If you read the welcome post (and I hope you did) you have some idea of what this site is dedicated to and why I’m doing it. As I began taking in the wisdom of the thinkers I listed in the welcome post I was able to slowly, and bit by bit assemble something I think has great explanatory power. Probably the two biggest influences of what you’ll see below are Russel Kirk’s 10 principles of conservatism, and Thomas Sowell’s Vision of the Anointed, and Conflict of Visions.
The output of my years of dabbling is what I’m calling “The 10 Pillars of Political Thought.” I don’t see anything original or enlightening about the 10 pillars, that wasn’t my intent. My intent was to organize, categorize and put into a hierarchy the thoughts of the many great thinkers I’d been reading and listening to. Understanding the presuppositions of the conservative and progressive mind has been a huge leap for me in being able to process events, understand ideas contrary to mine, and stay consistent in a rapidly changing world. In short, Understand, Articulate, and Defend.
You’ll notice right off the bat, I don’t use the label “Liberal.” In the strictest sense, what we call liberals today are not truly liberals. Instead I use the term progressive. I think it’s much more accurate and descriptive of the actual mind of the people with those beliefs. I also want to make sure we are all on the same page with the term conservative. Too often the conservative label is associated with a mindset that wants to turn back time. Also the label is viewed by progressives to mean “benighted” as Sowell puts it, which is a fancy way of saying stupid. In fact, John Stuart Mill wrote, “…conservatives are the part of stupid people.” A much more constructive way to view the distinction between the two political views is Conservation and Innovation. Conservation of the belief, norms, practices, values, and behaviors that lead to human flourishing. Innovation (progression) of all those same things to take humanity to its highest attainable state. In the table below, you’ll see how this plays out.
Without further delay here are the 10 Pillars of Political Thought:
| Pillar | Conservative | Progressive |
| Nature of authority | God is sovereign | Man/ The Individual is sovereign |
| Nature of Truth (moral and empirical) | Objective, universal, timeless, external to man. | Subjective, and evolving. |
| Nature of Man (value, and condition) | Humans are intrinsically and immeasurably valuable, and are sinful by nature. Human nature is fixed, and constrained. Man has agency, free will. Image bearers of god. | Value is based on contribution and function(instrumental value) and humans are naturally good, but learn to be sinful. Human nature is malleable and unconstrained. Man is primarily shaped by his nurture or environment. Highly Darwinian. |
| Nature of Rights | Rights are God-given, inalienable, and unchanging. 1) exist in the absence of government, 2) inalienable they can’t be given or taken by another, 3) are universal. Natural rights | Rights originate from individual dignity, and civil authority for codification and enforcement. Positive rights |
| Nature of Knowledge | The only knowledge of consequence is if it adds value to a given endeavor. Consequential Knowledge. Diffused throughout society. | The value of knowledge is based on the credentials of the academic expressing it. Academic Knowledge. Concentrated within academic circles creating surrogate decision makers, the Omnicompetent. |
| Nature of Government | To secure natural rights and promote justice. Relies on the right system and principles to work. Bottom up: from the people | To make things right. To promote equality. Relies on the right person to work. Top down: from the government |
| Nature of Wealth | Wealth is created and the result of agency. | Wealth is a zero sum game and is evil. |
| Nature of Change | Prudent, Cautious, calculated, understands the principles of unintended consequences and opportunity cost. Change involves trade offs. Not averse to change, but change must represent improvement. The present is indebted to the past. | Solutions oriented, of a singular focus, emotive, impulsive approach to change. Favors radical, utopian solutions for enduring social problems. Willing to tear it all down to solve a perceived problem. The present owes nothing to the past. |
| Nature of Justice | To give one their due, retributive, reformative and restorative for the victim and perpetrator alike. It is objective, and applicable to all. | To ameliorate inequality, restorative for the individual, and reformative for society. Application is dependent on one’s group membership. |
| Nature of society | Based on family, and church | Based on collective identity and government. |
| Nature of Association | Free and based on beliefs, values, and behaviors | Involuntary, and based on intersectional identity. |