Is it Conservative?

When the word conservative is spelled with a small ‘c’ it refers to a psychological trait, one that seeks to keep things as they are, and that resists change. Change, for many people, leaves them uncomfortable and less able to predict and to cope with unfamiliar circumstances.

When Conservative is spelled with a capital ‘C’ it refers to a political tradition that wants such changes as take place to be organic and spontaneous, resulting from the accumulated decisions people make about their lives. It opposes attempts to force society to conform to preconceived plans. Conservatism wants change to be evolutionary, not revolutionary. It seeks not to preserve any particular status quo at any time, but the process by which it changes. It conserves a process rather than an outcome.

Some of the stances taken by Conservatives are the product of that desire for change to be spontaneous. If the future shape of society is to be determined by the decisions people make, it follows that people should be free to take them. It thus involves a significant degree of personal freedom, and an opposition to rules that force people to conform to someone else’s decisions.

It also explains why Conservatives favour low taxes. They want people to be able to allocate their resources according to their own priorities, rather than to have their resources taken to be spent on someone else’s priorities.

It explains, too, why Conservatives have traditionally favoured strong armed forces. If people are to make most of their own decisions, they must be protected from having this freedom usurped by foreign aggression and bullying.

The Conservative Party in Parliament has sometimes been Conservative, sometimes not. There was nothing remotely Conservative about Edward Heath’s wage and price controls, for example. As with all political parties, it attracts those who seek power and position and are indifferent to or even hostile to its underlying philosophy.

Some commentators point out that if the Conservative Party in Parliament favours high taxation and high spending, and seeks to micro-manage people’s lives, nominally in the interests of their future health and welfare, it is by no means following in the Conservative political tradition. They are correct; it is not.