Conservatism

I will propose to you that Conservatism is inherently incapable of addressing today's problems because of a failure of imagination. For instance, Conservatism is incapable of recognizing the need to make a radical transformation in our use of energy as we sludge into peak oil. Conservatism doesn't seem to be able to recognize that different cultures can have very different views of the world that need to be respected. This is particularly true of religious Conservatives of all bents: the very idea that people would kill God's children in God's name bespeaks that incapacity.

One of the primary chinks in the Armor of Conservatism is that they tend to be too rigid in maintaining the status quo. By that criterion, Conservatives can be any people in any culture. For instance, those people that blindly struggled to maintain the status quo in the post-war Soviet Union were actually practicing Conservatism exactly when they should have been looking at reform. Communists in Europe (especially Italy or France), Iraq, Iran, Mao or Fidel were all more likely to struggle for reforms and did so. Italian Communists had a very 'Anarchist' tinge. Communists in Iraq & Iran struggled for Democratic institutions even as the Democratic West helped crush them. Mao could see the failures of the Soviet society and pushed the envelope in order to prevent the re-introduction of antagonistic classes. Fidel, at least in his youth, was very receptive to Western 'enlightenment' ideology re Liberty. Kennedy's failure to recognize that was one of his biggest missed opportunities.

On the other hand, Conservatism is perfectly capable preserving our environment, but Conservatives have utterly failed in that duty. So, they don't seem to get it right even when their better angels point them in the right direction. It is true, however, that a small part of the Christian Right as well as many ranchers and farmers have embraced environmentalism.