Frederick J. Hutchison

Restoring History - Western Cultural and Political Conservatism Frederick J. Hutchison

This work outlines a brief history of conservatism from 800 BC to present day, and offers insight and suggestions for a needed cultural restoration. Restoring History is timely and holds the seeds that could return Western culture back to health. The main thesis of the work is that reconciliation and philosophical interaction between conservatism's five historical forms can restore an intellectually vigorous, culturally fruitful, morally coherent and politically potent society. Current political and cultural arenas provide a good backdrop to consider the vital role of conservatism in Western history. Conservative ideals provided a crucial function in the Western civilization's rise to become the world premiere in literature, philosophy, art, music, architecture, economics, commerce, exploration, science, technology, war and politics. Western culture is often equated with European civilization and broadly refers to a heritage of social norms, ethics, traditions, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and technologies. Conservative principles and values have consistently produced beneficial effects on culture. In contrast, liberalism has often been destructive to Western culture, propagating false views about the nature of man, society, government and the cosmos - and only produces a mixed blessing. There is an illusion in the land that liberalism is an old tradition, and that conservatism arose in the late 1940's as a reactionary force. In fact, four of the five types of conservatism were very old when liberalism first appeared during the 18th century, after the West had already established dominance.