On The Social Nature of Conservatism

posted at 7:40 am on October 5, 2009 by Michael van der Galien

Whenever conservatives debate economics and social equality with progressives, the latter succeed in portraying the former as cold, greedy and careless. ‘Conservatives just don’t care about the poor,’ leftists say, they only care about protecting corporate interests and making a couple of million themselves while they’re at it.

Britain’s conservatives, the Tories, have now decided to counteract this myth (see below) actively by making “a crusade on poverty” an integral part of their campaign.

Mr Gove, the shadow schools secretary, said the Tories are focused on improving social mobility and helping those born in poor families advance up the economic scale.

As the Conservatives open their annual conference in Manchester today, they are unveiling plans for more than two million Britons claiming incapacity benefit face tough “back to work” medical tests that could see their benefits cut.

In a BBC Radio Four interview, Mr Gove insisted that planning to cut benefits for claimants did not mean the party was not committed to helping the poor.

He insisted that the Tories’ “back to work” policies are focussed on narrowing the gap between rich and poor and helping the children of poorer households improve their own circumstances.

Mr Gove said: “The Conservative Party this week is a party that is on a mission, a crusade to deal with the long-standing issues which have kept 20 to 30 per cent of our people in poverty.”

They want to explain to voters that conservative policies aim at emancipating the poor whereas progressive policies shackle them. Welfare doesn’t truly help the poor. Rather, it removes any incentive to improve their lot in life themselves.

Welfare keeps the poor in poverty.

Conservatives in both Europe and the US have to be courageous enough to turn the tables on leftists. Giving handouts to the poor is not a sign of compassion, let alone of righteousness.

Quite the opposite even. It aren’t leftists but conservatives who act in the best interest of the poor. And it is in their interest to become independent, self-reliant and confident human beings. The left’s well-intentioned policies have reduced the lower class to little more than children. There isn’t anything even remotely compassionate about that.

It’s time for conservatives in the West to do what the Tories are doing now; declare a crusade on poverty by explaining that fiscal conservative policies do not merely sound nice in theory but are actually good for the people at large, and especially for the poor.

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