The Journal of Contemporary Legal Issues
Abstract
“Conserve” is a transitive verb, one that conveys little unless followed by a direct object. The meaning of conservatism then, depends on what conservatives want to conserve: why it’s valuable, therefore meriting conservation; and why it’s vulnerable, therefore requiring conservation.
The answer to that question will vary from one time and place to another. During the Cold War, American conservatives bristled when newspapers referred to the most inflexible, doctrinaire Soviet leaders as the Kremlin’s “conservatives.” But this journalistic shorthand wasn’t absurd: it’s hard to identify a conservative essence discernible in all political settings. A skeptical, wary attitude regarding change is the best available approximation of a unifying element. In one summary, liberals want to make the world a better place while conservatives try to keep it from becoming even worse.
Volume
24
Issue
1
Start Page
155
Faculty Editor
Lawrence Alexander & Steven D. Smith
Recommended Citation
Voegeli, William
(2024)
"Progressivism, Conservatism, and Democracy,"
The Journal of Contemporary Legal Issues: Vol. 24:
Iss.
1, Article 11.
Available at:
https://digital.sandiego.edu/jcli/vol24/iss1/11