The true spirit of conservatism is not a stubborn resolution to maintain the old social hierarchy or ways to conduct economical activities. It is the enlightened recognition of human's weaknesses, selfishness and myopia, the respect of the raw, uncontrollable undercurrents of the society driven by such weaknesses, and the willingness to respond to such undercurrents via incremental, fitting changes.
A society ought to have a minimum level of moral conscience and collective enlightenment for conservatism to be benificial for the society. Briton seems to be the only example of success. When this is not the case, conservatism will degrade into the desire of a minority of ruling class to maintain its oppression on the oppressed majority. In such societies, like Russia and China, violent revolution seems to be the only way for the oppressed to overthrow their masters.
The true spirit of conservatism is not a stubborn resolution to maintain the old social hierarchy or ways to conduct economical activities. It is the enlightened recognition of human's weaknesses, selfishness and myopia, the respect of the raw, uncontrollable undercurrents of the society driven by such weaknesses, and the willingness to respond to such undercurrents via incremental, fitting changes.
A society ought to have a minimum level of moral conscience and collective enlightenment for conservatism to be benificial for the society. Briton seems to be the only example of success. When this is not the case, conservatism will degrade into the desire of a minority of ruling class to maintain its oppression on the oppressed majority. In such societies, like Russia and China, violent revolution seems to be the only way for the oppressed to overthrow their masters.