The Problem With Conservatism

J. Budziszewski (pronounced something like Boo-jee-CHEF-ski) is professor of Government and Philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin and one of my favorite writers. One of the reasons I like to read his work is that he is a clear thinker who is both challenging and instructive.

Recently I've enjoyed reading a pair of article he wrote for First Things about 10 years ago. I'll blog on them separately. The first is entitled The Problem With Conservatism. In it he sets forth eight moral errors of political conservatism. He then contrasts the political conservative trajectory with the biblical worldview.

Budziszewski is clear up front that not all of these errors apply equally to all conservatives. Rather he is identifying broad themes. Further, it helps to know that he is roughly defining a conservative as a person who "opposes the contemporary government-driven variety of social reformism in the name of some cherished thing which he finds that it endangers."

Here is a short overview of his general perspective:

What then is a Christian to make of conservatism? The danger, it would seem, is not in conserving, for anyone may have a vocation to care for precious things, but in conservative ideology, which sets forth a picture of these things at variance with the faith. The same is true of liberalism. From time to time Christians may find themselves in tactical alliance with conservatives, just as with liberals, over particular policies, precepts, and laws. But they cannot be in strategic alliance, because their reasons for these stands are different; they are living in a different vision. For our allies' sake as well as our own, it behooves us to remember the difference. We do not need another Social Gospel--just the Gospel.

Here are the eight moral errors, contrasted with the biblical vision:

1. Civil Religionism: America is a chosen nation, and its projects are a proper focus of religious aspiration. Christianity: America is but one nation among many, no less loved by God, but no more.
2. Instrumentalism: Faith should be used for the ends of the state. Christianity: Believers should be good citizens, but faith is not a tool.
3. Moralism: God's grace needs the help of the state. Christianity: Merely asks that the state get out of the way.
4. Caesarism: The laws of man are higher than the laws of God. Christianity: The laws of God are higher than the laws of man.
5. Traditionalism: What has been done is what should be done. Christianity: Any merely human custom may have to be repented.
6. Neutralism: Everyone ought to mind his own business, therefore moral and religious judgments should be avoided. Christianity: While one ought to mind his own business, moral and religious judgments can never be avoided.
7. Mammonism: Wealth is the object of commonwealth, and its continual increase even better. Christianity: Wealth is a snare, and its continual increase even worse.
8. Meritism: I should do unto others as they deserve. Christianity: I should do unto others not as they deserve, but as they need.

Conclusion:

Citizenship is an obligation of the faith, therefore the Christian will not abstain from the politics of the nation-state. But his primary mode of politics must always be witness. It is a good and necessary thing to change the welfare laws, but better yet to go out and feed the poor. It is a good and necessary thing to ban abortion, but better yet to sustain young women and their babies by taking them into the fellowship of faith. This is the way the kingdom of God is built.

It is not by the world that the world is moved--yet how it pulls. Ah, God, help us let go of the heights and the depths, the thrones and dominions, the powers and principalities; to be not conservatives, nor yet liberals, but simply Christians. "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of Hosts."

I'd be interested in your thoughts on this, though you'll have to read his entire piece to comment intelligently on these points.