Classical Conservatives and Conservatism

Source:Dallas County Community College- you would have to ask DCCC to explain this photo.

"A political ideology is a system of beliefs and values that sets forth the conditions for a government's legitimacy. A political ideology purports to explain what government should do, and why. Within more developed nation-states, the following three ideologies competed with each other for influence in the 18th through 20th centuries... 

From DLC  

I believe both William F. Buckley have great definitions of what it means to be a Conservative. They said they both live conservative lifestyles, but that they don't believe government should force everyone else to live the way they do or believe what they believe. And someone who calls themself a Christian-Conservative might say that's not conservative, but libertarian. No, because you can be both conservative, as well as believe in freedom of choice and limited government. 

Conservatism like liberalism, tends to get lumped into authoritarianism. Conservatives tend to get lumped in with Nationalists and Theocrats. And Liberals tend to get lumped in with Socialists and Communists. Even though religious nationalism is very anti-conservative, because religious nationalists tend to not believe in the U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights and all the individual rights that come from those great documents. And socialism and communism is as illiberal a political philosophy that you can dream up because of all the crackdowns on individual rights and choice, like free speech, but many others. 

Conservatism and liberalism are actually very similar, but different as well, which is why people are Conservatives, as well as Liberals tend to be called Classical Liberals. The main difference between Conservatives and Liberals (at least in the political sense) is that Conservatives believe in conserving tradition. Both Conservatives and Liberals believe in conserving our U.S. Constitution, limited government, individual rights, fiscal responsibility, but Conservatives tend believe in tradition, conserving the status quo, and moving slowly, especially government. Whereas Liberals believe in modernism and that even a limited government needs to be able to adjust to the current times. 

This page is about constitutional Conservatives and conservatism. If you want to tall that classical conservatism or conservative-libertarianism, that's your First Amendment right, but conservatism in a political and constitutional sense is very different from what's supposed to pass as modern conservatism today, or what people call social conservatism.  

Classical Conservatism  

"Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909[1] – May 29, 1998) was an American politician, statesman, businessman, United States Air Force officer, and author who was a five-term Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the Republican Party nominee for president of the United States in 1964. Goldwater is the politician most often credited with having sparked the resurgence of the American conservative political movement in the 1960s. Despite his loss of the 1964 presidential election in a landslide, many political pundits and historians believe he laid the foundation for the conservative revolution to follow, as the grassroots organization and conservative takeover of the Republican party began a long-term realignment in American politics helped to bring about the "Reagan Revolution" of the 1980s. He also had a substantial impact on the libertarian movement."  

From Wikipedia

Mr. Conservative  

"Firing Line is an American public affairs show founded in and hosted by conservative author and columnist William F. Buckley Jr. from 1966 to 1999, and relaunched in 2018 with host Margaret Hoover.Under Buckley, 1,504 episodes over 33 years made Firing Line the longest-running public affairs show in television history with a single host. The program, which featured many influential public figures in the United States, won an Emmy Award in 1969." 

From Wikipedia

Firing Line  

"In this wide-ranging discussion with Peter Robinson, Bjorn Lomborg analyzes the Biden administration’s plan to address climate change, lauds a slew of new clean energy technologies that are coming in the next decade, and discusses the upsides—and the downsides—of migrating the world from a carbon-based economy to one based on electricity generated by clean energy sources." 

From the Hoover Institution

Uncommon Knowledge  

"Ronald Wilson Reagan (/ˈreɪɡən/ RAY-gən; February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and became a highly influential voice of modern conservatism. Prior to his presidency, he was a Hollywood actor and union leader before serving as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 to 1975.

Reagan was raised in a low-income family in small towns of northern Illinois. He graduated from Eureka College in 1932 and worked as a radio sports commentator. After moving to California in 1937, he found work as an actor and starred in a few major productions. As president of the Screen Actors Guild, Reagan worked to root out alleged communist influence. In the 1950s, he moved into television and was a motivational speaker at General Electric factories. In 1964, his speech "A Time for Choosing" earned him national attention as a new conservative spokesman. Building a network of supporters, Reagan was elected governor of California in 1966. As governor, he raised taxes, turned a state budget deficit to a surplus, challenged the protesters at UC Berkeley, and ordered in National Guard troops during a period of protest movements.

In 1980, Reagan won the Republican presidential nomination and defeated the incumbent president, Jimmy Carter. At 69 years of age at the time of his first inauguration, Reagan was the oldest first-term U.S. president, a distinction he held until 2017 when Donald Trump was inaugurated at age 70. Reagan was re-elected in 1984, winning 58.8 percent of the national popular vote and losing only Washington, D.C. and his opponent Walter Mondale's home state of Minnesota, in one of the greatest landslide victories in American history." 

