Republicans are not conservatives

Republicans aim to destroy the aesthetics of our culture

CONSERVATISM, that deplorably misunderstood term, is fundamentally rooted in the preservation of existing things, imperfections included, and a willing acceptance of traditional authority as the legitimate guardian of our inherited liberties. The true conservative is a traditionalist and patriotic defender of his culture, who embraces the politics of trusteeship and glories in the treasures passed down over the ages. Treasures such as the monarchy.

Republicans then, are by definition not conservative(s). That is, apart from in the United States, where republican government has been entrenched for well over 200 years. This is because republicans, whether they originate on the illiberal Left or the non-conservative Right, are antagonistic towards our institutional culture, and seek to overthrow the constitutional authority underpinning it.

Republicans on the Right will protest this, citing their belief in fiscal conservatism, limited government and individual liberty. But the conservative position is not rooted in economic or religious or other singular factors, but in broadly defined cultural ones, of which the pillars of society - the economy, the community, the family, the Church and the state - form but a part. Conservatism properly understood is broader than individual hedonistic pursuits, and is chiefly concerned with preserving our culture, preserving our freedoms and thereby preserving our way of life.

Defending the monarchy, therefore, is really one of defending our culture, of even recognizing that we have a national culture, and that it is worth defending - an awareness made more difficult given the dangerous rhetoric of multiculturalists and other transnational progessives, who repudiate any notion of a home culture. Every individual, every family and even every group should have the freedom to practice their own customs and indigenous culture, but if we wilfully deny and refuse to acknowledge the existence of a majority culture that people should integrate within, just what kind of social order are we advocating, exactly? It is a testament to the strength of our assimilationist culture, notwithstanding the cracks, that we are still able to readily integrate immigrants and maintain a robust civil society, while not only living in complete political denial of this fact, but actively opposing it.

Many republicans would rightly protest that they bear no enmity towards our cultural inheritance as it pertains to our liberties, laws and human arts, and that they proudly embrace such hand-me-downs as habeus corpus, the common law and English literature as much as any monarchist does. Quite, which is why I say the threat posed by republicans on the national treasure is limited to the aesthetics of our culture, what Burke called the "decent draperies of life", the royal this and the royal that, but the destruction of those aesthetics is no small thing, and should not be treated lightly. Republicans, and even "minimal change republicans", stand to completely destroy the regimental heritage of our Armed Forces, for example, of which the military is fiercely loyal. The pride and esprit de corps of Her Majesty's army, navy and air force should not be easily dispensable quantities, and should not be ignored, downplayed or sneered at. The annihilation of those aesthetics would do substantial harm to our culture and institutional forms.

That is why it is perfectly fair to lump republicans in with multicultis, tranzis, oikophobes and other advocates of cultural suicide. And that is why the fight by conservatives against republicanism should be seen for what it is: one small battle in the much larger war in the need to defend our culture.