It's getting better all the time

I have been thinking a lot about conservatism and progressivism, and what they mean in the big picture of where the race is. It occurs to me, from my point of view, that conservatism is inherently pessimistic, because of it's emphasis on what is wrong with the human condition, and why things were better in a past simpler time. I am not saying that pessimism is not a valuable tool for seeing the world, but there are a few things about this that bother me in our current world. One of my problems with this is that it takes all of the best that we have done in the past and makes it unimportant, a given rather than the collective effort of countless people. Not remembering what we have done that is good is just as bad as forgetting what we have done that is evil.

I am also concerned that this regressive tendency extends to our increasingly rich and complex interactions, and especially to our relationships to one another through government. A culture based on fear and distaste of government and addicted to it's conveniences is scary. A government run by people who stand at the pulpit talking about the inability of government to solve problems is scary. We need to talk about the good that we can do by involving ourselves and tolerating others, not relinquish our involvement to an ever expanding government publicly aimed at dismantling it's services to the it's constituents.

To me, conservatism is dangerous, in that it ignores most of what is best about humanity- our ability to change. We can be who we decide to be, each and each other. I can't conceive of a paper God which is not dynamic, but I can definitely conceive of one who is embodied in our free will, and our ability to take responsibility for ourselves.