{"id":86894,"date":"2022-10-21T11:21:04","date_gmt":"2022-10-21T16:21:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=86894"},"modified":"2022-10-21T11:21:28","modified_gmt":"2022-10-21T16:21:28","slug":"86894","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=86894","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

We Are No Longer Conservatives; We Are Restorationists<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Conservatives have long struggled to define the term \u201cconservatism.\u201d This makes sense since it\u2019s always been less a political ideology than a life philosophy. Perhaps even an attitude.<\/p>\n

When asked to define conservatism, Abraham Lincoln replied, \u201cIs it not adherence to the old and tried, against the new and untried?\u201d<\/p>\n

William F. Buckley updated his answer for the mid-20th century, framing it in opposition to liberalism. In other words, an anti-ideology. In his book\u00a0Up from Liberalism\u00a0<\/em>(1959), Buckley declares conservativism is\u00a0 \u201cfreedom, individuality, the sense of community, the sanctity of the family, the supremacy of the conscience, the spiritual view of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

A half-century earlier, G.K. Chesterton didn\u2019t so much define the term as identify the action it requires.<\/p>\n

All conservatism is based upon the idea that if you leave things alone you leave them as they are. But you do not. If you leave a thing alone you leave it to a torrent of change. If you leave a white post alone it will soon be a black post. If you particularly want it to be white you must be always painting it again; that is, you must be always having a revolution. [Orthodoxy<\/em>, 1908]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It isn\u2019t enough to \u201cstand athwart history, yelling \u2018Stop.’\u201d Conservatism requires intentional, aggressive work to evaluate the firehose of proposed changes, then promote the good ones and destroy the bad.<\/p>\n

Or, as Reagan put it, \u201cFreedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn\u2019t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children\u2019s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reagan was prophetic. These days, conservatives spend a lot of time telling younger generations what it was once like to be free. We speak of lost liberties and wonder how best to restore them.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the plain fact: there\u2019s no need for conservatism when there\u2019s little left to conserve.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why, over at The Federalist, John Daniel Davidson declared, \u201cWe Need To Stop Calling Ourselves Conservatives<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conservatives have long defined their politics in terms of what they wish to conserve or preserve \u2014 individual rights, family values, religious freedom, and so on. Conservatives, we are told, want to preserve the rich traditions and civilizational achievements of the past, pass them on to the next generation, and defend them from the left. In America, conservatives and classical liberals alike rightly believe an ascendent left wants to dismantle our constitutional system and transform America into a woke dystopia. The task of conservatives, going back many decades now, has been to stop them.<\/p>\n

In an earlier era, this made sense. There was much to conserve. But any honest appraisal of our situation today renders such a definition absurd. After all, what have conservatives succeeded in conserving? In just my lifetime, they have lost much: marriage as it has been understood for thousands of years, the First Amendment, any semblance of control over our borders, a fundamental distinction between men and women, and, especially of late, the basic rule of law.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We have conserved a few things \u2014 gun rights, red-state economic policies, religious liberty (for now) \u2014 but it\u2019s hard to argue with the main thrust of Davidson\u2019s assessment.<\/p>\n

The right isn\u2019t conserving much but desperately trying to restore our freedom, our family, and our constitutional order.
\nWords mean things, and in the modern age, so does branding. I agree that \u201cconservative\u201d has outlasted its accuracy, but we need to call ourselves\u00a0something<\/em>. To that end\u2026<\/p>\n

We are no longer Conservatives; we are Restorationists.
\nWe seek not to conserve the role of tradition in our society but to restore tradition to its rightful place.
\nSimilarly, there are no national borders left to conserve; they must be restored.
\nThe family is shattered and we must reintroduce this cornerstone of civilization. (That includes gender norms promoted from the dawn of time.)
\nFree speech must be placed back in the academy, workplace, and civil society.<\/p>\n

All of this is work. Hard work. As such, it requires all of us to join the effort; neighbors, business leaders, teachers, and our government.<\/p>\n

This is no longer the time for Conservation. On to Restoration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We Are No Longer Conservatives; We Are Restorationists. Conservatives have long struggled to define the term \u201cconservatism.\u201d This makes sense since it\u2019s always been less a political ideology than a life philosophy. Perhaps even an attitude. When asked to define conservatism, Abraham Lincoln replied, \u201cIs it not adherence to the old and tried, against the … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=86894"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86895,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86894\/revisions\/86895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=86894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=86894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=86894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}