Conservative

A conservative is one who adheres to principles of limited government, personal responsibility and moral virtue. He or she may 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.

Conservative 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 adhere to the following principles:

• A strong national defense
• Return of prayer in school
• 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
• Parents, rather than school teachers, educating children about sex
• Choice in education
• Private medical care and retirement plans
• Weakening or cancellation of failed social support programs
• Prohibition of abortion
• Opposition to same-sex marriage licenses

About every 20-60 years a conservative has been elected president of the United States. Examples include:

George Washington
James Monroe
James Polk
Abraham Lincoln
Grover Cleveland
William Howard Taft
Warren G. Harding
Ronald Reagan
George W. Bush

In America, most conservatives tend to align with the Republican Party, but not exclusively so.

Neoconservatives

American commentators who ally themselves with the conservative movement but reject its religious or moral underpinnings are generally known as neoconservatives, and they offer their own amoral definition:

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

1. A deep suspicion of the power of the state.
2. A preference for liberty over equality.
3. Patriotism.
4. A belief in established institutions and hierarchies.
5. Skepticism about the idea of progress.

Conservatives in the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom the present parliamentary opposition party is called the Conservative party and, as its name suggests, it holds traditional conservative views. Its current leader is David Cameron. In political policy the UK Conservatives are more closely aligned to the US Democrats, despite them being the most right of the main 3 parties.<ref>Conservative party UK

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.

There is generally a strong bias towards the nuclear family over other forms of cohabitation. Since the late 1970s, UK conservatives have been defined by an advocacy of Laissez-faire economics, privatization and lower taxation.

Religion as a whole and biblical literalism in particular play only a very minor role in UK politics (arguably with the exception of Northern Ireland).

In common with conservatives in many other countries, UK Conservatives tend towards a Nationalist outlook, and are traditionally sceptical of the European Union, although it was the Tory Prime Minister Edward Heath who took Britain into the EEC.