Revolutionary Conservative

Can you be simultaneously revolutionary and conservative?  I don’t know, but I feel both impulses tugging at me as I strive to be a whole person whose thoughts and actions and words and dreams reconcile with my deepest held beliefs.

My childhood influences have been mined in this space before but I’ll repeat them as context.  Growing up Taiwanese-American – hyphenated – seared into me an identity that does not easily sit in one camp or the other but that has to navigate between camps.  Doing two-on-two debate in high school – in which you spend the whole year on a single topic, alternating between arguing “for” and “against” – trained me in seeing the merit in both sides of an argument, as did my training in economics in undergrad and grad school.  And making intentional decisions throughoutlife to be in diverse settings – where I work/live/worship, who I’ve married/adopted, which friendships/spaces I prioritize – means I’ve been exposed to multiple perspectives and the logic and humanity behind all of them. 

Of course, in today’s divisive climate, all that has meant sometimes is that I’m ever serving as a brake against others’ one-sided viewpoints.  Or, as I recall hearing from a speaker at a racial reconciliation conference a long time ago, “the thing about being a bridge is that sometimes all it means is you get walked on by both sides.”  We all decry echo chambers, and yet when we’re venting what we want is for those around us to say “attaboy” and “attagirl,” and not “well actually” or “here’s a counterpoint.”  Yet that’s often where I find myself. 

So, revolutionary and conservative?  Seems contradictory, no?  Probably is.  But let me explain. 

Conservatism is a set of beliefs that you can define in a lot of different ways – limited government, imbuing stature to such ideals as “freedom” and “authority,” and all sorts of beliefs that are often held by conservatives without being definitionally conservative – but at its core it seems like to be conservative is essentially to say “whoa, slow down” a lot.  This may be because of a respect for tradition, a preference for the status quo, or an uneasiness about change borne of how easy it is for change to lead to worse rather than better outcomes.  

Out of all that, I’d say I’m a little bit conservative in the first two things and much more conservative in the last thing.  Especially when it comes to government and especially at the federal level, one-sided arguments and unintended consequences are things I am pretty wary of.  I am all about the never-ending striving our nation must go through to become “a more perfect union.”  But I prefer that that striving happens thoughtfully, based on careful analysis and deliberation among a diverse body of perspectives.  Not because my desire for progress is weaker or less urgent than that of others, but rather because my desire for progress is that it is sustainable and that therefore it must be based on substance.  

Most of my friends and family are to the left of me.  They would describe themselves as progressives, revolutionaries even.  And I have learned much from them.  I agree that there are many facets of the status quo that are utterly unacceptable and borderline shameful, which demands significant and sustained and immediate action.  

I also respect the fact that that action may truly require revolution, which is to say overthrow of power.  I get that there are many cases in which it is both too slow and too naïve to think that change can happen from within.  If the entrenched power structure is the problem, a new structure is needed.  

That feeling of being walked on by both sides is me explaining to people more conservative than me that all is not right in the world, and that in order to make it right will require change that is far more systemic and far-reaching than they are comfortable with.  And it is me agreeing with much of what people more progressive than me want but disagreeing with much of how they think they’ll be able to get there as well as how fast it will take to arrive.  

I should note that many people in my circles are neither conservative nor revolutionary so much as they are content with their lives and not so interested in spending themselves for today’s battles.  An honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay, raising a family, having a hobby on the side…this characterizes many of the people in my life.  Not to say they don’t have ideological opinions, just that you won’t see them rocking the boat in a protest or a public meeting or a civic group or a political event.  And while I respect the right people have to engage or not engage as they so choose, I do think that society and community demands a baseline level of engagement, and that given all of the issues swirling around us today that baseline level of engagement involves real time and real effort. 

But back to the basic juxtaposition of this post: revolutionary and conservative?  For now, I’m going to be both, pushing both sides to be more open-minded, more humane, and more informed, pushing for meaningful and sustainable progress where it must happen in order for me to true to myself and this country to be true to its calling.