Conservatism: Hope or Failure

Post date: Dec 07, 2016 5:8:21 PM

Nov 15, 2010 by Lorne Blackman

Surrounding the recent elections has been much talk of the resurgence of conservatism brought about by reaction to skyrocketing debt, recession and the ramrodding of Obamacare and other socialistic programs emanating from Washington. But does this resurgence represent a major turning point—or perhaps even the beginning of a new political era, as the people at Fox News would have us believe? Or is it just another short term reaction, a small swing in the pendulum, as the nation takes a breather before resuming its long course down the road to socialism?

Should Christians find hope in a conservative resurgence? In reality there is little left for conservatives to conserve. Statism has bankrupted the nation and corrupted the culture. The Biblical worldview that once shaped and guided American cultural, legal, ethical and political thought, and which laid the foundation for liberty, limited government, the family and public morals is all but lost. Humanism dominates our courts, our legislatures, our schools, our media, our political campaigns and our economy. Marriage and the family are in chaos. Christ’s name is censored from public life. The Gospel has been reduced to a salvation-only message, leaving the Christian church irrelevant as a culture-shaping influence. While conservatives argue with liberals over taxation and spending, the future of America is being determined in the public schools where new generations of future leaders are systematically indoctrinated in the secular evolutionary worldview, thus ensuring the growth of socialist government for decades to come.

Conservative Americans have been resisting progressivism since before the founding of the nation, and long before the founding of the so-called modern conservative movement. But seemingly everything they resist eventually becomes reality: Social Security, Medicare, legalized abortion, no-fault divorce, growth and centralization of government, federal income taxation, deficit spending, debauchery of currency (paper money)—to name just a few. All these things were at one time (rightly) opposed by conservatives. Today the conservative losing trend continues with healthcare, the redefinition of marriage, the promotion of the homosexual lifestyle, the federalizing of education, etc. Eventually, the thinking person must ask whether conservatism can ever be effective as a political philosophy. Is losing a predetermined outcome? Does conservatism offer a valid alternative to secular progressivism or does it represent nothing more than base emotional reaction to change?

The ironic reality is that conservatism is not an alternative to liberalism, but a partner. It represents the other face of the same coin. It has no fixed political philosophy of its own, but acts as the slavish counterpart to the progressive ideology. Together, the two form opposing sides of shifting, relativistic political spectrum, the whole of which has been marching relentlessly toward unbelief and socialism. Conservatism may slow the advance of its opponent, but it also eventually affirms his gains. Conservatism represents one-half of an unwinnable Hegelian dialectic.

Conservatism does not exist in and of itself because it owes its purpose, vitality and funding to the success and existence of its liberal counterpart.

Conservatism is motivated to preserve the status quo against the progressive aggressor. It is therefore inherently reactionary and defensive in outlook. Even though it will win some battles, it will surely lose the war. That is a predetermined outcome. A defensive war cannot be won. Conservatism is inherently powerless to bring about sweeping, long-term changes to human society.

Conservative values are relativistic. They change with the times. Today’s conservatives often support policies that would have been unthinkable to yesterday’s liberals, let alone America’s founders. Some even zealously defend egregiously unconstitutional and socialistic programs such as Social Security, Medicare, federal education initiatives, and international nation building. Conservatism’s eventual acceptance and affirmation of many progressive humanistic ideas affirms the validity of the progressive cause and encourages progressives in their struggle. Success is just a matter of time. Conservatism is essentially the shadow of liberalism.

The problem is one of worldview. So long as most Americans perceive the world through a relativistic “left vs. right” or “conservative vs. liberal” or “republican vs. democrat” perspective, they are blinded to the fundamental long-term political evolution that has been occurring in America for many decades, if not centuries. This defective worldview and shifting reference point blinds men to long-term political and spiritual trends. In this respect, political conservatism serves not as an answer to liberalism, but as an unwitting partner as the two jointly lead America down the path to humanistic socialism.

So if conservatism is powerless to oppose liberalism, what is the answer? How can we restore American’s taste for liberty, limited government, the sanctity of the family, and fiscal responsibility? First, it must be understood where these ideas came from. They did not originate with conservatism, which is powerless to preserve them, much less to create them. These ideas are the products of Bible-believing Christianity. It is imperative that believing Americans learn to differentiate between conservatism and Christianity.

