Conservatism

CONSERVATISM

[mass noun]

(1) Commitment to traditional values and ideas with opposition to change or innovation. (2) The holding of political views that favor free enterprise, private ownership, and socially conservative ideas. (The Oxford English Dictionary)

The word states that almost always vote conservatism is oftentimes associated with aparticular group of people; namely, white, middle to upper class males who are middle aged or older. Conservatives are commonly categorised as stodgy, uptight, and out of touch on numerous social issues. However, here I sit, a twenty-five year old female conservative Republican from the U.S., in direct defiance of many of these stereotypes.

According to statistics, I am not alone. Millennials are more likely to identify as political conservatives than both Baby Boomers and Generation Xers, and there are more high school seniors today who identify as conservative than there were ten years ago. Contrary to being out of touch and outdated, conservatives are in fact more relevant than ever before. Conservatives out number liberals in the United States by 11% overall, and in all but six of the fifty states. Donald Trump’s shocking win in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election, which included victories in four states that almost always vote for Democratic candidates, speaks directly to the rise of conservatism in recent years.

In 2014, a year in which the U.S. had a Democratic president, Republicans gained control of both branches of Congress and marked the largest Republican majority in the U.S. Congress since the year 1929.

With these numbers in mind, I find it disingenuous that the media is so liberally slanted, and the fact that conservatism is rising in relevance despite media bias is extremely telling. Conservatives are tired of being demonized and slandered. We are not all racists, homophobes, misogynists, or anti-immigrant. Many conservatives, myself included, are honest, hardworking people who believe in what our country stands for and in having pride for our country and its people. I identify as fiscally conservative more than anything else, and feel that the U.S. should focus on reducing its own debt and creating jobs for its citizens before sending aid to other countries.

We can only help others after we have helped our own people, and although there is still work to be done, we have already begun to see results under Republican leadership. In 2017, the U.S. unemployment rate fell to a 16 year low of 4.3%, and the corporate tax rate was slashed from 35% to 21%, allowing businesses to pay their employees more and hire more people.

Similarly, in the United Kingdom, now under conservative leadership, unemployment has fallen by 3.5% and is at its lowest level since 1975. Additionally, due to the Conservative’s National Living Wage, the number of workers on low pay in the U.K. has fallen by more than 300,000. Brexit, which was a shock to the U.K. along the same vein of the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election, was also the result of citizens, including 58% of conservatives, choosing to put the interests of their country and its people first.

Under E.U. regulations, 40% of U.K. pension funds are invested outside of the U.K. Countries should put the needs of their citizens above all else, and the only way to make this happen is to allow countries to govern by their own rules. Under conservative leadership, nationalism remains alive and well in the U.S. and the U.K., as it should. I take pride in my country and conservative values, and I am hopeful for the U.K. as it strives to gain independence from the E.U.