The "Conservative Progressive"

Why are Republicans bad at politics? Let's talk about this, again.

78. The "Conservative Progressive"

One of the many problems of so-called “conservatives,” and even many on “the right” is that their thinking is shaped by liberalism in ways that are not entirely obvious to them, because they do not take the time to properly understand the meaning and implications of the political context within which they find themselves. As a result, they show themselves to be liberals in ways that actually reinforce the current political order. For example, a concern over the policy platform of your candidate or party is an inherently liberal way of thinking. This belief in policy prescriptions is an acceptance that we live and breathe within a world defined by liberalism and thus struggle to conceive of social and political realities which would lie outside the liberal order. It is a baseline acceptance of the idea that society can, through proper policy and administration, be conservative. More than this, there is an operative belief that if an idea is good, it is universally good for everyon…