The Conservative Dinosaur

Come, come, my conservative friend, wipe the dew off your spectacles,
and see that the world is moving.
-Elizabeth Cady Stanton

A woman stomped up to me after I’d spoken to a church a few years ago, stuck her finger in my face and hissed, “Your days are numbered!”

I’d just preached on the sanctity of life and the definition of marriage and family, all of which, she predicted, were beliefs soon to exit America’s value system. “Your time is over” she repeated several times, identifying herself as a committed liberal Christian whose commitment was, among other things, to dismantle conservative theology and practices within the modern church.

Maybe she was right. Notwithstanding recent election results, today’s political/social conservative can feel very lonely on his college campus, or at her job, or watching talking heads trash conservatives on television and You-tube.

Or even in his church.

Is Anybody Else Out There?

Which is ironic, because polls from the past few years show that those in our nation who identify themselves as Conservative are probably a slim majority.

In their book Ideology in America, Christopher Ellis and James Stimson note that Americans choose the “conservative” label far more than the “liberal” one, as they’ve done for more than 70 years. A 2011 Gallup poll found that 40 percent describe their views as conservative, 35 percent as moderate and 21 percent as liberal, and Pew Research Center noted “Conservative” was the second most positively viewed political term in America (right behind “Progressive”) while an earlier Gallup poll indicated there are/were twice as many self-identified Conservatives in America as there are self-identified Liberals.

So what gives? The numbers may have shifted between 2011 and 2014, but not enough to put the conservative population on life support. Why then do I, like many others I’ve spoken with, feel like an endangered species?

In Name Only

Maybe because we are, at least technically, despite the number of folks sporting the conservative label. The word itself is becoming like the term “evangelical”, in that plenty of people call themselves one, without holding to beliefs and practices that really are evangelical.

So it is with the term “conservative” – it’s widely applied, but its meaning seems watered down. After all, conservatives are supposed to favor limited government, but this electorate (allegedly made up of more conservatives than liberals) twice chose a President who has unabashedly promoted the expansion of government’s role and power. We (generally) uphold the man-woman bond as normative, but nationally we’ve shifted from a strictly heterosexual position to a pro-gay one at an astonishing pace. We champion religious freedom, but our courts, universities, and elected officials time and again clamp down on traditional Judeo-Christian expression, while giving a friendly nod to the burgeoning dragon of political correctness, all with little or no public outrage. Either the population has fewer conservatives than polls indicate, or the word itself means different things to different people.

The Sky’s Really Not Falling

So maybe the angry lady was right; maybe the Age of Aquarius has finally dawned, making dinosaurs out of fiscal/limited government/social conservatives. Here’s where I need to remind myself of a few things:

1. There are sincere believers who are theologically conservative
but politically liberal.

This should be a no-brainer because, good grief, nothing in scripture tells me that Republicans have a lock on godliness. I support the GOP because I find its values the most workable and sound; Christian Democrats or Libertarians would say the same of their party, and while I disagree, I think many of their points are valid. All of which means that a more centrist nation is not necessarily a lost cause.

2. My commitment to conservatism is not contingent on majority status.

I never adopted these principles because everyone else did, so why apologize for them when they’re unpopular? I grieve, pretty regularly, over the slaughter of unborn lives, because it’s a slaughter no less horrible just because it’s been sanctioned for over four decades. I’m sorry we didn’t seem to make a solid enough case for traditional marriage, a sorrow which won’t abate just because the Supreme Court redefines what God Himself called good. And I’ll go on abhorring government overreach because I think it’s akin to driving the nation over a cliff.

So if I must be a dinosaur, let me be an authentic one on his way to extinction, rather than a chameleon who survives by killing his soul.

3. We can do better.

Watering down our principles is the same as abandoning them; clearly that’s no answer. But our recent gains in Congress raise the big question: Exactly what are our principles?

It could well be that Republicans regained control not because of our policies, but because of dissatisfaction with those of this Administration. If that’s the case, we’d better define ourselves quickly as more than The Opposition, because the “We’re Against Them” line won’t get you through another term, and it sure won’t win the 2016 White House. So let’s hear clearer, more carefully explained definitions of Conservatism, detailing how it answers the problems of 2014 and beyond, energizing the base while making converts in the process.

That’s what this conservative wants to see. But wherever my friends are on the political spectrum, I hope all of us will strive to see our parties behave responsibly, lead with creative integrity, and hash out their differences like adults who (I’m dreamin’, I know) value the welfare of the country more than their party’s grip.

And that’s about as political as I’ll get for a while. Thanks for being here, and for your feedback and your friendship. Have a great weekend!

Love,
Joe