Thanks for this. I thought your critique of Liberalism was interesting in terms of phrasing it as a battle between positive and negative ‘freedoms’ and inclusivity —the way you describe it, it seems that Liberalism is at war with itself now, and is likely in the throes of a vicious spiral of infighting.
A certain line really jumped out at me when you said “We live as conservatives.” It really struck me — our country, our way of life — is exactly what it is, and to enjoy and embrace what we have, what this country represents currently (with all it’s flaws — but also all it’s benefits) is to be, essentially, a conservative. Do you live in the country? Do you like it for the most part? Do you have a job where you provide value or services? Do you treat others with honesty and respect, and expect the same in return? Do you enjoy this life enough to want to pass it on to your children? OK then — you’re kind of a conservative then.
This would be as opposed to, say, a socialist who doesn’t currently live in a commune among like-minded people. That person should do that thing if they really want to. Believe in socialism, no property, etc? OK — hey who knows maybe that works and if it does hell yeah! But let’s see it. Show me, don’t tell me. Because unless they are — they’re not living as socialists. They’re just reading about it and dreaming about it.
On the other hand, Conservatism (other words, reality or The Way Things Currently Are) is what surrounds us. It’s the system we currently have. It’s the reality that surrounds us, and hey it’s not perfect, but shoot it’s pretty dang good for the majority of people. It’s a pretty workable system, where the better you can make yourself and your work, the better you’ll do. It’s not who you know, but what you can do. It’s all about all the people you can help — how many customers can I make happy, can I use my time to help get them something that makes their life better? It’s that paying it forward, by first investing in yourself, that makes Conservatism go around. And the beautiful thing is, you don’t have to yell at anybody, talk anybody down, or be nasty — really you can do the opposite of that, and no matter what their belief is as long as you can treat them with respect (this doesn’t mean getting taken advantage of — you need to stand on firm ground) and keep doing your part to make things better and chipping in, then you will do better and better. The point is — many people hold conservative attitudes and lead conservative lives, but somehow pine for some other -ism that they imagine will dramatically change their lives for the better. The truth is (and the Conservative attitude) that you can wait around for the world to change, you can try to change the whole world so that you can finally get going… or you could just start on your way. I’m telling you — it’s easier to climb.