Conservatism is more than limited government, family values, or preserving the status quo. It is, to
quote Dr. Russell Kirk in his 1953 magnum opus, The Conservative Mind, the preservation of
the ancient moral traditions of humanity.
The word itself connotes the idea of conservation against forces of decay and dissolution. By contrast,
the word "liberal" connotes a more relaxed approach to historic moral traditions, and in the modern
sense, has come to mean an agenda publicly hostile to those traditions. Indeed, the development of
liberalism (also called "radicalism"), even by the time The Conservative Mind first appeared,
was such that Kirk could close his first chapter with the following words:
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William Wilberforce, MP, led the organized opposition to British slavery in the late 18th and early
19th centuries. A renowned orator, he rose to the highest levels of Parliament in his early 20's,
becoming close friends with Prime Minister William Pitt (the Younger). After his conversion to
Christianity, in which John Newton (author of the famous hymn, "Amazing Grace") played a key role,
he made abolition of slavery the primary goal of his life. He partially realized this goal in the
first decade of the 19th century when the slave trade was abolished throughout the British empire,
and the Wilberforce dream was fully realized in 1833 when the entire institution of slavery was
abolished--mere days before Wilberforce's death.