Quote:
Originally Posted by Steerpike
What are the necessary attributes and/or beliefs that make one a “conservative?”
Note: This is not limited to conservatives of any particular country.
Discuss the nature of conservativism.
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I would say that the strongest component of any sort of conservative philosophy is a desire to preserve the status quo, or at least to approach change with caution and make that change only when deemed absolutely necessary. This can apply to someone being 'conservative' with finances or other non-political things in their lives as well. The conservative tends not to be a risk-taker and is probably more deliberate when it comes to considering the consequences of his actions and weighing all possible outcomes.
I'd say the term tends to get co-opted in the specific when it comes to politics. Since this is an American board, you get a lot of Americans describing themselves as 'conservative' because they identify with the values of others who describe themselves as conservative (rather than considering what the word implies in a larger sense). The same can be said of 'liberal'. However, I'd imagine this applies pretty much anywhere with some kind of political system. Given the fluid nature of political issues, political descriptors also tend to be fluid.
I once heard someone make the argument that this process occurred more rapidly in the US because the US two-party winner-take-all system lends itself more toward both parties pretending to espouse values that they do not actually espouse, thus leading to cognitive dissonance among followers. This dissonance then translates into the terms that they use to describe politics. I haven't given that a ton of consideration, but I think it's an interesting discussion item.