In the US, it is easy to confuse conservative and Christian principles since our customs, traditions and founding philosophies, which conservatives still tend to support, were heavily influenced by Christianity. But this linkage is coincidental, not absolute. Remember that in China, the conservatives are the old-guard communists. In Christ’s time it was the Pharisees, who in their desperation to preserve their position in the old order, actually preferred declaring loyalty to the hated Caesar over Christ. Even in the US, conservatism can and will demonstrate its hostility to Christianity as the latter becomes far enough removed in time or purpose from the comfort zone of the former. In the US, many conservatives, even Christian conservatives, respond with hostility to Christian ideas such as calling for the withdrawal of Christian families from the secular public school system, privatizing social security, conducting a non-interventionist foreign policy, or forming an explicitly Christian political party to promote Christian principles and candidates.

It is essential for believers to grasp that the Christian faith differs from conservatism in that it is neither conservative nor preservative, but rather transformational. It has exceedingly broad implications for every area of life—beginning with the conversion of the individual heart and mind. The transformation process continues outward through the family and finally extends through the culture, permeating law, politics, economics, and civil-government. In contrast to conservatism, Christianity provides for a fundamentally progressive –Christian progressive- approach to living, teaching, governing and reforming. This is a difficult concept to grasp for many conservatives who have come to view progressivism as inherently evil.

Secular-progressivism and Christian-progressivism are polar opposites. The former is humanistic, with progression away from God and toward statism. The latter is a Christ-centered progression away from statism. In the former, men become subservient to the state. In the latter, men govern their lives, families and communities according to Christ’s perfect law of liberty. Private institutions prosper as the role of the state is minimized. Christian progressivism is the rejection of statism where men choose life under the light yoke of Christ instead of under the iron yoke of the state. As the polar opposite of statism (humanism), only Christianity can serve as a remedy to statist philosophy and its socialistic fruits. Thus at its core, the contest is spiritual, and secondly political.

A goal of Christian political action includes the articulation of the Gospel answers to a nation that desperately needs them. America needs to visualize practical Christian alternatives and models for education, business, politics, welfare and health care if it hopes to displace humanistic thought and socialist institutions. Only Christianity can provide a substitute for the idols of statism. Only Christianity can rebuild the foundations that it inspired in the first place.

Displacing the idols of statism will require nothing less than a complete transformation of the political debate and the revival of a national Christian conscience. Believers need to understand that America needs Christ, not socialism and not the pretended salt of conservatism. This is true for politics as well as for the individual. It is Christ alone who gives us liberty and He is the only remedy to the evil fruits of unbelieving political philosophy.

Christians must heed the Biblical directive and stop allowing their thinking to be spoiled by unbelieving worldly philosophy (“after the traditions of men and the rudiments of this world and not after Christ”). They must commit themselves to discerning a Christian perspective of life and politics rather than allowing the world to define the nature of their political and social institutions. This includes learning to think outside of the left-vs.-right two-party box within which they are taught to do their political thinking and strategizing. They must abandon the failed, defensive, and unbiblical principles of political conservatism.

This is not an easy process, since most of us are products of the secular public school system and all of us are have experienced a lifetime of being steeped in humanistic philosophy. Undoing the damage is a process that requires both commitment and humility—and which may also take a lifetime, even for dedicated Christian activists, leaders and teachers.

We must decide who is Lord, and whether he is Lord of all, or Lord of part. Believers must commit to living out their faith confidently, comprehensively and multi-generationally. Practicing a spiritual gospel for one area of life and a political gospel for another reveals a double-mindedness toward God’s Kingdom and limits the Lordship of Christ over his creation. To diminish the importance of the Gospel of Christ in any area is to diminish it in every area and to neutralize our effectiveness in all. By seeking political and social reform apart from Christ, conservatism, like humanism, attempts to govern without God.

Conservatism without Christ is humanism. If our worldview is not Christ-centered, it will become man- or state-centered and the nation will continue drifting toward socialism and one-world government. Conservatism is powerless to rebuild the foundations laid under the inspiration of the Christian faith and through the blessings of Providence.