Social conservatism in the United States

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Conservatism in the United States
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Variants Old Right · Women in conservatism · Black conservatism · Christian Right · Reaganomics · Tea Party movement · Classical Liberalism
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Social conservatism in the United States is generally defined by promotion of what its proponents perceive to be traditional social norms and values.

Views

Social conservatives emphasize what they describe as traditional views of social units such as the family, church, or locality. Social conservatism may entail opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion.

In the 1920s, religious fundamentalists like William Bell Riley and William Jennings Bryan led the battle against the teaching of evolution, a battle which fundamentalists are still fighting today, when fundamentalist Protestants often advocate the teaching of creationism in the public schools.

Conservatives tend to strongly identify with American nationalism and patriotism. They denounce anti-war protesters and hail the police and the military. Conservatives hold that military institutions embody admirable values like honor, duty, courage, and loyalty, and also admire their tradition and ritual pageantry.

Some conservatives want to use federal power to block state actions they disapprove of. Thus in the 21st century came support for the "No Child Left Behind" program, support for a constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage, and support for federal laws overruling states that attempt to legalize marijuana or assisted suicide or use eminent domain to take private property. The willingness to use federal power to intervene in state affairs is the negation of the old state's rights position.

The anti-elitism strain in American social conservatism has taken the form of attacks on elites, experts, scientists, public schools and universities advocating for or enacting policies contrary to their own positions.^[1]

Historically, free market and social conservative elements were politically separate (but also not necessarily opposed) in the United States. An alliance of convenience was generated between them in the last half of the twentieth century under the doctrine of Fusionism, created by the ex-communist Frank Meyer, editor of the National Review. ^[2]

Electoral politics

In American politics, the Republican Party (United States) is the largest political party with some socially conservative ideals incorporated into its platform. Voters who are concerned with socially conservative issues often support the Republican Party, although there are also socially-conservative Democrats who break ranks with the party platform. Despite this, there have been instances where the Republican Party's nominee has been considered too socially progressive by social conservatives. This has led to the support of third party candidates from parties such as the Constitution Party, whose philosophies more closely parallel that of social conservatism.^[3] While many social conservatives see third parties as a viable option in such a situation, some high-profile social conservatives see the excessive support of them as dangerous. This fear arises from the possibility of vote splitting.^[4] Social conservatives, like any other interest-group, usually must find a balance between pragmatic electability and ideological principles when supporting candidates.^[5]

Commentator Randall Hoven of The American Thinker has remarked, "Using the National Journals ratings of Senators in 2007, the correlation coefficient between "economic" scores and "social" scores is 90%. That means they almost always go together; financial conservatives are social conservatives and vice versa".^[6]

The American Tea Party movement is economically conservative but generally avoids social conservative issues, and this is a deliberate strategy.^[7] The Tea Party Patriots is officially neutral^[8] on social conservatism. While social conservatism emphasizes faith and family as core values, the Tea Party Patriots identifies its "Core Values" as "Fiscal Responsibility, Constitutionally Limited Government, Free Markets."^[9] Some branches are opposed^[10] to social conservatism. However, independent polls have repeatedly shown that Tea Party supporters are nearly indistinguishable in their views from traditional Republican social conservatives, despite their choice to emphasize economic issues.^{[11][12][13][14]} While not allying itself exclusively with the Christian conservative movement^[15], members of the Tea Party movement identify with the Christian conservative movement more strongly than the general American populace (44%^[16] compared to 34%^[17] of the population), and some social conservative leaders have denounced it for its "libertarian" and "irreligious" views.^[18] Nearly 80% of those in the Tea Party movement are members of the Republican party.^[19]

Geography

Social conservatives are strongest in the South, and in recent years played a major role in the political coalitions of Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.^[20]

References

v t e Conservatism Schools Cultural Fiscal Green Liberal Libertarian National Neoconservatism Paleoconservatism Progressive Social Traditionalist Concepts Tradition Social norm Natural Law Family Values Social Order Social Hierarchy Private Property History Timeline People Edmund Burke Joseph de Maistre Louis Bonald François Chateaubriand Klemens von Metternich Adam Müller Juan Donoso Cortés Hippolyte Taine Benjamin Disraeli Konstantin Leontiev Winston Churchill Oswald Spengler George Santayana Carl Schmitt Peter Viereck Michael Oakeshott Roger Scruton Russell Kirk Ronald Reagan Organizations International Democrat Union International Young Democrat Union Asia Pacific Democrat Union Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists European Democrats European People's Party List of conservative parties Religious Christian Right Jewish Right Hindu Nationalism Islamism Traditionalist Catholics Related topics Reactionary Counter-revolutionary Centre-right Right-wing politics Toryism Carlism Aristocracy Capitalism New Right Neo-liberalism Conservatism Portal

v t e Social conservatism in the United States Issues Pro-life Family values Anti-pornography movement School prayer Homosexual agenda Drug prohibition People Mike Huckabee Jerry Falwell Pat Buchanan William Bennett William F. Buckley, Jr. Robert P. George Sarah Palin Rush Limbaugh James Dobson Organizations American Family Association Moral Majority Morality in Media National Right to Life Committee Concerned Women for America American Life League Alliance Defense Fund Focus on the Family American Decency Association National Organization for Marriage Think tanks Family Research Council Eagle Forum Heritage Foundation Political parties Republican Party Constitution Party Prohibition Party America First Party America's Independent Party See also Paleoconservatism Christian Right Manhattan Declaration Culture War Conservatism Portal