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Historically, the central themes in American conservatism have included respect for American traditions, support of republicanism and the rule of law, Judeo-Christian values, anti-Communism, advocacy of American exceptionalism and a defense of Western civilization from perceived threats posed by moral relativism, multiculturalism, and postmodern ridicule of traditional culture. Liberty is a core value, with a particular emphasis on strengthening the free market, and opposition to high taxes and government or labor union encroachment on the entrepreneur. In recent decades, historians argue that the conservative tradition has played a major role in American politics and culture since the American Revolution. However they have stressed that an organized conservative movement has played a key role in politics only since the 1950s. The recent movement is based in the Republican Party, but during the era of segregation, before 1965, many Southern Democrats were also conservative. Southern Congressmen were a key part of a Conservative Coalition that largely blocked liberal labor legislation in Congress from 1937 to 1963, though they tended to be liberal and vote with the rest of the Democratic Party on other economic issues. Southern Democrats fended off the more conservative Republican Party (GOP) by arguing that only they could defend segregation because the Republican Party nationally was committed to integration. That argument collapsed when Congress banned segregation in 1964. This provided an opportunity for Republicans to appeal to conservative Southerners on the basis that the GOP was the more conservative party on a wide range of social and economic issues, as well as being hawkish on foreign policy when the antiwar forces gained strength in the Democratic party. Southern white conservatives moved from the Democratic Party to the GOP at the presidential level in the 1960s, and at the state and local level after 1990.〔Patrick Allitt, ''The Conservatives: Ideas and Personalities Throughout American History'', p. "before the 1950s there was no such thing as a conservative ''movement'' in the United States.", Yale University Press, 2009, ISBN 978-0-300-16418-3〕〔Kirk, Russell. ''The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot'' (1953) traced a continuous tradition since the 1790s.〕 The history of American conservatism has been marked by tensions and competing ideologies. Fiscal conservatives and libertarians favor small government, low taxes, limited regulation, and free enterprise. Social conservatives see traditional social values as threatened by secularism; they tend to support school prayer, the teaching of intelligent design or creationism, and the Second Amendment rights of private citizens to own firearms and to oppose abortion rights and oppose same-sex marriage.〔() New York Times on God, guns, gays〕〔(Ahoura Afshar, "The Anti-gay Rights Movement in the United States: The Framing of Religion," ''Essex Human Rights Review'' (2006) 3#1 pp. 64–79 )〕〔Glenn Utter and Robert J. Spitzer, ''Encyclopedia of Gun Control & Gun Rights'' (2nd ed. 2011)〕〔 〕 Neoconservatives want to expand American ideals throughout the world.〔Bruce Frohnen, ed. ''American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia'' (2006) pp. ix–xiv〕 Paleoconservatives advocate restrictions on immigration, non-interventionist foreign policy, and stand in opposition to multiculturalism. Nationwide most factions, except some libertarians, support a unilateral foreign policy, and a strong military. The conservative movement of the 1950s attempted to bring together these divergent strands, stressing the need for unity to prevent the spread of "godless communism."〔Paul Gottfried, ''Conservatism in America: Making Sense of the American Right'', p. 9, "Postwar conservatives set about creating their own synthesis of free-market capitalism, Christian morality, and the global struggle against Communism." (2009); Gottfried, ''Theologies and moral concern'' (1995) p. 12〕 William F. Buckley Jr., in the first issue of his magazine ''National Review'' in 1955, explained the standards of his magazine and helped make explicit the beliefs of American conservatives:〔(''Founding Statement of National Review'' )〕 The meaning of "conservatism" in America has little in common with the way the word is used elsewhere. As Ribuffo (2011) notes, "what Americans now call conservatism much of the world calls liberalism or neoliberalism."〔Leo P. Ribuffo, "20 Suggestions for Studying the Right now that Studying the Right is Trendy," ''Historically Speaking'' Jan 2011 v.12#1 pp. 2–6, quote on p. 6〕 Similarly, Gross et al. (2011) reject the view that conservatism can be defined in terms of a "fixed or stable essence" or an immutable "category of belief or practice." Instead, they recommend a historical view of the concept that focuses on how "particular meanings come to be defined as conservative within a given sociohistorical milieu," both by self-identified conservatives and by their political opponents. In this conception, conservatism is best understood as a "collective identity that evolves in the course of struggles and collaborations over" political meaning.