Compassion: a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering. (dictionary.com)
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy promoting traditional social institutions in the context of culture and civilization. The central tenets of conservatism include tradition, organic society, hierarchy, authority, and property rights. (Wiki)
When I think of compassionate conservatism, I think of the administration and personal moral philosophy of George W Bush, 42nd President of the United States. My feeling about President Bush is that he was a good man surrounded by people of questionable character. My feeling about compassionate conservatism is that it is a moral program that we need badly right now, in our current political climate.
We must not forget that this is a godless world, and most human beings live in a fallen state. Christians are called to spread the gospel, practice charity, pray for their enemies and take care of widows. We are not called to spread offensive memes, to engage in partisan warfare or to be apologists for the rich.
Now, compassionate conservatism is a Christian-influenced conservatism. It is republicanism with a christian soul. It means to help others crawl out of the ditch, instead of pouring dirt on them. It means to practice righteous charity, to be angry at sin, but love and correct the sinner.
The heart of conservatism must be compassion. It must be charity, giving, acceptance, forgiveness and mercy. Otherwise, it is not a compassionate ideology.
The alt-right is a natural reaction to the antics of the secular left. But it is not a Christian movement, and Christians should not be behind it or supporting it. It is “a form of godliness, but lacking the power thereof,” as it says in the New Testament. It is unchristian to troll others, to meme at others, to mock or berate others. Christians must reject these practices and tactics, otherwise we have not done anything to separate our behavior from that of the world.
Compassionate conservatives also should be against the growth of government:
We are against the state because the state is a natural competitor to the influence of the church.
The secular, godless state can only give bread, but not compassion, understanding, love and friendship. And that is what broken humans really need.
But there is much compassion in traditional, conservative values. What is morally good is often “good FOR you,” and so we support a certain moral principle, and teach it, it is for the benefit of the people.
We must remember that Jesus brought a rebel’s message. His gospel message offended many, offended the Roman authorities, offended the Pharisees, offended the Sadducees. Make no mistake–it was a radical group of ideas that he taught. We must always keep this in mind. We must always support the free exchange of ideas, and never authorize censorship, never take up the pitchforks against speech.
We are not at war with radical ideas, rather we are at war with the forces of evil in the world.
We must remember that it is evil we are at war with, not racism, or any ism or phobia, but old-fashioned, time-tested wickedness. We are not at war with factions, races, ideological groups or political parties.
We are not at war with people.
Jesus came to save all people.
George Bush understood this. Bush was as hated as Trump is, called a buffoon day after day in the press, as well. But he was a two term President for a reason. His message had a heart, a Christian heart.
Conservatives also need to recognize that their ideological message has a Christian origin. There is good, sound reasoning behind conservative beliefs, but ultimately, they are all Christian in design.
The problem with secular conservatism is its foundational selfishness and the lack of compassion in its tenets. We have to remember the squares of the 50s, the ruthless businessmen who polluted our lakes and rivers, who forced Jim Morrison to leave the country on trumped up obscenity charges. All examples of historical conservative overreach.
The truth is that classical conservatives will often be at odds with evangelical conservatives. A secular conservative philosophy will always suffer from the fact that its moral bedrock is a subjective one, after all; It suffers from the same troubles that secular liberal beliefs and marxist leftist beliefs are prone to-which is the pliability and looseness of its moral program, wide open to culturalist attitudes and toxic intrusions. It is open to compromise, to fraud, to being diluted. But the compassionate person has his or her compassion as a general rule, grounding them in an objective foundation which is hard to stray from without complicated ideological gymnastics.
We must always seek out the reasons why we support the ideals and values that we support, making sure they come from a place of compassion. Jesus made a powerful statement about the observation of the Sabbath day when he said that
“man was not made for the sabbath, but the sabbath was made for man.“
For example, a Christian’s support for traditional marriage, and the male/female dynamic is often viewed as hateful or pernicious by the world. But the truth is that Christians have the best in mind for people. The best situation for a child to grow up in is one with a mother and father present in the household, married. Our eyes are not on gay or lesbian people and what they practice in the privacy of their own homes. Our hearts are with the children.
Sometimes Christians will oppose gay marriage. They don’t (or shouldn’t) do so out of hostile feelings for people who identify as gay. Rather they believe that the best life for men and women of all colors and creeds is best represented by a relationship between male and female in the traditional marriage structure.
That best order describes compassionate conservatism, I think. We don’t point out sin in order to judge; We point out and describe the ramifications of sin, and the harmfulness of it on the sinner and his life. We understand that God wants the best for us, and that is why the best for us is spelled out in the guidelines and commandments in the bible.
It is not conservatism based on selfishness; It is not the ornery old man on his porch complaining about unjust taxes and decrying his hard-earned money being used to help others. It is not represented by flying the confederate flag, launching into screeds about taxation, and using words like “savages” to describe others.
In fact, Christianity **is** compassionate conservatism. It puts the compassion in conservatism. Our traditional values are Christian values, such as love for neighbor, personal responsibility for widows, for sin, for our family and friends.
And I think that is the point, that Christianity is compassionate conservatism, and we would do best to remember that, and a return to it, at this point in time, needs to be seriously considered.
