Q&A: Conservatism as the Mother of All Sin
Conservatism as the Mother of All Sin
Question
If I understand correctly, conservatism basically says that what worked once still works now, and there’s no point in changing. Now, aside from the fact that this is itself foolish and every issue should be examined on its own merits to see whether it should be changed or not, in terms of actual results—what has conservatism produced for us? I can list thousands of things liberalism has brought to the world, and in my opinion the best example is the State of Israel, meaning Zionism. Which is, by definition, a movement that turned Judaism into a nationhood and stopped with religion (even before that the Jews were a nation; it’s just that nobody turned this into an actual movement with a vision). In short, do you think there is anything good about conservatism?
Answer
I’ve written here more than once about conservatism, and you can search for it. In my opinion, there is no point in adopting a priori positions at all—neither conservatism nor innovation. Every proposal should be examined on its own merits.
Discussion on Answer
Not true. Sometimes innovation advanced it, and sometimes conservatism did. That’s why I don’t see any point or value in discussing conservatism and innovation. These are two idiotic approaches that prefer overarching a priori considerations over substantive ones.
Can the Rabbi give an example where conservatism advanced something? Because I truly can’t think of anything like that, as opposed to liberalism and innovation (women’s rights, LGBT rights, democracy, equality before the law, science, technology, the State of Israel, and many other good things)
For example, the model of government in the past was that there was a king who usually inherited the throne. The conservatives come and say: that’s how it always was, and that’s how it should stay. In contrast, the liberals try to explain that this is immoral, improper, unequal, and that we need to move to a different model (democracy). In short, I still haven’t found even one good thing about conservatism, and I’d be glad if the Rabbi would enlighten me.
Before the examples, I’ll explain why you are necessarily mistaken. According to your view, in every situation x where a proposal comes up to move to situation y, alongside a proposal to remain in x, it is preferable to move to y. Do you understand that this is nonsense? If x is preferable to y, then it would be better to preserve it and not change.
The survival of the Jewish people is based to a large extent on its conservatism. Science is based on an inherent conservatism, without which there would be no science. And conversely, pseudoscience (like alternative medicine) is always based on innovation, on a proposal to change the scientific status quo. By the way, scientific conservatism means opposing such proposals, for example.
Well, as I said, I find this discussion pointless and without value. I suggest we wrap it up.
Ah, and liberals definitely do not say to keep changing all the time. Rather, they usually try to change in accordance with reality and with enlightened Western values, unlike conservatives, who try to preserve no matter what.
Exactly the opposite—conservatism advocates a suspicious attitude toward change and implementing it in a careful, slow way, in order to make sure the benefit of the change outweighs the harm, unlike innovators, for whom change itself is perceived as good and therefore should be promoted with full force, without taking into account the damage that will be created.
According to the innovators’ approach, once the change becomes established as the norm, it already needs to be changed again, because only conservatives believe in preserving it…
(And by the way, the examples you gave illustrate the problem with your approach. For example, cautious feminism is good because it grants rights to women, but the feminism that exists today pushes women to become equal to men, and in doing so places heavy pressure on them, harms relationships, and ruins life for both women and men alike. It is no coincidence that women’s happiness indices over the last 40 years have shown a clear decline. As for the LGBT approach, which dismantles the family, birthrates, and society in general, and sends mental-health problems among youth soaring to worrying levels—there is no need to elaborate. If you think this is good, then perhaps there is no point in discussing it.)
But on the other hand, you could argue that innovative approaches advanced the world, while conservatism didn’t advance it at all. So even if it isn’t done מתוך an innovative approach—practically speaking, new things advanced the world, whereas conservatism didn’t (I hope I’m making myself clear)