Three quite independent conversations I’ve had in the past week have revolved around the assertion that “conservatives are closed-minded.” By definition, we want to “conserve” the current state of the world. We’re resistant to change. Thus, we tend to reject any notion that the world could or should be substantially different than what it is right now; our minds are closed to potential alternatives.
That’s the assertion, anyway. Let’s assume here that the simple definition of conservatism as an embrace of economic freedom and respect for traditional Western culture and morality is correct as a descriptive matter. Why do liberals interpret that credo as closed-minded? I think that the liberal outlook (and I admit that I’m painting with a broad brush here) involves identifying countless problems with the world and simply holding those problems up as prima facie evidence that capitalism and traditional cultural values do not serve us well. The current way we do things is broken. It needs fixing. We need change. Doesn’t matter what kind of change, as long as we’re trying to make things better. That was essentially the platform of candidate Obama. And conservatives, by opposing such change in the face of the countless problems that liberals identify, are being closed-minded.
But the indictment of closed-mindedness simply does not follow from the definition of conservatism. Conservatives are not blind to the problems facing the world. But the fact that we tend to prefer the status quo does not mean we have failed to consider alternative possibilities. Rather, we have made a considered judgment that the traditions we seek to protect really are the best way to organize society. We recognize the inherent tension between freedom and virtue, liberty and order, and we believe that the economic and cultural institutions we have developed over the centuries strike the appropriate balance. To be sure, those institutions are not perfect, but I think conservatives are realistic about the constraints of human nature; we are never going to develop institutions that always work in every situation, and we shouldn’t try. This is not to say that we shouldn’t address the problems that we have. But the conservative approach to problem-solving is to apply our time-tested traditions in innovative ways to new problems, not reject the best of those traditions simply because we perceive that the world is not a perfect place.
Upon reading what I’ve just written, the argument seems incredibly obvious to me (almost not worth posting). But somehow, I don’t think that many liberals grasp this essential point about conservatives. A final thought for liberals to ponder, with particular application to young, college-educated conservatives. Is it easier for a liberal or conservative to remain closed-minded on a college campus today? Is it really possible for a conservative student to go through four years of higher education in this country and not have his conservative views challenged repeatedly? Well, maybe, if you’ve really got your head in the sand. But those of us that have ears have been through the fire; we’ve had our minds “opened,” (there was hardly a choice for us in the matter) and somehow, we still ended up as conservatives. Go figure.