Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Conservative [definition]

My upcoming capstone thesis will be from the point of view of a conservative. Not to say that I am a Republican (well, I am), but rather to say that I hold preservation in high regards. I consider myself a classy/old school person (my vehicle has no computer, I shave with a handmade straight razor, I love reading great books), yet at the same time I consider my self a tech-savy individual (I program computers, I am chained to my blackberry, I love my kindle). I believe in progress as well as conservation.

In Roger Scruton's book Arguments for Conservatism, he states that "the purpose of politics... is to maintain a vigilant resistance to the entropic forces that erode our social and ecological inheritance" (35). For me, being conservative means to acknowledge that which has been given to us inherently, to improve upon its achievements, and to learn from its mistakes. I do not mean conservatism to be a ball and chain for "progress" (although I feel that the term 'progress' often times improperly characterizes what should simply be considered 'change,' a different way of doing things that is not inherently better), but rather an educated observation followed by action. Taking the time to consider what has been done, we have the opportunity to become the best of what ever was; then we build upon it. We do not try to reinvent the wheel, but we definitely do not make them out of stone.

With that, I hope to provide  a definitional basis for my conservative argument for marriage.

No comments:

Post a Comment