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Conservatism therefore looks upon the enhancement of man’s spiritual nature as the primary concern of political philosophy.
The Conservative knows that to regard man as part of an undifferentiated mass is to consign him to ultimate slavery.
the Conservative has learned that the economic and spiritual aspects of man’s nature are inextricably intertwined. He cannot be economically free, or even economically efficient, if he is enslaved politically; conversely, man’s political freedom is illusory if he is dependent for his economic needs on the State.
that man’s development, in both its spiritual and material aspects, is not something that can be directed by outside forces. Every man, for his individual good and for the good of hi...
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the Conservative looks upon politics as the art of achieving the maximum amount of freedom for individuals that is consistent with the maintenance of social order.
The delicate balance that ideally exists between freedom and order has long since tipped against freedom practically everywhere on earth.
But we are advised to go a step further and ask why the Constitution’s framers restricted the scope of government.
Conservatives are often charged, and in a sense rightly so, with having an overly mechanistic view of the Constitution:
And power, as Lord Acton said, corrupts men. “Absolute power,” he added, “corrupts absolutely.”
And that is what the Constitution is: a system of restraints against the natural tendency of government to expand in the direction of absolutism.
One of them is the right to vote. The Fifteenth Amendment provides that no one shall be denied the franchise on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude.
I believe that the problem of race relations, like all social and cultural problems, is best handled by the people directly concerned. Social and cultural change, however desirable, should not be effected by the engines of national power.
Let us, through persuasion and education, seek to improve institutions we deem defective. But let us, in doing so, respect the orderly processes of the law.
For a nation that is expressing great concern over its “economic growth,” I cannot conceive of a more absurd and self-defeating policy than one which subsidizes non-production.
The natural function of a trade union and the one for which it was historically conceived is to represent those employees who want collective representation in bargaining with their employers over terms of employment.
We have seen that unions perform their natural function when three conditions are observed: association with the union is voluntary; the union confines its activities to collective bargaining; the bargaining is conducted with the employer of the workers concerned.
What could be more fundamental than the freedom to associate with other men, or not to associate, as each man’s conscience and reason dictates?
The remedy here is to give freedom of association legal protection.
Freedom of association is one of the natural rights of man.
It is one thing to say that a man should contribute to an association that is purportedly acting in his interest; it is quite another thing to say that he must do so.
There will always be some men, of course, who will try to sponge off others; but let us not express our contempt for some men by denying freedom of choice to all men.
the union’s decision whether to support candidate X or candidate Y—whether to help the Republican Party or the Democratic Party—is not reached by a poll of the union membership. It is made by a handful of top union officers. These few men are thus able to wield tremendous political power in virtue of their ability to spend other people’s money. No one else in America is so privileged.
In order to achieve the widest possible distribution of political power, financial contributions to political campaigns should be made by individuals and individuals alone.
But having said that each man has an inalienable right to his property, it also must be said that every citizen has an obligation to contribute his fair share to the legitimate functions of government.
What is a “fair share?” I believe that the requirements of justice here are perfectly clear: government has a right to claim an equal percentage of each man’s wealth, and no more.
How easy it is to reach the voters with earnest importunities for helping the needy. And how difficult for Conservatives to resist these demands without appearing to be callous and contemptuous of the plight of less fortunate citizens.
he concedes to the government the ultimate in political power—the power to grant or withhold from him the necessities of life as the government sees fit.
Let us, then, not blunt the noble impulses of mankind by reducing charity to a mechanical operation of the federal government.
if State X possesses the wealth to educate its children adequately, but has failed to utilize its wealth for that purpose, it is up to the people of State X to take remedial action through their local and state governments.
influencing content is the last, not the first, stage of control.
a society progresses only to the extent that it produces leaders that are capable of guiding and inspiring progress.
We Americans believe—and we can cite one hundred and fifty years of experience to support the belief—that the way to build a strong economy is to encourage the free play of economic forces: free capital, free labor, a free market.