From Wikipedia

Ronald Reagan   

"Immediately on taking office as president, Reagan began implementing sweeping new political and economic initiatives. Reagan won over enough conservative Democrats to pass his program through Congress. Economic conditions had deteriorated under Carter, with slow growth and high inflation. Reagan promised that his supply-side economic policies, dubbed "Reaganomics", would turn around the economy with lower tax rates, economic deregulation, and reduction in government spending. Over his two terms, the economy saw a reduction of inflation from 12.5 percent to 4.4 percent and an average real GDP annual growth of 3.6 percent. His administration saw the longest period of economic growth in peacetime American history up to that point, lasting 92 months.[5][6] Reagan enacted cuts in domestic discretionary spending, cut taxes, and increased military spending, which contributed to increased federal debt overall. In his first term, he survived an assassination attempt, continued the War on Drugs, and fought public sector labor unions." 

From Wikipedia

Reagan Presidency  

"Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. (/ˈdʒɛrəld/;[1] born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913 – December 26, 2006) was an American politician and attorney who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. A member of the Republican Party, Ford previously served as the 40th vice president of the United States from 1973 to 1974. To date, Ford is the only person to have served as both vice president and president without being elected to either office by the Electoral College.

Born in Omaha, Nebraska, and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Ford attended the University of Michigan and Yale Law School. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve, serving from 1942 to 1946; he left as a lieutenant commander. Ford began his political career in 1949 as the U.S. representative from Michigan's 5th congressional district. He served in this capacity for 25 years, the final nine of them as the House Minority Leader. In December 1973, two months after the resignation of Spiro Agnew, Ford became the first person appointed to the vice presidency under the terms of the 25th Amendment by President Richard Nixon. After the subsequent resignation of President Nixon in August 1974, Ford immediately assumed the presidency. To date, this was the last intra-term U.S. presidential succession." 

From Wikipedia

Geard R. Ford Presidency

"Charles Kesler interviews Harry V. Jaffa on Abraham Lincoln; why Jaffa became a conservative; and Jaffa's conservative battles." 

From The American Mind

The American Mind  

"Jack William Hunter Jr. (born June 1, 1974) is an American radio host, political commentator and Politics Editor for Rare.us, a Washington, D.C.-based news website. He began his career in the late 1990s on alternative rock station WAVF 96.1 FM using the moniker "Southern Avenger", an anonymous pro wrestler/superhero-style character. In 2007, Hunter began appearing every Tuesday and Friday morning on WTMA News-Talk 1250 AM, and contributed to a weekly column to the Charleston City Paper.[1] Hunter was also an aide to U.S. Senator Rand Paul, whom Hunter helped write the book The Tea Party Goes to Washington.[2] He is perhaps best known for his decades-old, racially charged writings whose reemergence caused a major media controversy for his boss, Senator Paul.

Hunter's reputation as a political operative was discredited following the Washington Free Beacon's revelation in July 2013 that he had repeatedly espoused racist views on a local South Carolina radio station under the Southern Avenger moniker. His racist comments included expressions of contempt for Hispanic immigrants, and a call for NAACP director Kweisi Mfume, whom he referred to as "NAACP Grand Wizard," to be tied to a tree and whipped.[3][4] Following these revelations, Hunter resigned from Rand Paul's staff in what the Senator called a "mutual decision." In a November 2013 article for Politico, Hunter repudiated his former views, writing "I'm not a racist; I just played one on the radio." 

From Wikipedia

Jack Hunter  

"Everett McKinley Dirksen (January 4, 1896 – September 7, 1969) was an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, he represented Illinois in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate. As Senate Minority Leader from 1959 to 1969, he played a highly visible and key role in the politics of the 1960s. He helped write and pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968, both landmark pieces of legislation during the civil rights movement. He was also one of the Senate's strongest supporters of the Vietnam War. A talented orator with a florid style and a notably rich baritone voice, his flamboyant speeches caused his detractors to refer to him as "The Wizard of Ooze".

Born in Pekin, Illinois, Dirksen served as an artillery officer during World War I and opened a bakery after the war. After serving on the Pekin City Council, he won election to the House of Representatives in 1932. In the House, he was considered a moderate and supported much of the New Deal; he became more conservative and isolationist over time, but reversed himself to support US involvement in World War II. He won election to the Senate in 1950, unseating Senate Majority Leader Scott W. Lucas. In the Senate, he favored conservative economic policies and supported the internationalism of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Dirksen succeeded William F. Knowland as Senate Minority Leader after the latter declined to seek re-election in 1958.

As the Senate Minority Leader, Dirksen emerged as a prominent national figure of the Republican Party during the 1960s. He developed a good working relationship with Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield and supported President Lyndon B. Johnson's handling of the Vietnam War. He helped break the Southern filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. While still serving as Senate Minority Leader, Dirksen died in 1969." 

From Wikipedia

Everett Dirksen  

"The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, most frequently called the Federalist Society, is an organization of conservatives and libertarians that advocates for a textualist and originalist interpretation of the United States Constitution. It features a student division, a lawyers division, and a faculty division. The society currently has chapters at more than 200 United States law schools. The lawyers division comprises more than 70,000 practicing attorneys (organized as "lawyers chapters" and "practice groups" within the division) in ninety cities.[2] The society is headquartered in Washington, D.C. Through speaking events, lectures, and other activities, it provides a forum for legal experts of opposing views to interact with members of the legal profession, the judiciary, and the legal academy.[4] It is one of the United States's most influential legal organizations." 

From Wikipedia

The Federalist Society