Portal:Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional values, accepting that technology and society can shift, but the principles should not. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism and seek a return to the way things were. The first established use of the term in a political context was by François-René de Chateaubriand in 1819, following the French Revolution. Political science often credits the Irish politician Edmund Burke with many of the ideas now called conservative.Template:/box-footer
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In the 1980s, under the Reagan Doctrine, the United States increased diplomatic, military, and economic pressures on the Soviet Union, at a time when the nation was already suffering economic stagnation. In the late 1980s, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev introduced the liberalizing reforms of perestroika ("reconstruction", "reorganization", 1987) and glasnost ("openness", ca. 1985). The Cold War ended after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, leaving the United States as the dominant military power. Russia rejected Communism and was no longer regarded as a threat by the U.S. The Cold War and its events have had a significant impact on the world today, and it is often referred to in popular culture, especially films and novels about spies.
- ...that Ronald Reagan's autobiography, An American Life, reached number eight on The New York Times' bestsellers list?
- ...that the Minute Women of the U.S.A. was a militantly anti-communist organization for American housewives in the 1950s?
- ... that Holby City woman is a voter demographic in the United Kingdom that was considered influential to the outcome of the 2010 United Kingdom general election?
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It is to the property of the citizen, and not to the demands of the creditor of the state, that the first and original faith of civil society is pledged.
— Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)
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- 1960 – Barry Goldwater publishes The Conscience of a Conservative. The book reignited the American conservative movement and made Goldwater a star.
- 1948 – the period known as La Violencia begins with the assassination of Colombian Liberal Party leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán. For the next ten years Liberals, Communists and Conservatives would fight each other in the conflict.
- 1980 – the first Washington for Jesus rally is held in Washington, D.C. It will become part of the burgeoning Christian Right movement.Template:/box-footer
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On August 11, 1984, United States President Ronald Reagan, while running for re-election, was preparing to make his weekly Saturday address on National Public Radio. As a sound check prior to the address, Reagan made the following joke to the radio technicians:
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Though this was not the first time Reagan had joked prior to giving a speech or address, the Soviet official news agency, TASS, condemned the joke, declaring that "USSR condemns this unprecedentedly hostile attack of US President" and that "this kind of behaviour is incompatible with high responsibility the heads of nuclear states are bearing for the destinies of their own people and the mankind".
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