Why Conservatives support Status Quo 

 Ahmad Reza Taheri  

In this note, we are dealing with the fourth concept on the political spectrum illustrated above; it is about the Conservatives. Professor Leon P Baradat writes that "Lacking confidence in society's ability to achieve improvements through policy initiatives, most Conservatives support only very slow and superficial alteration of the system. Conservatives are the most supportive of the status quo and therefore are reluctant to see it changed. They have little confidence in human morality or intelligence."

For the Conservatives, Baradat continues, though the world might not be as pleasant as they might wish, they are dubious about efforts to change it for fear that incompetent meddling might, indeed, make things worse. However, being content with things as they are, does not suggest that Conservatives are necessarily happy with the existing system.

Conservatives are often accused of lacking vision, but this charge is unfair. The difference between Conservatives and Liberals is not founded on the fact that the latter dream of achieving a better world, whereas the former think the status quo is the best conceivable existence. In fact, Conservatives may desire a future free of human conflict and suffering. The essential difference between the two viewpoints rests on their respective confidence in when (or, indeed, whether) the ideal can be accomplished.

Thus, Conservatives support the status quo not so much because they like it but because they believe that it is the best that can be achieved at the moment. Put differently, Conservatives oppose change because they doubt that it will result in something better, not because they do not desire improvement.

The primary reason Conservatives are suspicious about the prospects of improving society through deliberate political policy is that they do not believe human reason is powerful enough to even completely understand, let alone solve, society's problems.

Unlike the Liberals who believe that people are rational and can solve the problems of society, Conservatives believe that irrationality and immorality dominate the rational impulses of human beings. Let us clear ourselves on the term "irrationality" that the term "irrational" used here is not intended to imply that Conservatives lack the rational or intellectual prowess of their opponents. The term only applies to persons who see severe limitations in people's ability to solve problems through the use of reason.

While, Liberals believe that human beings are trustworthy creatures that will normally behave themselves when left alone, Conservatives have less faith than the Liberals; they believe that it is difficult for the people to use reason to restrain their animalistic impulses and their emotions. They see people as relatively base and even somewhat sinister. In short, they mistrust human nature.

Hence, whereas Liberals believe that little government control is normally necessary to ensure human compatibility, Conservatives tend to favor authoritarian controls over the individuals in society.

Professor Baradat says that for conservatives human equality is a myth. Because of the heavy influence of classical liberalism in the USA, American Conservatives accept the principle of human equality. However, they oppose society's doing much to reward human equality because, although they agree that people are equal, they do not agree that human equality is important. Life, they aver, is like a race or contest. Equality is only the beginning point and therefore should not be rewarded. Instead, people's accomplishments throughout life should be rewarded. Although people are equally human, the rightists say, they did nothing to become human or equal and therefore deserve no particular political or social benefits because of it.

In fact, contrary to what mentioned above about American conservatives, as quoted by Baradat, human equality must be rewarded. Human equality is important. These concepts can be useful and influential for the moral development of human beings to respect equality. Otherwise, a negation of such concepts can lead us into an authoritarian way of thinking. After all, it is through such concepts that one can follow a liberal approach. 

Source: Professor Leon P Baradat, Political Ideologies: their origins and impact, 9th edition, Indian reprint, published by Asoke K. Gosh, pp. 22-27. All Rights Reserved by www.ahmadrezataheri.org