Anger has come to characterize our polarized political environment. And in recent years, conservatives and Republicans have seemingly been injected with anger. But this angry identity is not compatible with the central meaning of conservatism.
An admirable trait of conservatives is their willingness to openly reexamine their policies and prescriptions. Then again, the troubling trait of conservatives is their constant willingness to expose themselves to reexamination and reassessment. The 2022 elections will undoubtedly inspire yet another round of internal debate and introspection for conservatives. On the surface, this debate it can seem draining and defeatist; but on a deeper and longer-lasting level, it has often fueled a vibrant growth of conservative ideas and energy.
Much of the debate will focus on the Republicans’ disappointing midterm election results, and much of this focus will involve speculations over the Trump effect. But this focus on former President Trump may divert conservatives from the most basic principle or trait of American conservatism. Any reexamination of identity or message must not lose sight of the central pillar of conservative philosophy; for without this compass, conservatives become aimless wanderers.
President Trump brought some valuable messages to the Republican Party. He represented the aims and frustrations of all those voiceless members of the working class who had been abandoned by the governing elites. He took aim at a media that was more of Democratic Party organ than an independent journalistic institution. He reminded Republicans that economic growth and opportunity underlie every other public policy. And he revived the notion of nationalism in a world that had become seduced by globalism.
But Donald Trump also injected a political force that ultimately clouded the basic message of conservatism. In declaring war on the Washington swamp, the biased media and the governing elites, Trump fueled a heated anger within those who felt betrayed by those groups and entities. This anger, then, came to characterize and define the Republican Party in particular and conservatism in general. In doing so, the anger obliterated the central pillar of conservatism: gratitude.
Countless historians, politicians and political philosophers have attempted to define the central meaning of conservatism. But the one consistent and universal component of those attempts comes down to one word: gratitude.
Gratitude differentiates liberalism from conservatism. At the root of conservative identity lies a gratitude for the gifts, blessings and legacy of the past. Prior to formulating any policy position or political message, the conservative must first recognize a deep gratitude for the fruits of the past. Those fruits are what present conservatives seek to protect and nourish. The successes of the past are what conservatives of the present strive to promote. Consequently, the vision of conservatives must focus on what is valuable from the past and what can be done to extend the successes of the past into the future.
Contrary to the message of modern liberalism, conservatism does not seek to discredit or reject the past; nor does it see within the past an identity of oppression or injustice. What fundamentally characterizes conservatism is a gratitude for all that the past has bestowed. For the freedoms and richness of western civilization. For the prosperity of a free market economy. For the stability and humanity of family and community.
The beginning message of every conservative campaign should be gratitude: how wonderful life is and can be because of the sacrifices and vision of past generations. This gratitude does not mean a passive acceptance of the status quo nor of everything that has arisen from the past. To the contrary, a true gratitude carries a present responsibility to improve upon the past and to continue paving the road to a free and prosperous future. It recognizes the mistakes and inadequacies of the past, while at the same time treasuring the triumphs of the past.
Anger has come to characterize our polarized political environment. And in recent years, conservatives and Republicans have seemingly been injected with anger. But this angry identity is not compatible with the central meaning of conservatism. It is a contradiction of conservatism; a deviation from conservatism. Anger cannot coexist with gratitude. And gratitude has formed the bedrock of conservatism for centuries. If conservatives and Republicans are about to undergo a reexamination of political philosophy and identity, they best begin by reconnecting with the one central meaning of their philosophy: gratitude.
Indeed, gratitude may be the only stabilizing force in our present world of conflict. Only gratitude can unite a diverse society, and only gratitude can provide a clear barometer to the future. Without gratitude, there can be no antidote to anger and resentment and conflict. Because without gratitude, there really can be no society and no peaceful, unified future.
The Imaginative Conservative applies the principle of appreciation to the discussion of culture and politics—we approach dialogue with magnanimity rather than with mere civility. Will you help us remain a refreshing oasis in the increasingly contentious arena of modern discourse? Please consider donating now.
The featured image is “Greece in Gratitude” (1858) by Theodoros Vryzakis (1819-1878), and is in the public domain, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
I don’t think that 2016-2020 was characterized by anger from conservatives. We gleefully attacked the swampy establishment. We loved our enemy as we are called to do, but we didn’t pretend that we have enemies. It was the swampy marxist leftists who threw a four year temper tantrum and denied the election results, engaged in constant lawfare, literally set cities on fire while stoking the ANGER of the half the country. We even gleefully engaged in a mostly peaceful protest at the Capitol in the face of obvious widespread vote fraud. This disingenuous article gets it all wrong from jump.
Rechill- phenomenal reply. The notion that our side is too angry is so preposterous, it defies all reason and logic. The Marxist left in the last 2 years have stolen two elections, burned dozens of cities in phony racial outrage over their claims of mistreatment that does not exist, canceled anyone with whom they believe isn’t walking in lockstep as firmly as they decree, imposed draconian mask and vaccine measures for a virus (that they created) which has a survival rate of 99.7%, subjected our children to vile, evil sexual perversion in schools, pitted different racial groups against each other over completely manufactured reasons to the detriment of everyone in this nation, plunged our economy into the abyss with wild inflation and energy insecurity, etc. Need I go on? At what point will it be time to get angry? I submit that the left is who the angry group is in this country and worldwide. We just want to be left alone. But tyranny can’t abide that. And now a few of us are standing up. If a man breaks into your house with the intention of violating your wife or daughter, and you shoot him- that’s not “anger.” It’s dealing with evil.
Maybe if the trait of being a conservative does not allow us to stand for being a small r republic with strong convictions as to whether we are a Republic with an elected government, it seems to me maybe we should not call ourselves Conservatives. Maybe we are simply Patriots. In saying I am a conservative I am saying that I believe even now after all these years that I believe the founders were classical liberalism and that I am not willing to believe in Modern Liberalism as what the Democratic party believes it to be.
I agree that gratitude is missing, but it has nothing to do with political ideologies. It is a theological virtue, not a political virtue. Neither of the post-modern political parties would recognize it, promote it, or value it.
The “progressive liberal” denies history and “MAGA conservatives” are, in actuality just different versions of relativism. And both have been engaged in Orwellian efforts to change the meaning of words, or to make them so ambiguous as to have meaning only to the individual, or their particular ideologies.
As a virtue (another one of those words that have been kicked to the curb, or watered down by ambiguity) gratitude has real, transcendent, and universal meaning. It is deeper and greater than any political ideology. It is not unique to political conservatism, or to any political ideology.
Gratitude is only possible in those who are humble. There is little evidence of that supreme virtue in either political party.
To claim gratitude as a virtue of a particular political party is, at best, a dream, at worst, a mere rationalization.
I agree that we need this virtue of gratitude, but it will require something like a conversion in a critical mass of individuals before it will ever enter something like a political party, or ideology.
Accurate diagnosis of our unfortunate situation and the salient absence of gratitude today.
And Allah (God) brought you out of the wombs of your mothers while you knew nothing, and gave you hearing, sight, and intellect so perhaps you would be thankful. (16:78)
I am grateful for this insight!!!
I believe that gratitude is produced in those who are grateful for salvation and the assurance of eternity with their creator.
God teaches that he loves a grateful… (thankful) heart. Clearly ….one is able to observe that in the actions of those who possess that thankful heart.