By Trent Serwetz

Intoning the phrase “political conservatism,” depending on the audience, might conjure up images of the bygone Reagan era and the laissez faire policies associated with it. On the other hand, to some people “conservative” is symbolic of a horned devil with a pitchfork and a can of Budweiser.

For a couple of reasons, identifying the meaning of the word conservatism while sifting through all the spin surrounding it is no easy task. The modern media is so polarized that we are constantly bombarded with negative images of both conservatives and liberals, obscuring the reality of the issues. Additionally, conservatism has carried with it for decades the specters of famous politicians who broke the public’s trust in conservatives: the most exemplary case is Richard Nixon.

We should not equate conservatives with conservatism. We should not evaluate the ideology based on the actions of specific Presidents and politicians who have claimed to be conservative, any more than we should judge liberalism based on the actions of any half-baked reformer who gains political prestige. With these obstacles to an objective picture of conservatism in mind, I’ll enumerate what it means to me to be a libertarian conservative.

Conservatism means non-interventionist government. If government intervention in one particular discipline is unnecessary or potentially counterproductive, a conservative approach will limit the actions of government as much as possible. Healthcare, for example, is the crown jewel of government intervention that doesn’t need to happen, for conservatives. The ability of the government to effectively administer universal healthcare is in such question that conservatives argue against instituting it at all. “Laissez faire” policies, characteristic of a traditional conservative position, require government presence in the people’s daily lives to be as unobtrusive as is necessary for their basic well-being.

Conservative ideology isn’t incapable of ushering in proactive change; a great example comes from Ronald Reagan, the epitome of twentieth century conservatism. Charged with the sexism and racism accusations that normally follow from the conservative stigma, Reagan appointed the first female Supreme Court justice, Sandra Day O’Connor. Ultimately however, conservatism identifies with most deregulation issues like gun control and the federal income tax. Conservatism means restricting government power in order to prevent the state from becoming a pervasive, potentially coercive force on our daily lives.

Conservatism means an absence of reverse discrimination. One characteristic of progressive, liberal ideology is that it supports blatantly unequal social practices as long as they are to the benefit of the disadvantaged. For liberals, it is acceptable to tax the rich more than the poor, or to give scholarships to some students but not others on the basis of skin color. To a conservative, two wrongs don’t make a right; unequal treatment is unfair even if its beneficiaries are the “good guys.” The conservative goal of limiting government intrusion on our lives excludes the construction of deliberately unequal policies.

Too often political debates boil down to South Park style name-calling matches between a “Pissed-Off White Trash Redneck Conservative” and an “Aging Hippie Liberal Douche.” As a result, many people who identify with conservative ideology never see past the stigma surrounding it. We need not be hardliners to fit in with the Right side of the political spectrum. To me, political conservatism really means having the policies we need, and not the ones we don’t.