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Politics > US: Conservatism > Flashcards

US: Conservatism Flashcards

1
Q

who said, “no state more extensive than the minimal state can be justified”

A

Robert Nozick

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2
Q

Who said, “the man of conservative temperament knows that a known good is not lightly to be surrendered for an unknown better”

A

Michael Oakeshott

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3
Q

Who said, “The taxation of earning from labour is on par with forced labour”

A

Robert Nozick

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4
Q

who wrote, “love the little platoon to which we belong”

A

Edmund Burke

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5
Q

“The conjunction of ruling and dreaming general tyranny”

A

Michael Oakeshott

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6
Q

“money is the barometer of a society’s virtue”

A

Ayn Rand

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7
Q

“Life in the state of nature is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”

A

Thomas Hobbes

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8
Q

“covenants without swords are just words”

A

Thomas Hobbes

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9
Q

“society is but a contract between the dead, the living and those yet to be born”

A

Edmund Burke

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10
Q

“only the man who does not need it is fit to inherit it, the man who would make his fortune no matter where he started”

A

Ayn Rand

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11
Q

What does conservatism think about the Economy

A
  • Favour capitalism: widens economic inequality and preserves hierarchy which in turn promotes risk and innovation rather than order and continuity
  • Hate lassaiz-faire capitalism due to dim views on human nature: support tariffs and state ensuring full employment
  • The New Right: Thatcher’s neo-conservative social and neo-liberal government. Privatises state to “free” economy + more spending on police
  • Lower taxes with capitalism, which means you can keep the fruits of your own labour
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12
Q

What does conservatism think about the role of the state?

A
  • Ruling classes are born and trained to rule therefore they are most suitable (Edmund Burke huge advocate for this after French Revolution)
  • The principle of paternalism: laws should ensure social cohesion and avoid revolutionary ideas
  • Organic origins of state show that it is born from pragmatism rather than ideology (due to the lack of experience)
  • Individual rights only stem from the state’s order and authority
  • Oakeshott: the state should “prevent the bad rather than create the good”
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13
Q

What does conservatism think about human nature?

A
  • Oakeshott: conservatism is “more psychology than ideology” and that human nature is fallible and can only be benevolent when countered with family and religion and routine
  • Burke: human nature is fallible, but not terrible. At core we are a communal species who find comfort in each other
  • Hobbes: human nature is the worst, calculating and counter-productive
  • Overall: Human nature is a hindrance which is not malleable- needs to be overcome with the state
    “Conservatism is a philosophy of imperfection”
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14
Q

What does conservatism think about society?

A
  • Property is inherited or bequeathed, forming ties between living and dead (Burke, “the living, dead and yet to be)
  • Localism: society is a collection of communities, local loyalty makes us more committed to status and protection (Burke’s little platoon)
  • Organicism: society is unplanned and organic like a plant/OR like an old building which only need constructive maintenance
  • Empiricism: preference for evidence rather than speculation
  • Judeo-Christian morality, backbone of tradition (the guidebook of society) is religion and thus society
  • Hierarchy is a reflection of human weakness, they need leadership
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15
Q

What is One Nation conservatism

A

Founded by Benjamin Disraeli in the 1870s, it is a paternalistic strand of traditional conservatism. He argued that it was in the interests of the elite to look after the less fortunate- as having a safety net for poverty would make revolution less likely

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16
Q

Summarise The New Right strand of conservatism

A
  • Andy Rand and Robert Nozick are key thinkers during the economic crisis of the 1970s (stagflation, crime and traditions out the window) so they revert to tradition
  • Better view of human nature due to failings of the state (supporting laissez-faire, property ownership, small government and social conservatism)
  • Rand argues individualism over the government was key to success: Atomism: looking after yourself. She argues liberty is impossible without state order
  • Nozick: “tax, for the most part, is theft”. He argued that limited states increase community and paternalism
17
Q

