Rev. Rollin Russell
I am conservative. I am not a conservative. Anyone who has known me would laugh at the idea. I am conservative in the classical sense of the term. Unfortunately that quality of character and disposition has been turned into a label to be pasted onto people with positive or negative political and social connotations.
I come by my conservatism naturally. My parents grew up during the Depression and it was deeply imprinted on everything they did and thought. I was born in the late 1930s and was a child during World War II. Both of those difficult eras required most people to save, skimp, mend, fix, repair, make-do and try, in the words of the British motto, to “Keep Calm and Carry On.”
It was ingrained in me and I am grateful for it. I probably share this perspective with many others, especially folks in my generation. I am sure that, like me, many tried to pass this sort of conservatism on to our children and have looked for traces of it in our grandkids. Of course, times have changed and life and culture are different, and the word has been hijacked and applied to people whose actions and rhetoric are anything but conservative.
I am conservative with regard to finances. I do not spend more than I can pay for. I only borrow when I have clear confidence that I can meet the obligation without affecting other needs. I expect governments and organizations to have this same perspective.
I am pleased that some people have more disposable income than I do, especially if it is the result of intelligence, diligence and honest work, their own or that of their forbears. They are responsible to use it wisely and charitably.
However, lavish wealth and mere greed, especially the use of it for self-aggrandizement, or for manipulating public policy for their own benefit is not conservative. It is exploitative. That is nowhere more obvious than in regard to the issues of climate change and protecting the environment.
Politicians and industrialists who deny the evidence of global warming and call themselves conservative most certainly are not. True conservatives believe in conservation of our planet and its fragile eco-system. True conservatives want an environment that is capable of sustaining human life into the future — the future of our grandchildren.
Real conservatism supports the common good, including universal basic education, higher education, quality health care, equality before the law, and the opportunity to thrive. True conservatism has respect and regard for one’s neighbor and knows we should and must thrive together if we hope to thrive at all.
Thus, it is a misnomer to call those who consistently want to reduce social services and basic aid to those in need “conservative.” It is conservative to want to save money and to reduce taxes, and all of us want that, but for most it is not a fetish. And it is certainly not a basis for denying essential support for those who need it, nor for defunding necessary and effective governance and meeting critical public needs.
It is conservative, and fundamentally so, to be committed to the founding principles of our nation: “We hold these Truths to be self evident; that all (persons) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” Human equality, equal rights and equal opportunity are conservative values.
At the same time, it is conservative to recognize the fact of human frailty, self-centeredness, pride, fear, greed, sloth, lust, deviousness, sexism, tribalism, homophobia, deceipt — all the flaws that are the root of the evils that we inflict on one another and which destroy tranquility and unity. They are the painful realities that religions have long recognized: seven deadly sins and more, in great variety.
In this regard conservatism is the antidote to naivete. It is why we have in our constitutional government a system of checks and balances. Our founders had seen enough scoundrels to know the havoc they can cause. One of the cardinal conservative qualities of human life is integrity, and it is a crucial characteristic for everyone, regardless of ideological perspective. Lying is not conservative. Telling the truth is.
“Conservative” is a word that is badly misused and broadly misunderstood. Next time you hear someone called conservative who is really self-seeking or guarding their own privilege, raise an eyebrow, or maybe an objection.
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Rev. Rollin Russell is a retired pastor of the United Church of Christ and professor at Lancaster Theological Seminary
