Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and ideological movement that advocates limiting government involvement in most social and economic activities while remaining nationalistic (loyal to one's country) and religious. Although there are many strains of conservatism, the U.S. conservative movement generally promotes a return to the nation's founding principles, including a strict interpretation of the Constitution. Conservatives generally promote economic liberty, a small federal government, and social policies guided by traditional Judeo-Christian values. The conservative movement emerged in the late nineteenth century as rapid industrialization radically altered the nation's economy, its social fabric, and the size of its government. As the United States urbanized, grew in population and territory, developed large industrial corporations, and became more engaged in world affairs over the course of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the federal government became increasingly active as a force for regulating and stabilizing economic and social activity. Conservatism reacted against this trend and become a powerful force for promoting laissez-faire (noninterventionist) economic policy.
With the emergence of the United States as a global power after World War II (1939–45) and the rise of the Soviet Union as a nuclear threat, some classical liberals shifted their focus, which gave rise to the conservative movement. Conservatives abandoned isolationist foreign policy (a policy of noninterference with the affairs of other nations), which was incompatible with their militant anti-Communist views. Conservatives were also critical of foreign aid and distrustful of American involvement in the United Nations, an intergovernmental organization created in 1945 to address matters of international relations. Meanwhile, the movement remained classically liberal (or “libertarian”) in its view of economics by opposing taxes, government regulation of business, government spending, and government-funded social programs. The conservative movement was also socially traditional, stressing moral order and maintenance of the community and nation.
After the election of president Ronald Reagan (in office 1981–89), a conservative president, the movement found itself in a position of power that it had not held for decades. Conservatives interpreted the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989 and the rejection of socialism (in which the government controls all major industries) throughout most of the world as victories. Read more ..
From CREDO Conservatism in Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History
