The Christopher Dawson Centre of which I am the director is a conservative advocacy group. But that’s not a political statement.
We are not “right-wingers.”
Being conservative nowadays has very little to do with the political left or the political right.
Though some of our views might be characterised as right-wing (by those who disagree with us) we hold many opinions that would commonly be regarded as more typical of the left.
There’s nothing odd about that: Pope St John Paul II was both a social conservative and an outspoken critic of unrestrained capitalism.
Further, we live in strange times: the old working class (left) may not have disappeared but its numbers have certainly diminished.
We’re all middle class now.
The Labor Party seems to have lost the plot when many on the political left play the stock market and own rental properties. Ben Chifley and other old Labor men would turn in their graves.
What Is Conservatism, Really?
So let’s try to extricate conservatism from the left/right polarity and see it for what it really is: an attitude of mind that respects humanity but recognises its limitations; that (like Pollyanna) thinks its bottle is half full rather than half empty; that cautiously believes in progress but not just change for change’s sake; and, most controversially, that regards truth as absolute and values it above fiction, even when the fiction is respectably dressed up as myth.Many conservatives have believed (and most probably still do) that humans have a priority over all other creatures, that they are created in the very image of God.
Conservatives certainly believe that we have a duty to care for creation and husband the earth, to make it a better place: to that extent, our thinking is actually “green.”
We have never doubted that the climate changes, but we deny the validity of the King Canute approach to stemming sea level rises, and we marvel at the craziness of acquiescing to the use of renewable energy by huge nations such as China and India while nobly abstaining ourselves—and hypocritically selling them their fuel.
We don’t accept the exalted 19th-century notion of progress that makes Science its god, and trust it to lead us to earthly salvation.
But we do accept the shape of the Bible narrative that begins in a garden and ends in a city, for we acknowledge that we are moving towards greater complexities and insist that we should do so confidently, while never forgetting our debts to the past.
As Bernard of Chartres observed, “We are dwarves sitting on giants’ shoulders.”
Perhaps most importantly of all, in the matter of managing our world, we see ourselves as custodians of both the future and the past.
We owe a huge debt of gratitude to those who have lived on this Earth before (some of whom died for our freedoms), but we also insist that those who are still to be born be entitled to know the whole truth about their predecessors and the good works that they did, as well as the bad.
Further, Edmund Burke is a hero of ours: “Society is a contract between those who are dead, those who are living, and those who are to be born.”
Conservatives believe that men and women, like all other animals, are binary, different but complementary, equally precious in the eyes of God. Conservatives don’t believe that the mere fact of being born is a sufficient definition of humanity.
Human life begins before birth. For us, infanticide is a grave thing, whether pre- or post-natal.
On Education
Training in trades and other professions is extremely important yet grossly undervalued.Far too few young people are becoming apprentices or trainees in practical, useful fields. Too many young people are enrolled as students in “Arts” subjects before (or instead of) achieving truly functional literacy.
Nowadays it’s easier to find a consultant or a therapist, than it is to get a plumber or an electrician.
We have become one of the most unproductive Western societies. It is a scandal.
So vocational training is vital, but conservatives don’t lose sight of the fact that education should be for life, not just for employment.
The whole person should be cared for and prepared for fulfilment.
Morality, clarity of thought, analytical skills, and efficient communication—these things should be the basis of all professional training.
In this dumbed-down world, “conservative” has become a dirty word; in its eyes, we are often thought of as perverse, stubborn and foolish.
But there are signs that we have allies all around us, waiting in the wings, gathering the strength and the courage to emerge and be recognised again.
Nineteenth century microbiologist Louis Pasteur is a good guy to have on our side:
“Posterity will one day laugh at the foolishness of modern materialistic philosophers. The more I study nature, the more I stand amazed at the work of the Creator.”
