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Conservatism in the American sense is far different from its Continental European counterpart. Continental European conservatism sees as its ideal pre-industrial Europe and a stratified society with the hereditary nobility and clergy being the dominant influence in society, as opposed to the business community and the masses of workers and peasants. American conservatism is respectful of tradition, but the American tradition is one of pioneers, immigrants, and entrepreneurs achieving success in new lands, not that of preserving the stratified Old Order. Americans are descended from people who thought a new start was better than "knowing one's place" in Yorkshire, Calabria, Hesse, Limerick, Stavanger, Galicia, and a hundred other such places. The "throne and altar" of American conservatism are the principles of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, including the Bill ot Rights.

American conservatism is, because of the character and history of this nation, individualist and anti-statist. There have been communitarians and authoritarians who have posed as conservatives and considered to be rightist, such as the Ku Klux Klan and the Prohibitionists in the early 1900s, many "law 'n' order" advocates and conspiracy theorists of the 1960s and 1970s, and many neo-conservatives and some Christian rightists in the present day. They come closer to the European Right than does truly American conservatism. However, the limited government tradition, whether that of Jefferson, Jackson, and Cleveland in the Democratic Party or that of Coolidge, Robert Taft, Sr., and Goldwater in the GOP, most accurately reflects the foundational principles of this republic.

How rare it is to come across such a lucid and insightful post such as your #79.

Thank you for penetrating to the heart of the matter.

As an adherent of European-style "altar & throne" monarchist conservatism myself, who happens to be an American, I have to say that from my side of the spectrum I agree with your summary.