Limited Government

Conservatives are about conserving the principles which maximize liberty. Many, even some conservatives, have characterized conservatism as being for "small government". However, this is not technically true. A small government can still do a great deal of undue damage.

Instead conservatives promote the idea of limited government. If the government is limited from violating your negative rights, then the government will indeed be small. Here in America, our government is founded on a document called the Constitution. The Constitution is one of the things that makes America unique. It marks the first time that a nation was founded on laws, rather on a supposed divine right of kings.

The Constitution was founded on a philosophy called Liberalism, and we conservatives love the Constitution. We seek to interpret it strictly (or conservatively) because we know that it will lead to greater freedom for everyone. If people interpret it loosely (liberally), or simply rewrite it to suit their own views, we will have tyranny from those who are interpreting. It's a scenario like the pigs in Animal Farm, who rewrote the laws while the other animals were sleeping.

The Constitution is our contract with our government. We give them the power to protect our rights and dispense justice, in return they are bound not to violate our rights. This is why it is so important to understand that our rights are negative. If the government violates the contract, it has nullified it's legitimacy. Our Founders took this very seriously, even saying that the people should overthrow the government in such an event.

The Referee

The government is supposed to be a referee, and the Constitution is a handbook of all the things that the referee should not do. The referee should not interfere with the game. The referee cannot pick favorites. The referee cannot give free throws to a team, just because he feels like it. It can only give free-throws when one team is fouled by the other team.

My Observations

I am no expert on the Constitution, but I have had the honor of studying under many experts who love our nation and want to preserve the freedoms that our Constitution brings. Earlier this year, I read through the entire US Constitution, and I would recommend it for anyone who hasn't. Even if you are not conservative. You might not understand all of it, but try to grasp as much as you can. I am now reading further materials to help me better understand the original document and it's underlying philosophy. While I am no expert, allow me to share a few of my observations on this great document.

1. The articles and amendments in the Constitution restrict the government, not the people. You would think that the law of the land would have articles talking about activities that are restricted for citizens. To my memory, there are none, save the Prohibition Amendment, which is also the only amendment that has been repealed.

2. The articles and amendments protect the negative rights of the people. I have put this series in this order for a reason. I spent a whole blog explaining “negative rights” and how your only true right is the right to be left alone. All of the rights that the Constitution protects are negative rights, and they are all protected against the government.

3. The Tenth Amendment delegates all other powers to the States and to the people. This observation segues nicely into my next blog in this series. A government ought to be decentralized as much as possible. Decentralization is the best way to limit the government.

6 Essentials of Conservative-liberalism

There are six concepts that I feel are essential to conservatism. These aren't just “my six conservative principles”, instead these are the six principles that I propose are essential to conservatism. I have written them in a way that builds one on top of the other. Let me know if you can see how they are all connected.

Individualism

Individualism is the idea that all humans are equal. We are equal in essence, and therefore equal in rights, and therefore equal before the law. We are all one people, not to be divided by religion, political party, ethnicity, gender, or any such thing. Yet, each of us is a unique individual. We each have similarities and differences that we can find with each human being on Earth.

Negative rights

Negative rights are rights that only require inaction on the part of others. Your right to life, requires that others NOT kill you. Your right to free speech requires that others NOT stop you from talking (although you can't force them to listen, either). Negative rights boils down to your right to be left alone. This is in stark contrast with positive rights, which are entitlements to free stuff. Negative rights must be protected in order to maintain civilization, and those who violate negative rights must be punished (usually by having their rights proportionally violated).

Personal virtue and liberty

When we protect everyone's negative rights, we create a society with the purest form of liberty, but in order to maintain this pure liberty, we must have virtue, which can be defined as moral excellence. Someone who pursues moral excellence (virtue) can be expected to give liberty to his fellow-man. In fact liberty can be considered the most basic form of virtue.

He can also be expected to pursue the highest good for himself and others. He will seek mutually-beneficial trades, that will lift up both himself and his fellow-man. He will give to the poor, without government coercion. He will stay away from substances and activities which harm himself and those around him.

A perfectly moral population would need no government, but no one is perfectly moral. However, the more moral a population, the smaller government that they will require. This concept is the often unspoken core of conservatism. If we want greater liberty, we need to promote the highest virtue, in the greatest number of people. Virtue cannot be brought by force, from the top down, except for severely punishing those who violate negative rights. Instead virtue must be taught from the ground up.

Limited government

The government is an institution, set up by the people, to protect the negative rights of their citizens. The job of the government is to recognize different rights, create laws to protect those rights, and punish those who break the law. In America, we have a contract with our government called the Constitution. Our government promises to protect certain negative rights, and we promise not to overthrow them. At least that's supposed to be the idea.

