By Jonathan Cousar

The purpose of this brief article is to demonstrate that American political conservatism comes closer to a Biblical view of life than any other system of political thought. This of course is not to say that conservatism is perfectly in line with Biblical teachings. It's not. When taken to excess, conservatism is just as dangerous as any other wrong-headed political philosophy. When put into practice by fallible human beings (namely Republicans) it is often taken to excess, or not taken far enough, and often has undesirable results. No human political philosophy will ever perfectly coincide with a Biblical model for public life. But, for all that can be criticized about American Conservatism, it does come closer to a Biblical view of public life than American liberalism does. 

There is one fundamental reason for this. And it is this reason that separates conservatism from liberalism at the most basic level. Conservative principles are fundamentally rooted in a more correct view of human nature - the belief that humans are basically flawed. It's the Biblical principle of "original sin". It is a belief that at the depths of the human heart there is an innate badness that exists within everyone of us. It is the belief that humans are sinful little creatures.  That's not to say that people aren't capable of doing great good. Conservatives believe that people are capable of immense good - only that that good tends to be the exception rather than the rule. Thus, when people do bad things, conservatives tend to blame the "system" or other external factors less.

Liberal principles are rooted in just the opposite belief. Liberals view humans as basically good. At the depths of the human heart, liberals believe there is an innate goodness that exists in everyone of us. That's not to say they believe people aren't capable of doing bad, but they tend to place the blame for people's badness on external factors, such as "the system". Systemic causes like poverty, or racism, or a poor education are looked upon by liberals as the causes of human badness.  People steal because they're poor or uneducated, in the liberal view.  Terrorists attack America because America is at the root of some worldly system that has suppressed the terrorists' people.

Liberalism is rooted in secular humanism. Liberalism tends to put a good and decent humanity at the center of all things.  Because man is so good and decent and intelligent and capable there is less need, or no need, for God in liberal political thought. The liberal belief that humans are basically decent and good is an attractive and appealing belief. However, a quick look around our world sadly shows little evidence to support it.

Conservatives on the other hand have a need for God built right into their belief system since they view humanity as fundamentally flawed. This belief is the reason that in America the more conservative party, the Republican party, is viewed as being the more "religious" of the two parties. That's not to say there are no religious people who are liberals or Democrats. Certainly not! And it's certainly not to say that all conservatives are "religious"! But it is a widely recognized fact that more Christians in America tend to be politically conservative than not. And the more likely the Christian is to believe that the Bible is the direct word from God, the more likely they are to be politically conservative. 

It is hard to overstate the profound differences in views these two very different belief systems lead to.  This one fundamental difference leads to opposite views on almost every issue in life. Conservatives stress individual responsibility. Liberals stress the need for societal improvement. If only society were better, then humans would no longer need to be selfish, hateful, competitive, primitive.

Conservatives can go overboard by not demanding more from "society" while Liberals can go overboard by letting individuals off the hook from taking personal responsibility. Conservatives will sometimes blame individuals when really it is the larger society that is at fault. And liberals tend to blame society when really it is the individual who is at fault.  

Overall, in the course of human history, conservative thought with its roots in Judeo-Christian teachings has proven again and again that it most closely corresponds to the true nature of humanity and therefore has flourished where all other systems have ultimately failed.

The most striking example of this is a comparison of the United States to the former Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was founded upon a belief that man was basically good and that people would naturally want to work hard for the common good. This system failed after only 70 short years - under the weight of its misguided notions about human nature.

The United States on the other hand was founded (in part) on a system of capitalism. Adam Smith was instrumental in forming the intellectual basis for this system. Adam Smith correctly noted that man was basically selfish - only looking out for his own self interest. As distasteful as that may be to contemplate, America formed a political and economic system based on that belief that has been more successful than any other. George W. Bush accurately summed up the benefits of American capitalism when he said, "The benefits of free market capitalism have been proven across time, geography and culture. Around the world free market capitalism has allowed once impoverished nations to develop large and prosperous economies. And here at home, free market capitalism is what transformed America from a rugged frontier to the greatest economic power in history."

The American system was designed to harness humankind's basic nature of self-interest. American-style capitalism (with all its imperfections) was designed to create a system of rewards and incentives that would harness people's"bad behavior" for the common good. In other words, when someone selfishly wants to get rich, capitalism is designed to allow them to do so - as long as they provide a product or service that others want (what Adam Smith called "enlightened self interest").  You could get rich in this system, but you had to provide something useful to society at large in order to do so.  In other words, capitalism took advantage of people's selfish tendencies (like wanting to get rich) and turned them into a motivator for people to do something for the common good (like provide goods and services that were useful to others).  The reason this system is so spectacularly successful is because it was based on a correct understanding of human nature and the founders took that nature into account when designing the system. 

Admittedly, built into this system is the potential for great harm. But all of American history has been a struggle to balance the tendencies to go off one deep end or the other. When capitalism goes too far in one direction, say favoring the monopolists over consumers, society eventually recognizes the problem and corrects it.  

This capitalist system, with all its imperfections, has stimulated the most creative and inventive period in all of human history. As a result of its correct assumption, based on a Biblical view, of the basic nature of the human heart, capitalism has lifted more people out of poverty, out of sickness and out of misery than any other human economic or political system.

As Sir Winston Churchill so aptly put it, "The inherent vice of Capitalism is the unequal distribution of blessings, the inherent vice of Socialism is the equal distribution of misery." Capitalism was formed around what is basically a Judeo-Christian view of human nature and as a result of taking this correct view, it has been more successful than any other system in history.

The problem with liberal ideology is not its goals, but its means.  Because of the flawed view of human nature endemic to liberalism, liberalism's methods are unrealistic and prone to failure.  Liberalism's idealistic call for each individual to put aside his own selfish wants and desires and to work instead for the common good, sounds good, but is unworkable in the real world because it ignores the true nature of the human heart.

Just one example. In the 1960s, the Johnson administration passed a plan that would end poverty as we know it, called the Great Society program. Christians and conservatives at the time immediately recognized its fundamental flaws. Its promise to give money to poor and needy people without requiring anything from them was fundamentally contrary to the Biblical view on work. Hard work, is extolled in the Bible (especially Proverbs) as a virtue. It is a Biblical concept that work brings dignity. So Christians of that era immediately recognized the flaws in this aspect of the Great Society program. Secular liberals couldn't see it it. What they saw were struggling people who needed help and if we didn't give them money we were immoral as a society. What they overlooked was how the fundamental nature of the human heart would respond to receiving money with no strings attached. The recipients felt a loss of dignity and an unhealthy aversion to work.  They were also motivated to give birth out of wedlock because the liberal system rewarded them financially for this behavior.  Conservatives, whose views on human nature are informed by Biblical teachings immediately saw what would ultimately happen with this humanist attempt to rid the world of poverty. 

It eventually failed and was replaced by the welfare reform bill sent to President Clinton for approval by the Republican congress in the 1990s. This new bill had a more realistic view of human nature because it followed Biblical principles of work and charity. It required recipients of government assistance to look for a job. It offered help and job training in this respect. And importantly it took away the incentives that had been built into the original system for women to continue giving birth outside of marriage - something that has been more devastating to the black community than anything since slavery. 

By all measures this new welfare system has been a stunning success. The success of this system, as just one example, shows that when society bases its policies and laws on Biblical principles, there is a much greater chance of succeeding in the goals we all believe in, including building a more fair and just society for all.