What does "Conservative" mean?

American usage has hopelessly contaminated the word "liberal" by applying it to social democrats, but it has done the same with "conservative" by making it synonymous with fervent religiosity. An example is this post by Ann Coulter in Human Events, which claims to be "Leading Conservative media since 1944".

Most of it is way OTT, but I like this line: "In the druidical religion of liberalism, not separating your recyclables is a sin, but abortion is just a medical procedure".

Coulter has an impressive polemicist's CV. As well as her widely read column, she features regularly on TV and talk radio, and has published seven best-sellers: High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Case Against Bill Clinton (1998); Slander: Liberal Lies About the American Right (2002); Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism (2003); How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must): The World According to Ann Coulter (2004); Godless: The Church of Liberalism (2006);  If Democrats Had Any Brains, They'd Be Republicans (2007); and  Guilty: Liberal "Victims" and Their Assault on America (2009).

I have not read any of Coulter's publications because book-length polemics bore me. I also think that religion, like sex, is a private matter and find the flaunting of beliefs and genitals equally distasteful. Finally, the minutiae of political factionalism is just as tedious in the States as it is in Britain. Political parties are private associations that compete for the privilege of spending public money. They have far more in common with each other than any of them have with the general population, and anyone who can get excited about their Punch and Judy show is, to my mind, a dupe.

I voted Republican in Houston solely because Ron Paul was my local representative and I completely agreed with his views on US foreign and monetary policy, and admired his consistent voting record against any increase in the power of the Federal government. Although he stood in 1988 as a Libertarian, he is, as far as I am concerned, the only genuine Conservative I have ever had the opportunity to vote for. I voted for The One two years ago mainly because I felt the Republican establishment richly deserved a kick in the crotch. 

I only voted for the British Conservative party once, in 2001, when I had to escort my aged mother to the polling station, and frivolously decided to off-set her vote for "dear Tony". Barring the happy accident of moving into Ron Paul's constituency, I have never voted for any candidate or political faction. I vote against the one I regard as most harmful or personally repugnant - not an easy choice on either side of the Atlantic.

I am an historian, therefore cannot share the faith in human nature that appears to animate those who style themselves Libertarian - although I share their furious rejection of insidious bureaucratic tyranny. The Labour party's "equality" agenda is so transparently communist that anyone who values liberty even a little must vote against it. Yet the LibDems and the Tories are united in their commitment to the totally undemocratic European Union, which, in its own way, is no less an enemy of the historic liberties of the British nation. 

The curse of sloppy modern political terminology is that labels no longer bear any relation to the contents of whatever association they are attached to. When writing Razor's Edge about the Falklands War, I found it necessary to add an appendix to define what the more common ideological terms mean, because they are commonly used so carelessly.

I reproduce those definitions in the next post so that I will be able to link back to it in future.

For this post, however, the definition that matters is that conservatism is a belief that customs and institutions shaped by time embody a profound collective wisdom and therefore rejects attempts to remodel society according to theoretical blueprints. Thus, properly speaking, it is an anti-ideology.

Funnily enough, I think that describes the majority world-view of the British. And, even more funnily enough, I suspect that serendipity has given us a government that sails pretty close to that point of the compass. It is unfortunate that some of the customs and institutions shaped by the last 50-60 years are so dysfunctional, but by removing the more recent ideological accretions and making good husbandry the main priority, the Coalition government is probably being as conservative as it is possible to be.

Hat-tip to Jill