Concept of a Conservative
By Richard Engle

The American conservative political movement is facing its most difficult foe, success.

The political scene is such that a candidate can’t win in most places without the label “conservative”. Labels are good if they have a widely accepted meaning. A generation after Barry Goldwater’s “Conscience of a Conservative” we find that there seems to be no widely accepted definition of “conservative”. Such a definition is badly needed.

Recently, I traveled to Europe for a few weeks and found that the idea of conservatism is very different there. The American concept of a unified conservative ideal that approaches social, economic and foreign policy issues is difficult to communicate there.

If abortion is legal then to a European a “conservative” would want to retain that legitimate status. If business is highly regulated or government owned then a “conservative” would want to keep it that way. A “reactionary” wishes to restore a previous condition and a “liberal” wishes to soften the impact of public policy on the individual. A politician who wishes to make the kind of public policy changes that say, a Ronald Reagan, would want is a mixed bag of the above with a sprinkling of “progressive” and other political ideals.

In most ways American conservatism is defined by Ronald Reagan but his policy goals and what he was willing to accept for the time being were often in conflict as he dealt with an opposition Congress, not to mention the press.

In other ways Rush Limbaugh has become a personal definition for conservatism. While he does not face the pressures to compromise with another policy body his pontifications fall short in two ways. First, the “Limbaugh Institute” gives little that can train the voter for state and local politics. And second, one can only utilize the wisdom of half his brain after a proclamation and thus a student is not well equipped to identify the correct position ahead of time. Both of these are due to the fact that Rush does not always communicate the underlying principle behind his statements.

What is needed is a simple definition of “conservative” so that a voter (or politician for that matter) can easily look at a proposal and immediately and accurately define it as conservative or not.

In Oklahoma we have a candidate for Congress (current Lt. Governor Mary Fallin) who is campaigning as a conservative. To her conservative is good and liberal is bad. Since she is convinced that she is for good things and against bad ones then she must be a conservative! I am afraid that her concept goes just about that deep.

In House District 90 we have former Bethany Mayor JD Johnston paying some consultant to say he is a conservative. Now, the fact that Johnston has not actually done any personal campaigning should be enough to worry the voters. However, flooding the mailbox with slick brochures that the candidate may or may not be able to read does not seem to disqualify a candidate in this state. I know Johnston and served on the City Council for two terms with him. I know that he is anything but a conservative. I also know that if he made the rounds and gave the speeches or worked the door-to-door campaign that he would surely be defeated. He is not an articulate man nor would the average voter have a lot of confidence in him if they spent some time visiting with him. On the other hand, he is wealthy and willing to throw money at the race.

More importantly, Johnston favored more than a dozen new taxes and fee increases for the city. NOT CONSERVATIVE! He favored buying up as much of the city’s business district as the city government could afford so that favored businesses would become tenants of government owned property. NOT CONSERVATIVE! His conservative credentials don’t exist in the social realm either as he removed the Library Commissioner who wanted to protect children from homosexual materials in the children’s section. NOT CONSERVATIVE! Yet, the voters are being told he is a conservative.

Let me suggest that a true conservative identifies the proper role of government as protecting the rights of its citizens to life, liberty and property. A conservative knows that when government does anything outside that definition (even good things) that they are exceeding the proper role of government and thus doing evil. This was the premise of American independence and ought to be the ideal “conservatives” should conserve. Thus we have a simple definition that can become an absolute guiding principle in public life.

Richard Engle is the president of the National Federation of Republican Assemblies.