Decentralization

Our Constitution limits the government's power, and the Tenth Amendment delegates all other powers, not mentioned, to the states or to the people. This protects us from centralizing power, which leads to more micro-managing from bureaucrats in the capitol. An effective government delegates power as much as possible. The federal government delegates power to the states, states to counties, cities, and towns, and from there to private institutions, families, and individuals.

Free enterprise

Free enterprise is based off of two negative rights: your right to your own property and your right to control how you use your property. When these rights are truly carried out, we create a free enterprise, and wealth is generated. Not money, but wealth. Wealth is generated primarily when there is a mutually-beneficial exchange. When both parties in a trade win, they walk away wealthier than they were before. This doesn't eliminate poverty, as we can never eliminate poverty. However, it can alleviate the severity of poverty.

So What Do You Think?

Please share this post if you liked it. Also, tell me what you think. Tweet at me @frank_perseo or comment on the Frank Talks Facebook page. Did I miss any essential concepts in conservatism? Do you disagree with any of the ones I presented? If so, please tell me why. I am curious to know.

The Political Spectrum – Politics 101

What does it mean to be a conservative? What does it mean to be a liberal? What do the left and the right on the political spectrum represent? What about the up and down (authoritarian to libertarian)? Where am I on the political spectrum? These were all questions that I was asking only 4 years ago.

Don't get me wrong, I was always interested in politics. Mostly due to my religious background, my disregard for controversy, and my desire to make a difference in the world. However, before 4 years ago, I was clueless when it came to understanding political philosophy.

I often refer to a "political awakening" that occurred four years ago (the summer before I left for Bible college). It started when I was talking to a mentor of mine, who is very politically involved, and I decided to ask him about the political spectrum. The conversation cleared up so many questions that today I call it my "Politics 101".

Spectrum of Government Control

If you google "political spectrum", there are many different versions out there. Everyone has their own opinion, and I have mine. This one, simply makes the most sense. The political spectrum that I use is one axis which measures the amount of government control. On the far left, there is totalitarianism, which is where the government controls virtually everything it can. On the far right, is not crazy Republicans like Rush Limbaugh, but instead those who believe there should be no government: anarchists.

In fact, this spectrum can be boiled down to five major positions: (left to right) totalitarianism, progressivism, liberalism, libertarianism, and anarchy. Totalitarianism is about virtually total government control. Progressivism is about progressing towards more government control. Libertarianism (for the purpose of this post) is about progressing towards less government control and presence (anarchy). Liberalism is about having a proper amount of government and personal freedom.

For some reason, virtually every spectrum that I found puts fascism on the far-right. However, if we are measuring the amount of control the government has, fascism is on the far-left, as a form of totalitarianism like communism. Fascism, communism, and socialism differ in style, but at their core they all rely heavily on government regulation.

Slippery Slope

I like to say that "Progressivism is a slippery slope to totalitarianism, and libertarianism is a slippery slope to anarchy." Not only that, but anarchy is a slippery slope to tyranny, which loops us right back to totalitarianism. Anarchy (having no government) could only work if everyone behaved and and no one violated their neighbors rights.

This notion goes against all of human experience (not to mention my Christian views of the nature of mankind). We know that the strong, if left unchecked, will terrorize the weak.

Liberalism

Liberalism is founded on the idea of individualism: the idea that all people are created equal. We may not all be equal in circumstances, but we are all equal in essence, before the Law. We all have the right to be left alone. For instance, three of your basic rights include the right to life (to not be killed), to liberty (to not be enslaved), and property (to not be robbed). In order to maintain these rights, we must have justice, and we must have an institution to facilitate justice.

Liberalism is about giving the people as much personal liberty as possible, without violating the rights of others. In order to do that, we must have a government that is properly limited. In America, our founders set up a contract between the people and the government, called the Constitution, to ensure both justice and liberty.

Conservatism

Here in America, those who we call "conservatives" are about conserving the philosophy of liberalism, through a strict (conservative) interpretation of the Constitution. These conservatives, also called conservative-liberals, are interested in conserving the balance of power, to give the people maximum liberty to pursue happiness.

Some of you may be shocked. Some of you probably disagree with what I am saying. Conservatives are not about freedom. "Conservatives are not liberal." We must remember that not everyone who calls himself a conservative is one. In my next blog, I want to spend some time writing about true conservative philosophy. Conservatism is about having the freedom to do what you want, so long as you don't infringe on anyone's basic rights.

So What Do You Think?

Please share this post if you liked it. Also, tell me what you think. Tweet at me @frank_perseo or comment on the Frank Talks Facebook page. Where do you line up on this spectrum? Do you think that I am wrong to characterize conservatives as the true liberals.