Summarise traditional early conservatism

A
  • Hobbes, life in the state of nature is “nasty, brutish and short”
  • Burke, “little platoons” community to take away human imperfection. Hierarchy based on opulent, wise and strong
  • Oakeshott, “a boat trying to stay afloat in choppy waters” we should not overshoot goals just battle troubles
  • George Canning, followed Burkian doctrine apart from when he allowed Catholics into Parliament, however, this is still conservative as it prevented civil unrest
18
Q

Summarise traditional later conservatism

A
  • One-nation conservatism, “The palace is unsafe if the cottage is unhappy”
  • “Aristocracy has a duty to elevate the people” Benjamin Disraeli said both these
  • Conservatism is opportunistic and pragmatic, changing to suit the needs of the present using empiricism
  • “Conservatives conserve no principles” Croyston
19
Q

What was Robert Nozick’s revolutionary book called

A

“Anarchy, State and Utopia”

20
Q

Summarise the thinking of Robert Nozick

A
  • State’s role is purely for defence, police and courts of law
  • Other bodies such as schools, hospitals and welfare institutions should be taken over by religious bodies, charities and other private sectors
  • Enshrined in the principles of Kant, that human beings have a dignity which cannot be controlled (self-ownership, dating back to Locke, that people should own the fruits of their labours not slaves to the state)
  • “Night-watchman state” only looks to protect its citizens not constrain them
  • “Tax, for the most part, is theft”
20
Q

Summarise the thinking of Michael Oakeshott

A
  • “Blueprint theory”, do not try to make neat rules in a messy world and solve problems in a way which reflects a social consensus
  • Oakeshott argues human nature differs depending on how you are raised, while Hobbes sees it as rotten to the core (“fallible, but not terrible”)
  • Oakeshott doesn’t believe in the same emotional commitment to tradition for the sake of pragmatism as Burke
  • “to prefer the familiar to the unknown, to prefer the tried to the untried … the actual to the possible”
  • prefers civil association to the enterprise association as enterprise reduces citizens to objects (for their own good) while civil allows them to make their own choices
  • State’s role is to “Prevent the bad rather than create the good”
21
Q

Summarise the thinking of Ayn Rand

A
  • humans are “pack animals” who yearn for freedom but need restraints (similar to Hobbes, humans must be constrained to ensure peace and stability)
  • extend property owning as property owning is the best way to resist state
  • “When the state becomes flabby it becomes feeble” streamline the state
  • “Roll back” the frontiers to create a free market economy
  • Atomism: society defined by millions of autonomous individuals, each seeking fulfilment
  • Social liberty: she defends the right to choose homosexuality and abortion
  • Liberty is impossible without the order and security the state can provide
  • Does not see money as he root of all evil since its based on the principle of trust
22
Q

Summarise the thinking of Edmund Burke

A
  • his conservative ideas were a response to the French Revolution
  • He stresses mankind’s fallibility and the importance of organicism, tradition, aristocracy and localism
  • Critics argue that he was only trying to retain his own aristocratic position
  • Change should be based on fact and experience rather than idealism
  • Society is more like plant than machine (organicism) therefore, change must be gradual and gentle.
  • The ruling classes are obliged to rule in the interests of all, they are born into the position and raised to lead
  • Criticised French Republic for their centralised approach rather than “little platoons”
23
Q

Summarise thinking of Thomas Hobbes

A
  • Linked to the liberal principle of government by consent, taking a skeptical view of human nature
  • State of nature, “nasty brutish and short” therefore, state is necessary to provide rights and restrain “ruthless self-interest”
  • Society is inevitable, as people recognise the need for protection under their own self-interest: therefore, main purpose of the state is security to “avoid perpetual war of every man against his neighbour”
  • Human nature is underpinned by a rationality and self-interest
24
Q

“People begin hating themselves as the default man within them berates them for being other”

A

Grayson Perry, The rise and fall of the default man 2014

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