The Language of the Debate (14)

Christians who uncritically accept redefinitions foisted on us in bad faith by people with agendas are bound to end up confused and stymied in conversations about anything important. Our standard practice in this blog post series has been to identify and point out changes cleverly made to English words with the object of reframing divisive issues, shaping public discussion or circumventing debate entirely.

Today’s term is a little different. It’s not that it’s been conveniently redefined so much as it never had much meaning in the first place.

A video circulating last week used poll results as evidence intended to demonstrate that Canadian “conservatives” are not actually conservative in their opinions. That opens up a can of worms for anyone trying to determine if this is actually the case, starting with the question “What is a conservative in the first place?” Not only can’t we answer the question, we can’t even ask it coherently if we don’t agree what we’re talking about.

18. “Conservative”

I will argue that “conservative” is a label that, despite its frequent use, is fundamentally useless.

Large numbers of evangelical Christians self-identify as conservatives, which is why I’m even mildly interested in the question. According to Wikipedia, conservatism is “a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values”. That definition will probably serve as adequately as any. They also claim the first political use of the term goes back to 1818 France. Though conservative movements in different Western nations may share an overall philosophy, they have different emphases and goals depending on which traditions are currently under attack in their backyards, so we’ll discuss Canadian conservatism specifically rather than the movement generally.

Conservatives and Conserving

I would have called myself conservative as recently as a few years ago. I would not do so today, not least because conservatism has not proved a durable or effective political philosophy. I think we can safely say it has failed to conserve anything of value in Canadian culture.

Partly that is a function of numbers. Conservatives are not thick on the ground these days. Even when they succeed politically, it’s because of the obvious shortcomings of progressivism, not because the public has suddenly embraced traditionalism. Further, in the past decade, out-of-control immigration has so diluted legacy Canadian population demographics that the appeal of Canadian traditions is largely a non-factor, primarily because few paper Canadians even know or care what they are. As one former prime minister famously declared, “There is no core identity, no mainstream in Canada”, calling us “the first post-national state”. That is certainly true in major Canadian cities; less true in smaller communities minimally impacted by the sweeping shifts in demographics, though even that is changing for the worse.

A Philosophy with No Moral Content

Moreover, large numbers of our political conservatives have been adjectivally “progressive” going back decades, which speaks eloquently to the confused thinking of rightward-leaning Canadians. If even self-styled conservatives do not know which values they are trying to conserve and in which other areas they are seeking to “progress”, how on earth can anyone else figure that out?

But the biggest problem with conservatism generally is that, as defined by Wikipedia and most of its modern proponents, it is a philosophy without moral content. It should be obvious that anything based on “traditional institutions, customs, and values” is ethically content-free. Absent a moral center, even the most firm commitment to conserving traditions has no fixed location or anchor point. After all, slavery was once a well-established tradition, along with a few other things we are better off not conserving. The impetus for conserving mere traditions can never be objective or imperative. At its best, it is only a foot-dragging, hidebound collection of personal opinions in large numbers of minds incapable of formulating — let alone asking — the question “What really matters here?” Conservatism is an affectation, not a political philosophy. At least progressives pretend to believe in something that matters to them. A philosophy with no moral content wields no authority.

Without Meaningful Representation

All of this serves to explain why, as Canadian society has careened toward the cliff edge over the last fifty years, picking up considerable velocity over the last decade, so-called Canadian conservatives have been only a few paces behind the progressives in a crowd of culturally-suicidal lemmings. Even the foot-dragging is now only a formality. Pride Saturday became Pride Week became Pride Month became Pride Season, and conservatives had little or nothing to say about it.

Well, that’s not quite true. Here’s Progressive Conservative Ontario Premier Doug Ford gaily participating in a Pride parade. Looks like he’s having an absolute blast representing his constituency. And when a nominally conservative Ontario government sponsors all-ages Christmas-themed drag shows, it’s about time for Christians to acknowledge that conservatism in Canada has nothing to offer us. Frankly, it never did. We are without meaningful representation in the political arena.

Does that matter? Well, yes. Canadian Christians may have gotten habituated to having nothing to say on the abortion or euthanasia questions that anyone is willing to hear, but perhaps the staggering rise in “Canadian” antisemitism is alarming a few of us. I hope so. Sadly, we are not going to be able to vote ourselves out of this mess. At the rate our population is being deliberately transformed, the prospect of Canada having more Muslims than evangelicals in a few years is hardly unforeseeable.

An End to Pride?

Frankly, aside from the religious aspect, any return to “traditional values” that happens in Canada is likelier to be the product of Islamofascism than national repentance and a commitment to a more moral culture among “conservative” Canadians. If we’re ever going to see an end to “Pride Season”, it won’t be political pressure from Canadian evangelicals that brings it about.

Either way, “conservative” is a label that has worn out its welcome. Christians are better off identifying ourselves with specific truths worthy of conservation — maybe even reinstitution.