Organized conservatism is simply not how conservatism is supposed to be, according to the actual philosophical cannon of conservatism that runs all the way back to thinkers like Edmund Burke. Burke himself was actually quite an open-minded thinker for his time, and he was clearly not reactionary at all. Contrast this to the typical 'conservative' politician or influencer today, whose mode of operation is often simply to take the most reactionary stance possible towards any proposal for reform, in order to sink any prospect of reform, while also scoring a win over the opposite party. As I've said many times, it is actually the centrists and the classical liberals who most resemble the approach of Burke in today's political landscape, while those who self-identify as conservatives are often reactionaries.
In other words, organized conservatism, as it exists, has actually become a vehicle for radical reactionism rather than conservatism. This is a natural and inevitable consequence of its self-identification against all progressive politics. This means that, if we want to revive true conservatism, and reject radical reactionism, we cannot do so within an organized movement that functionally identifies as anti-progressive. True conservatism simply cannot be completely anti-progressive. Rather than opposing all forms of progress and change, conservatism directs the impulse for progress towards reform over deconstruction, and further guides reform towards pathways that are consistent with the long-standing values and traditions of a given society. Given that conservatism needs to be able to choose between good and bad progressive ideas, it simply cannot reject all progressive ideas by default.
I maintain the need to continue to uphold a healthy and intellectually robust form of conservatism in society. However, to turn the conservative impulse into a political movement, especially one that stands against organized progressivism in a two-party system, inevitably sends us down a pipeline to radical reactionism, thus turning conservatism into its opposite. This is why I believe the best way to practice conservatism is to integrate its insights into the way we think about reform and progress. We need to start thinking of conservatism not as an enemy of the progressive impulse, but rather a force to guide this impulse into practical and fruitful avenues.
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