Map My Politics

CONSERVATISM – The Ideology of Tradition

Conservatism is one of the six core political ideologies on the Map My Politics ideology chart, occupying the area to the right of the centrist zone. This is not a coincidence: it is undeniably a right wing ideology on the conventional Left-Right continuum. But because ours is a two-axis chart, there is more to say about conservatism’s position relative to other ideologies.

Let’s stay with that traditional axis for a moment however. In terms of economic liberty, there is no doubt that conservatives embrace the virtues of the free enterprise system. To be clear, they do not favor completely unrestricted, laissez-faire capitalism in the manner of neoliberals, their ideological neighbors to the right. But conservatives certainly advocate for less government participation in the economy than centrists, and far less than liberals. This typically equates to a more restrained approach to financial regulation, taxation and spending. In short, conservatives are fundamentally “pro-business.” This support for a more hands-off approach to private enterprise ultimately stems from the belief that any given player in the world of commerce, whether a start-up entrepreneur or an established corporation – or even an hourly employee for that matter – will do better with less government involvement.

Regarding the y-axis of personal liberty, conservatives champion the principles of classical liberalism that call for freedom of speech, press, religion – just like centrists and liberals do. But conservatives approach the matter with a more restrained and a less progressive bent. This typically translates into a reaction against calls for social change, which conservatives are more likely to view as radical. But while a conservative’s adherence to traditional values like patriotism and faith might be perceived as less than liberal in the classic sense of the word, make no mistake: true conservatism respects an individual’s freedom from government intrusion. It’s just that this is a more measured respect for personal liberty than that held by the libertarians and social libertarians who inhabit the lower portion of the y-axis. Conservatives, however, do not favor the amount or type of government intrusion into personal matters for which their populist neighbors in the upper part of the y-axis sometimes advocate. Populism, at its core, is about majoritarian, grassroots change, while conservatism naturally resists popular reform. Similarly, conservatives do not advocate for the sort of overseas military intervention as their neoconservative neighbors often do. In fact, conservatives have traditionally been more isolationist than hawkish in international affairs.

The roots of conservatism can be traced to Edmund Burke, an Anglo-Irish statesman and philosopher who opposed the French Revolution but supported the American Revolution. The distinction is an important one because it illustrates the tradition-respecting nature of conservatism. The American Revolution was founded on enlightenment principles and, in a very real sense, was engaged in reluctantly by an educated, aristocratic class against their British peers across the Atlantic. The French Revolution, on the other hand, was a domestic, class-based struggle that quickly devolved into the bloody Reign of Terror.

Because the United States is – for the most part – a two-party system, conservatives have typically occupied the traditional party of small government: the GOP. But not exclusively so, as the parties have changed over time. Prior to the civil rights reforms of the 1960s, for instance, many Southern conservatives (or “Dixiecrats”) belonged to the Democratic Party. And some conservatives departed the Republican Party after 2016 when it became more populist under Donald Trump. All of which serves to emphasize a guiding principle here at Map My Politics: ideological affiliation is more important than party affiliation.

William F. Buckley, Jr., the founder of the magazine National Review and the original host of the TV program Firing Line, is credited with revitalizing the modern American conservative movement, with Ronald Reagan being perhaps its ultimate standard-bearer. Other modern American political figures in the conservative tradition have included Newt Gingrich, George W. Bush and Condoleezza Rice. And other important American conservative writers have included George Will, Peggy Noonan and David Brooks.

For further reading about the conservative ideology, click here.

To return to your Results page and the Map My Politics Ideology Chart, where you can learn more about other ideologies, click here.

CONSERVATISM – The Ideology of Tradition

Further Reading