Many of the most well respected conservative thinkers in history have held the opinion that conservatism itself is not an ideology. Instead, these people feel that conservatism is a passion and further, a way of life. To people like Michael Oakeshott, government is not intended to push beyond its boundaries or to act as a supreme entity. Instead, a good, conservative government will simply make life easier on the people it governs. It will give those people a chance to pursue their own avenues of life and it opts out of the traditional government ideology that takes itself way too seriously.
When Michael Oakeshott wrote his wrote his essay, On Being Conservative, he broke down some of the basic tenets of conservatism. He makes a very convincing argument that there is no ideology behind his proposed way of doing government. Though this might not seem important, it is actually a quite useful distinction. His most compelling way of getting this across is to bring a representation of the other side of government. He discusses what government should not be when he writes, “In short, governing is understood to be just like any other activity – making and selling a brand of soap, exploiting the resources of a locality, or developing a housing estate – only the power here is (for the most part) already mobilized, and the enterprise is remarkable only because it aims at monopoly and because of its promise of success once the source of power has been captured” (Oakeshott). He suggests that conservatism is not an ideology like this because he truly feels that there is practical, real life application at the heart of the conservative way.
Conservatism goes back deep in history and Edmund Burke is one person who had rejected the ideology of that way of thinking. In 1790, Burke wrote, “When I see the spirit of liberty in action, I see a strong principle at work; and this, for a while, is all I can possibly know of it. The wild gas, the fixed air is plainly broke loose: but we ought to suspend our judgments until the first effervescence is a little subsided, till the liquor is cleared, and until we see something deeper than the agitation of the troubled and frothy surface” (Burke). It is clear that Burke sees politics in action during his everyday life. He sees that not all decisions can be made out of an ideal. Instead, real life demands that people be able to make decisions outside of a vacuum. When he talks of “the spirit of liberty in action”, Burke is talking about the strong, common sense principles that government is supposed to employ. Though it does not always happen, this is the way conservatism is supposed to work.
Overall, conservative thinkers reject ideology because they feel that their ideas can transcend simple idea mongering. People like Burke and Oakeshott know that in order for government to be successful in achieving its objectives, it has to act according to the situation. If it is going to succeed, it cannot simply be an ideal. It has to be practiced not only in congress, but also out in the real world where people make actual decisions that impact their lives. A government system without this ability is one that is doomed not to work, according to many of the top conservative speakers of history.
Burke, Edmund. Reflections on the Revolution in France. 1790.
Oakeshott, Michael. On Being Conservative. 1962.
