There was once a time when the words conservative and Republican were almost interchangeable. When you called someone a "conservative" in America, they stood for a particular set of values. There is room for disagreement, but these ten values were generally considered conservatism:
- The right to privacy: Conservative values often place emphasis on the need for Americans to be able to live freely, without influence from the government or media. This has been evidenced in conservative support for privacy on the Internet. For example, Reagan.com offers an email service for conservatives that secures your right to privacy and allows you to communicate freely without being monitored by a massive tech company or the government.
- Self-defense: Many right-leaning Americans agree that the nation's future is contingent upon protecting itself from domestic and foreign threats.
- Justice: All Americans deserve to live freely and equally.
- Limited government: Most top conservative values are driven by the idea that America functions best when its citizens can govern themselves, with limited influence from the federal government.
- Self-help: Conservatives recognize that Americans can lift themselves out of negative situations and should invest in self-improvement instead of relying on government or other sources.
- Hard work: Each American has an obligation to invest in and contribute to society.
- The value of the free market: Competition drives growth and progress, according to top conservative values.
- Pride in country: Conservatives believe patriotism should be a natural part of each American's life.
- Opposition to special interests: The government and its leaders should operate independently of pressure from special interest groups.
- Sanctity of the Constitution: Our nation's founders were guided by a core set of principles when they laid down the framework for the country, and those goals should continue to be upheld, according to conservatives.
The Republican Party was and is proud to link itself to conservatism. Many regard any attack on Republicans as an attack on conservatives when it just isn't true. It also isn't true that the current version of the Republican Party, any more than they can be called the "Party of Lincoln." The Republican Party isn't what it used to be.
Looking at what they think of those traditional values, they have no regard for a right to privacy, especially for women. Their stand on abortion not only invades a woman's right to privacy but destroys any concept of limited government. Their concept of self-defense requires they ignore domestic threats from the right and are less and less concerned about foreign threats and now support dictators in Russia, Turkey, and an ex-dictator in Brazil.
Their belief in Pride in the country is reliant on tearing down that half of the country that isn't them. Their Pride does deepen when dreaming of a return to "traditional values" represented by confederate flags and segregation.
Republicans were once opposed to special interests but are now dictated to by the Federalist Society, Heritage Foundation, multiple PACs, and the NRA. Belief in the Constitution is a variable; in recent years, they've expanded Second Amendment rights while removing women's right to choose.
When Republicans face criticism for deviating from their alleged values, they respond that they are being attacked for being conservative. This is especially true for Black Republican politicians, where despite their limitations, believe the only reason they are being attacked is that they are Black conservatives. Using Herschel Walker as an example, many Republicans have completely disregarded his misrepresentations and the threats he's made against women by saying his conservatism is under attack.
I've saved for the last fiscal conservatism. When you look at the rampant spending during the Trump administration combined with massive tax cuts for the rich, what Republicans did was explode the deficit. When they got a Democratic President, they suddenly became fiscal hawks. Their beliefs are flexible depending on the administration. With Trump returning to office, let the tax cuts begin. The offsetting revenue will come from tariffs which they tell us isn’t a tax.
I'm sure there still exist a number of people who maintain conservative values for which I don't begrudge them. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Republicans adhere more to personalities than values. Trumpism isn't conservatism; neither is DeSantisism, Boebertism or any of the other flavors of the week.
There are traditional conservative values I can buy into, self-help, for instance. When they come with a healthy portion of voter suppression and banning books, no thanks.
This post originally appeared on Substack and is edited and republished with author's permission. Read more of William Spivey's work on Substack. And if you dig his words, buy the man a coffee.