservatism - being a conservative is as much about applying conservative values to one's everyday life as it is about campaigning and voting for conservative candidates. In general, conservatives can be characterised by a strong sense of personal morality, a willingness to observe their culture's traditions and customs, and a desire to be respectable and to show due respect to other members of the community.

Conservatives in the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom the present parliamentary opposition party since 1997 is the Conservative Party. Its current leader is David Cameron.

Up until the mid-19th century, the forerunners of the Conservatives were known as Tories, and the name has persisted as a common nickname both for the political party and those believed to be in agreement with it. Since the mid-to-late 1970s, British conservatives have been defined by an advocacy of laissez-faire economics, privatization and lower taxation. In recent years the Conservative Party has moved away from the social conservatism which once characterised it, and the current party policy includes, for example, support for abortion on demand and gay civil partnership and the Kyoto Treaty and to oppose capital punishment (although it should be noted that such policies have little support amongst the party's grassroots membership)

Levels of prayer and worship are much lower in England and Wales than in the U.S., and religious issues thereby play less of a role in public discourse. However, religious issues remain a significant factor in Northern Ireland and in 2008 religious issues were significant during a special election in Scotland.

In common with conservatives in many other countries, British Conservatives tend towards a patriotic rather than internationalist outlook, and are traditionally skeptical of the European Union.

The broadcast media (dominated by the BBC) is almost exclusively liberal in tone. The print media is different with pro-Conservative newspapers like the Daily Mail , Daily Express and Daily Telegraph selling more copies than their rivals.

See also

• Articles about Conservatives from previous "Breaking News"
• Articles about Conservatives from "More News"
• Conservative Links
• Essay:Fair and balanced is not part of the Conservative platform

External Links

• What Liberals Say - Category: Conservatives, Accuracy In Media