Political Conservatism is about individual Liberty best expressed in Capitalism, and in opposition to Socialism.
Our country was founded on Liberty and is epitomised in Patrick Henry's cry, "Give me liberty, or give me death" as he said on March 23, 1775 at St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia.
Liberty is the tree that all Conservative American principles grows.
Individual freedoms, Private Property Rights, Self Determination in regards to many things including a Government Of The People, Gun Ownership, what Religion we practice, whom we choose to have relationships. Perhaps most clearly in the strong preference of Capitalism over Socialism in how we are rewarded in our own hard work rather than benefiting from other’s labor without their consent.
It might be best summarized as the inalienable rights as written in the Declaration of Independence as, “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
“Life” is self explanatory as not having your very life threatened and is the reason we have law enforcement coming from the very communities we live in rather than a military force as was a common tool used in mother England to oppress the citizens with real threat of taking their goods and their lives if they should object.
“Liberty” is the primary reason why we broke from mother England after the Colonist had experienced Freedom in its many forms as they lived away from government oppression and made their own lives in a land far away from the oppressive government of England. Liberty is literally freedom from arbitrary or despotic government or control. Freedom from control, interference, obligation, restriction, hampering conditions, the power or right of doing, thinking, speaking, according to choice. Without Liberty in a meaningful way Patrick Henry went on to say, “Gentlemen may cry Peace, Peace, but there is no peace.”
Distinguishing between the terms "freedom" and "liberty." Speaking generally, Freedom usually means to be free from something, whereas Liberty usually means to be free to do something, although both refer to the quality or state of being free. Jefferson's use of the terms almost always reflected those meanings.
Some of those Liberties include the right to worship as they wanted. History is replete with the knowledge that many of the “Pilgrims” boarded the little ships to cross the wide ocean so they would have the freedom to worship as they wanted rather than being told that they had to worship the official Church of England as part of the all dictating English government.
Another Liberty enjoyed by the new Colonist was freedom from arbitrary Taxes levied without consent of those being taxed. The cry of "No taxation without representation" is known by most. A slogan originating during the 1700s that summarized a primary grievance of the American colonists in the Thirteen Colonies, which was one of the major causes of the American Revolution.
“The pursuit of Happiness” has long been interpreted as Private Property rights. The ability to own, keep, and use private property as a distinction of what the Colonist had left behind in England. A feature that distinguished the peasants from the royalty in England. Without these rights there was a class system that forever kept Royalty in an elite class and those without private property rights as a permanent underclass that worked just as a servant to those that owned the property.
“Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” – Theodore Roosevelt
Economic freedom is the fundamental right of every human to control his or her own labor and property. In an economically free society, individuals are free to work, produce, consume, and invest in any way they please.
Private Property Rights as a defense against the tyrannical power of government. Without the ownership or private property and the independance to use as the individual sees fit we are nothing more to slaves. The Constitution protects property rights mainly through the Fifth Amendment's Takings or Just Compensation Clause: ''nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.''
Prosperity and property rights are inextricably linked. The importance of having well-defined and strongly protected property rights is now widely recognized among economists and policymakers. A private property system gives individuals the exclusive right to use their resources as they see fit.
When you own real property, you have certain rights that go along with that ownership, including:
-- Right to possession
-- Right to control
-- Right to use and quiet enjoyment
-- Right to allow others a right to use (licenses and leases)
-- Right to privacy and to exclude others
-- Right to disposition or to transfer the property to someone else by selling, gifting or inheritance
-- Right to use property as collateral through a mortgage
Private property is a legal designation for the ownership of property by non-governmental legal entities. Private property is distinguishable from public property, which is owned by a state entity; and from collective (or cooperative) property, which is owned by a group of non-governmental entities. The property rights component is an assessment of the ability of individuals to accumulate private property. Liberty is a measure of the degree to which a country's laws protect private property rights and the degree to which its government enforces those laws.
Self-Determination is the Central Keystone in Conservative Economic Theory.
"Give me liberty, or give me death!"
"No taxation without representation."
Self-Determination is the Central Keystone in Conservative Economic Theory. What do we mean by self determination? Determination by oneself or itself, without outside influence. Freedom to live as one chooses, or to act or decide without consulting another or others.
Determination is the essences of increasing your chances of being successful in a particular thing or achieving a particular goal, and it can also help you to stay motivated and continue striving towards the one thing you want to achieve. Self-determination theory of human motivation and personality concerns people's inherent growth tendencies and innate psychological needs. It is concerned with the motivation behind choices people make without external influence and interference.
Modern Economic theory is best represented by Milton Friedman whom was an American economist that received the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on consumption analysis, monetary history and the complexity of stabilization policy.
Friedman's challenges to what he later called "naive Keynesian" theory began with his 1950s reinterpretation of the consumption function. Friedman promoted an alternative macroeconomic viewpoint known as "monetarism" and argued that a steady, small expansion of the money supply was the preferred policy. His ideas concerning monetary policy, taxation, privatization and deregulation influenced government policies, especially during the 1980s.
Friedman was an advisor to Republican President Ronald Reagan and Conservative British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. His political philosophy extolled the virtues of a free market economic system with minimal intervention. He once stated that his role in eliminating conscription in the United States was his proudest accomplishment. In his 1962 book Capitalism and Freedom, Friedman advocated policies such as a volunteer military, freely floating exchange rates, a negative income tax, school vouchers, and opposed the war on drugs. His support for school choice led him to found the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, later renamed EdChoice.
Friedman's works include monographs, books, scholarly articles, papers, magazine columns, television programs and lectures and cover a broad range of economic topics and public policy issues. His books and essays have had global influence, including in former communist states. A survey of economists ranked Friedman as the second-most popular economist of the 20th century following only John Maynard Keynes and The Economist described him as "the most influential economist of the second half of the 20th century, possibly of all of it".
Social Conservatism is … When we look at the founding papers of the United States it is hard to construct a theory of Social Conservatism. We do find that the drive for independence is fueled by the desire to be who we want without governmental interference. This is clear in the right to worship who we want, to associate with whom we want, to own private property and grow our investments as much as we want through our own efforts, and to be taxed and represented as a government of the people. So any theory of social conservatism must comply with those basic fundamentals of our formation.
We know the cry, “the Redcoats are coming” but we do not find such statements as “the Redskins are coming,” or the “Francos are coming.” This leads a thinking Conservative to wonder if Social Conservatism is a construct proporated by Liberals like the DNC to denigrate Conservative principles. A construct accepted by many Conservatives without wondering how principles built on Liberty and freedom from governmental interference in one’s personal; life could coexist with oppressive social ideals.
One thing that becomes clear in an analysis of the fundamentals of Conservatism is that Conservative Policy is built on Capitalism and diametrically in opposition to Socialism.
