How Political Conservatism Will Die
I overheard a Mormon (both a political and social conservative) debating climate change and politics with a corporate sustainability strategist at the Angel Capital Summit this week. He said, “it doesn’t matter what has come before, it’s what we do now that matters,” referencing in the first half of the comment a slightly disagreeable detente on the facts of several climate-related matters, but nonetheless acceding to the basic premise and acknowledging it as a systems condition.
While this comment may be out of context of the larger conversation, it highlights an interesting point that signals the beginning of the end of political conservatism – by which i mean a systematic aversion to change.
In most of history, a slow pace of change enforced the status quo, which was, generally speaking, a known entity. Now that the global eco-system (ecology and economy) is changing, the risk of doing nothing becomes unacceptable. Don’t believe me? Consider the difference in the quality of life between the citizen of two low-lying principalities: Holland and Louisiana. The Dutch actively address and maintain their defense from the sea, while the US Army Corps of Engineers and a complex political deadlock doomed the citizens of the Gulf Coast to a much less comfortable fate.
Many key aspects of the current system are sinking like the proverbial Titanic. Many of us will be forced to jump off the ship and start swimming for an island. The choice of when to jump, which direction to swim and one’s native ability to swim will determine the fate of individuals and many small groups.
So, political conservatives, will, in fact, be faced with a choice: you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone.
This is not a criticism, per se, but rather an objective assessment of changing pscyho-poltical dynamics. I think conservatism will survive in many forms. Social conservatism will remain for the forseeable future, while a new conservatism will emerge — from those strong swimmers — that starts to look a lot more like a conscious sustainability.
November 21st, 2008 at 11:56 pm
[...] (oy gevalt), nor conservative politics, which is more about slowing the pace of change (and must ultimately fail in an era of climate change and Peak Everything). So the intellectual examination becomes a play on language, an examination on the nuance of [...]
December 12th, 2008 at 10:01 am
What this shows is that Conservatism doesn’t really die (nor did Liberalism during the long dark period). Instead political movements adapt – which is of course what you actually said. A great book that tracks how political movements in America have morphed over time is _The Radical Center_ by Ted Halstead and Michael Lind. It shows how conservatives tend to resist change (hold their ground) until it becomes blazingly obvious that things have indeed changed, or that there are better ways to keep society prosperous. The liberals, when they come into power, help this process by experimenting with and demonstrating new ideas. When those ideas gradually get accepted, they become the new ground for the conservatives to hold. This is a huge oversimplification by me. The book is good. Also, the organization founded by the authors, NewAmerica.net, seems to be doing really great things.