Conservative

A conservative is one who adheres to principles of limited government, personal responsibility and moral values. A conservative would likely agree with the statement in George Washington's Farewell Address that "religion and morality are indispensable supports" to political prosperity.^[1] Conservatism arose in the 19th century as a response to liberalism, particularly as manifested in the French Revolution.^[2]

In the United States, conservatives are generally characterized by adherence to limited government, public morality and free enterprise. Specifically, conservatives tend to adhere to the following principles:

• Checking change on tradition
• A strong national defense
• Return of prayer in school
• Having a stick shoved up their ass
• The Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, as long as such possession does not threaten national security
• Economic allocative efficiency (as opposed to popular equity)
• Stronger law enforcement and anti-crime laws, including the death penalty
• Parents, rather than school teachers, educating children about sex
• Choice in education
• Prying into the lives of others when they have no right to
• Private medical care and retirement plans
• Weakening or cancellation of failed social support programs
• Prohibition of abortion
• Opposition to same-sex marriage licenses and homosexuals
• Support of laws against pornography
• Generally opposed to the United Nations
• Support enforcement of current laws regarding immigration
• Support tightening of border security
• Respect for our military... past and present
• Low taxes, especially in upper income brackets
• Opening foreign markets to U.S. products
• Less power for the federal government and more for local and state governments

About every 20-60 years a conservative has been elected president of the United States. Examples include:

• George Washington
• James Monroe
• Grover Cleveland
• William Howard Taft
• Warren G. Harding
• Ronald Reagan

In America, most conservatives tend to align with the Republican Party, but not exclusively so.

Some of the more notable news organizations which tend to be more conservative are Fox News, WorldNetDaily, NewsMax, and Cybercast News Service.

Two well known conservative magazines in the United States are The Weekly Standard and the National Review.

Some of the more notable conservative political blogs are Power Line, Captain's Quarters, the blog of Michelle Malkin, Newsbusters, the Heritage Policy Weblog, Humanevents, Townhall, and the Conservative Caucus blog.

American commentators who ally themselves with the conservative movement but reject its religious or moral underpinnings are generally known as neoconservatives.^[3]

In the United States, conservatives are generally characterized by the following beliefs:

1. A deep suspicion of the power of the state.
2. A preference for liberty over equality.
3. Patriotism.
4. A belief in established institutions and hierarchies.
5. Skepticism about the idea of progress.

However, neoconservatives generally support government power and are indifferent to liberty and equality.

Paleoconservatives are conservatives who are more focused on opposing multiculturalism, and suspicious of both big government and big business. They also lean more towards isolating America from the problems of other continents. Neoconservatives might criticize this as "isolationism", as they believe we can promote democracy worldwide.

Among paleoconservatives was Democratic Congressman from Georgia, Larry McDonald. He was also second Chairman of the John Birch Society, and President of Western Goals. McDonald was aboard Korean Airlines Flight 007 when it was shot down by the Soviets in 1983.

Because Conservatives often have strong political views, there can be a tendency to see conservatism as a purely political ideology. However, there is also a strong personal side to conservatism - being a conservative is as much about applying conservative values to one's everyday life as it is about campaigning and voting for conservative candidates. In general, conservatives can be characterised by a strong sense of personal morality, a willingness to observe their culture's traditions and customs, and a desire to be respectable and to show due respect to other members of the community.

In the United Kingdom the present parliamentary opposition party is called the Conservative Party. Its current leader is David Cameron.^[4]

Up until the mid-19th century, the forerunners of the Conservatives were known as Tories, and the name has persisted as a common nickname both for the political party and those believed to be in agreement with it. Since the mid-to-late 1970s, UK conservatives have been defined by an advocacy of laissez-faire economics, privatization and lower taxation. In recent years the Conservative Party has moved away from the social conservatism which once characterised it, and the current party policy includes, for example, support for abortion on demand and gay civil partnership and the Kyoto Treaty and to oppose capital punishment (although it should be noted that such policies have little support amongst the party's grassroots membership) ^[5]

Levels of prayer and worship are much lower in the U.K. than in the U.S.^{[Citation Needed]}, and religious issues thereby play less of a role in England. Religious issues remain a significant factor in Northern Ireland and in 2008 religious issues were significant during a special election in Scotland.

In common with conservatives in many other countries, UK Conservatives tend towards a patriotic rather than internationalist outlook, and are traditionally skeptical of the European Union.

British broadcast news services is overwhelmingly liberal. The BBC which conservatives view as very liberal in nature and the ITN less so. Sky News is owned by Rupert Murdoch but is not conservative by American standards either.

The print media in Britain is also dominated by leftist papers. Independent and the Guardian are significantly further to the Left than any mainstream American publication. The Times is not as liberal, being owned by Rupert Murdoch^[6] and having a readership that votes 40% Tory, 29% Liberal Democrats and 26% Labour in a poll conducted by MORI.

Populist and less political papers are the Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, Daily Express and the The Sun, which is also owned by Rupert Murdoch^[7]. The Mirror, The Sun and the Daily Star are the traditional form of tabloid papers that are designed to cater to the working class, with The Sun being right-wing, The Mirror being left-wing and the Daily Star tending to avoid political leanings and instead concentrate on what can be considered to be sensationalist news stories. The Spectator is a weekly journal of opinion which expresses broadly conservative views; until 2006 it was edited by Boris Johnson, a conservative politician who was elected Mayor of London in 2008.

• Articles about Conservatives from previous "Breaking News"
• Articles about Conservatives from "More News"
• Conservative Links

• What Liberals Say - Category: Conservatives, Accuracy In Media