Furthermore, the founders saw no inherent contradiction between reason and tradition or between reason and religion (at least not at the level of daily life). Abraham Lincoln defined conservatism as “adherence to the old and tried, against the new and untried,” a sentiment with which the founders would have fully agreed. Traditions become established not because they don’t work or run counter to reality and human nature, but precisely because they do work, or at least don’t undermine or contradict human nature.
