September 28, 2005

Trust: Is a cynical, cautious, untrusting attitude basic to conservatism?

I am moving towards the idea that such an attitude is indeed the best short summary of conservatism. I think the psychological basis of conservatism is wariness and skepticism. And it is a wariness that is reinforced by experience as we go through life. Which is presumably why conservatism increases markedly with age. Aging tends to move people from Left to Right far more often than in the opposite direction. Ronald Reagan and Winston Churchill are probably the two best known examples of such a movement in thinking.

But a conservative does not of course distrust everybody always. He is mainly distrustful of Leftists, reformers, planners, intellectuals and "experts" of all kinds -- as the historian Feiling, and many others have been pointing out for many years. But even in everyday life the conservative probably practices to some degree what Ronald Reagan so memorably said: "Trust but verify". How trusting of others conservatives are in everyday life is probably a matter of individual personality but, for all that, I think few conservatives would dispute that trust has to be earned rather than being assumed.

Leftists will no doubt say that my words above prove that conservatives are "misanthropic" (people-haters). I have however written a longish and carefully researched academic journal article on just that claim so further reading should clarify why that is not so.

Update from 2019: The views expressed above are still ones I hold but I think we can go even deeper than that into the psychology of conservatism. We can ask why are conservatives so cautious? I think it is because conservatives are broadly content with their lives and the world around them. Even Leftists see that. They often refer to conservatives as "complacent".

And if you are happy with your situation, proposals to make big changes in it have to be examined carefully lest they make your situation worse. Because they are basically unhappy people, Leftists want change with a passion. Conservatives will consider change but feel no urgency about it so need to be convinced that it will be to the good before they support it




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