Conservatism is the socio-economic and political philosophy that strives to establish and maintain a stable, functional, self-sustaining and self-perpetuating society and to this end conservatives do not fear government for government’s sake in that they have no qualms about letting the government do what needs to be done to preserve society when the private sector cannot or will not take the action necessary to insure that preservation.
The fundamental principles of conservatism include (but may not be limited to):
1. Preserving natural resources even if this means limiting property rights or immediate profit for the sake of insuring that natural resources will be available to sustain future generations.
2. Maintaining a balanced budget at the personal, household and government level. Conservatives are not adverse to borrowing money for needful things because investment is a good way to insure future societal stability. Conservatives are willing to build things that are not needed today because they may be needed tomorrow. However, excessive debt leads to economic instability and must be avoided at all costs.
3. Preserving the nuclear family by upholding heterosexual monogamous marriage because the nuclear family is the only proper setting in which children can be raised to productive adulthood. Divorce and illegitimacy are the chief causes of poverty and crime and sex outside of marriage is the chief cause of divorce and illegitimacy. Unlike libertarians, conservatives do not oppose government regulation of sex.
4. Personal property must be preserved. Owning property means that you have a stake in preserving society lest your property be lost due to societal revolution. Your property can be disrupted by societal disorder so you have a vested interest in maintaining societal order. Conservatives do not claim an absolute right to use their property without government regulation, as libertarians do, because of #6.
5. Acceptance of necessary government with the provision that government powers are separated and balanced, because of #6. Conservatism does not automatically mean limited government. What is and is not excessive government is dependent on the context provided by society, time and place. What is excessive government power in peacetime may not be excessive during a war or other crisis situation.
6. Conservatives understand human nature. Conservatives know that when left to their own devices, without regulation by society or governmental forces, individuals cannot have the absolute enjoyment of their natural rights without infringing on the rights of others. By nature humans are greedy, self-centered and self-serving and their natural passions must be regulated to prevent chaos.
7. Conservatives respect religion as a stabilizing force for society, although whether or not conservatives support a government-mandated religion depends on the historical or cultural context involved.
8. Avoiding mass concentrations of wealth and poverty. To this end conservatives, unlike libertarians, do not accept laissez-faire economics. Conservatives understand the wealth equals power. Concentrate wealth and the wealthy can oppress the poor by their power. Concentrate poverty and the poor can oppress the wealth by their number. Economic markets must be regulated for the sake of preventing monopolies and maintaining consumer confidence in the safety and quality of the goods and services that are offered for sale. The value of money must be stable because deflation and inflation can both lead to economic chaos. Conservatives believe that in noblis oblige as a stabilizing force in society and they do not object to government welfare programs as long as they actually work and do not bust the budget and do not create a dependency on welfare.
"...Is it because liberty in the abstract may be classed amongst the blessings of mankind, that I am seriously to felicitate a madman, who has escaped from the protecting restraint and wholesome darkness of his cell, on his restoration to the enjoyment of light and liberty? Am I to congratulate a highwayman and murderer who has broke prison upon the recovery of his natural rights?"- Edmund Burke, British statesman, member of Parliament and advocate of the American cause during the Revolution
"I should, therefore, suspend my congratulations on the new liberty of France until I was informed how it had been combined with government, with public force, with the discipline and obedience of armies, with the collection of an effective and well-distributed revenue, with morality and religion, with the solidity of property, with peace and order, with civil and social manners. All these (in their way) are good things, too, and without them liberty is not a benefit whilst it lasts, and is not likely to continue long. The effect of liberty to individuals is that they may do what they please; we ought to see what it will please them to do, before we risk congratulations which may be soon turned into complaints." – Edmund Burke
“The voice of the people has been said to be the voice of God; and, however generally this maxim has been quoted and believed, it is not true to fact. The people are turbulent and changing, they seldom judge or determine right.”- Alexander Hamilton, U.S. Army officer, New York delegate to the Constitutional Convention, co-author of the Federalist Papers and first United States Secretary of the Treasury.
“Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of man will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.”- Alexander Hamilton
