Saturday, February 28, 2015

William Dunning's Premise of Conservatives

            If the spirit of America and the revolution was to establish a land where “all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” then according to William A. Dunning (in his 1904 journal article, A Century of Politics) and classic liberals, conservatives are in opposition to that end.[1] Conservatives hold true to the old ideals of the “royal and aristocratic classes of the old regime.”[2] Thus, they do not approve of any form of written law or constitution that would bind their prerogative to govern over any people according to their desire; to be so bound would be considered “a hindrance to good government” and “the state is not a mechanism, but an organism.”[3]
            Even after the conclusion of the Revolutionary War and freedom established from the monarchical hold from Great Britain, the sovereign independent States of America were not more than fifteen years old before conservatives crept into the halls of government. It was conservatives, who cried for the Articles of Confederation to be abolished when their attempted amendments failed to give them the power they desired under that written constitution. Nationalism then became their watchword and a new law of the land that would centralize power their driving force.
            As the ideals of classic liberalism were debated against nationalism in the political halls of government, the new Constitution was written. The Bill of Rights was added by the liberals to protect individual rights; but the rallying call of nationalism for defense of all Americans shifted “to aggression.”[4] The conservative movement now “came to be, not the release of a people from foreign rule, but the subjection of every people to its appropriate domestic rule.”[5]
            The debate over liberal and conservative principles and their application in American government came to a head in the 1860s. Once the smoke settled and hundreds of thousands of the dead were buried, “Nationalism and its meaning shifted from one political extreme to the other.”[6] However, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights still exist to hinder the conservative to some degree, which allows for the classic liberal to maintain a foothold in modern society.
Even President Barack Obama commented on the difficulty to push forward with a classical conservative agenda in the modern American society, when he was interviewed by Matt Lauer in 2012. “What’s frustrated people is that I have not be able to force Congress to implement every aspect of what I said in 2008…It turns out that our founders designed a system that makes it more difficult to bring about change than I would like sometimes.”[7] As Dunning stated, “Classic Conservatives were against written constitutions. They were not for defined rules or schools of thought as to liberty.”[8]
The interesting aspect of this subject is how the definition of the two principals of liberalism and conservatism has reversed in meaning over the years. This is also why the core beliefs of the Democrats and Republicans from the 19th century and today have also switched. Intentional or not, this flipping of definitions and core beliefs has created a difficulty for the general public to discern the truth behind American political history.
- Scott

Bibliography

Dunning, William A. “A Century of Politics.” The North American Review Vol. 179, No. 577 (Dec., 1904): 801-814.

Jefferson, Thomas. ”Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776.” Avalon Project. Accessed on February 28, 2015. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/declare.asp.

Obama, Barack. “Obama Blames Founding Fathers.” Fox Nation. Accessed on February 28, 2015. http://nation.foxnews.com/president-obama/2012/02/06/obama-blames-founding-fathers.




[1] Thomas Jefferson, ”Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776,” Avalon Project, accessed on February 28, 2015, http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/declare.asp.
[2] William A. Dunning, “A Century of Politics,” The North American Review Vol. 179, No. 577 (Dec., 1904):804.
[3] Ibid, 806.
[4] Ibid, 809.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Barack Obama, “Obama Blames Founding Fathers,” Fox Nation, accessed on February 28, 2015, http://nation.foxnews.com/president-obama/2012/02/06/obama-blames-founding-fathers.
[8] Dunning, “A Century of Politics,” 806.

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