Posted by
Curt Day on Tuesday, July 28, 2009 4:21:01 PM
Conservatives have declared what the values war with liberals is all about. The war is about 6 pairs of opposing values consisting of
the Conservative's Natural law vs the Liberal's Positive Law,
the Conservative's Established Institutions vs the Liberal's Progress,
the Conservative's emphasis on Liberty vs the Liberal's emphasis on equality,
the Conservative's Suspicion of Power vs the Liberal's belief in the possibility of a Benevolent Government,
the Conservative's Exceptionalism(hero worship) vs the Liberal's Human Perfectability, and
the Conservative's Individualism vs the Liberal's Community.
But what the Conservative has not admitted to is that sometimes there exists a battle between pairs of their own values. The conservative opposition to same sex marriage provides a prime example here. One would think that the Conservative's emphasis on liberty and the individual would lead conservatives to allow, though not embrace, same sex marriage because it is both an illustration of the independence of individuals not following the crowd and it would be the natural result of stressing liberty--after all, liberty implies the possibility of change and nothing says change more than America allowing gay marriage. But, conservatives did not welcome same sex marriage, not because such was an outcome of Liberty or Individualism, but because it was trumped by Established Institutions. Thus, the value battle that came into play when conservatives weighed the same sex marriage issue was the Conservative's Established Institutions vs the Conservative's Liberty or Individualism. And in that battle, Established Institutions carried the day.
Another battle exists in the Conservative's view of the financial bailouts. In one corner we have the Conservative's hero, reliance on the hero demonstrates the Conservative's belief in Exceptionalism, consisting of the stock market and, in particular, our key financial institutions. The Conservative proves his/her devotion to these heroes by affording them special treatment in the laws they write. The Conservative usually aids these markets through lowering taxes and deregulation. In the other corner, we have values from our Established Institutions of Capitalism and the Free Market principles. Here, again the Conservative's love for Established Institutions carried the day over Exceptionalism, as they rejected the bailouts on principle.
Is there anytime the Conservative's love for Established Institutions plays second fiddle? There is. When it comes to putting restrictions on the military in terms of how they protect this country, the Conservative's emphasis on Exceptionalism with the military as the hero, trumps any concerns that Established Institutions, such as values from the Bible that would restrict our use of the military, have as well the Conservative's vaunted suspicion of power. It seems that when it comes to the military, the Conservative has no fear of big government,provided the right man is at the helm. Perhaps this is because when it comes to the military, it is someone else's butt that can be kicked, not the Conservative's.
We might want to consider whether the Conservative's view of the value war is an adequate description of how the Conservative makes decisions. That the Conservative often fails to see that his own cherished values not only oppose the values of the Liberal, but also oppose each other points to the inadequacy of their understanding of values. Perhaps, then, the Conservative might want to put a sign above their values saying, "Under Construction." After all this is the season for construction.