Description
What does it mean to be a “conservative?” Join us as we trace the origin and evolution of conservatism. Arising in the 18th and 19th centuries, largely as a reaction against the excesses of the French Revolution, the conservative movement called for the conservation of what it saw as society’s key institutions: the nuclear family, aristocracy, monarchy, deference to authority, private property, organized religion, the nation-state, and the rule of law. While many varieties of conservatism evolved out of its initial impulses, perhaps no feature is more key than its basic faith in institutions. Is today’s Republican Party “conservative,” or has something else emerged? What is the future of the conservative movement?