〔 Neil Gross, Thomas Medvetz, and Rupert Russell. 2011. "The Contemporary American Conservative Movement." ''Annual Review of Sociology'' 37: 325–54, quote on pp. 329–30〕 ==Recent policies== President Ronald Reagan set the conservative standard in the 1980s; in the 2010s the Republican leaders typically claim fealty to it. For example, most of the Republican candidates in 2012 "claimed to be standardbearers of Reagan's ideological legacy." Reagan solidified conservative Republican strength with tax cuts, a greatly increased military budget, continued deregulation, a policy of rollback of Communism (rather than just containing it), and appeals to family values and conservative morality. The 1980s and beyond became known as the "Reagan Era."〔Sean Wilentz, ''The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974–2008'' (2009); John Ehrman, ''The Eighties: America in the Age of Reagan'' (2008)〕 Typically, conservative politicians and spokesmen in the 21st century proclaim their devotion to Reagan's ideals and policies on most social, economic and foreign policy issues. Other modern conservative beliefs include opposition to a world government and skepticism about the validity of environmental risks such as global warming.〔Peter J. Jacques; Riley E. Dunlap; Mark Freeman, ''The organisation of denial: Conservative think tanks and environmental scepticism'', Environmental Politics. v12 m3 (2008), pp. 349–85〕〔George H. Nash, ''Reappraising the Right: The Past and Future of American Conservatism'' (2009) p. 325〕 They support a strong policy of law and order to control crime, including long jail terms for repeat offenders. The "law and order" issue was a major factor weakening liberalism in the 1960s.〔Michael W. Flamm, ''Law and Order: Street Crime, Civil Unrest, and the Crisis of Liberalism in the 1960s'' (2005)〕 From 2001 to 2008, Republican President George W. Bush stressed cutting taxes and minimizing regulation of industry and banking, while increasing regulation of education.〔Julian E. Zelizer, ed. ''The Presidency of George W. Bush: A First Historical Assessment'' (2010) ch 6〕 Conservatives generally advocate the use of American military power to fight terrorists and promote democracy in the Middle East. According to a 2014 poll, 38% of American voters identify as "conservative" or "very conservative," 34% as "moderate," 24% as "liberal" or "very liberal".〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=U.S. Liberals at Record 24%, but Still Trail Conservatives )〕 These percentages were fairly constant from 1990 to 2009,〔Juliana Horowitz, "Winds of Political Change Haven't Shifted Public's Ideology Balance," (Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, press release November 25, 2008 )〕 when conservatism spiked in popularity briefly〔Gallup, "U.S. Political Ideology Stable With Conservatives Leading" (Gallup, August 1, 2011, online )〕 before reverting to the original trend while liberal views on social issues reached a new high. Although the study does show some distinction between the concentration of moderates and conservatives or liberals between the Republican and Democratic parties. Among Democrats, 44% are self-identified liberals, 19% as conservatives, and 36% as moderates. For Republicans 70% self-identified as conservative, 24% as moderate, and 5% as liberal. Conservatism appears to be growing stronger at the state level. The trend is most pronounced among the "least well-off, least educated, most blue collar, most economically hard-hit states." Conservatives generally believe that government action cannot solve society's problems, such as poverty and inequality. Many believe that government programs that seek to provide services and opportunities for the poor actually encourage dependence and reduce self-reliance. Most conservatives oppose affirmative action policies, that is, policies in employment, education, and other areas that give special advantages to members of certain groups. Conservatives believe that the government should not give special treatment to individuals on the basis of group identity. Conservatives typically hold that the government should not play a major role in regulating business and managing the economy. They typically oppose efforts to charge high tax rates and to redistribute income to assist the poor. Such efforts, they argue, do not properly reward people who have earned their money through hard work. However, social conservatives place a strong emphasis on the role of private voluntary charitable organizations (especially faith-based charities) in helping the poor. Because conservatives value order and security, they favor a small but strong government role in law enforcement and national defense. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Conservatism in the United States」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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