Modern Conservatism

Andrew Bacevich has written an article about why conservatives should vote for Obama in the fall. But I found myself more interested in his definition of conservatism, which I could get behind with a few modest changes. Here it is:

• a commitment to individual liberty, tempered by the conviction that genuine freedom entails more than simply an absence of restraint;
  
  
• a belief in limited government, fiscal responsibility, and the rule of law;
  
  
• veneration for our cultural inheritance combined with a sense of stewardship for Creation;
  
  
• a reluctance to discard or tamper with traditional social arrangements;
  
  
• respect for the market as the generator of wealth combined with a wariness of the market’s corrosive impact on humane values;
  
  
• a deep suspicion of utopian promises, rooted in an appreciation of the sinfulness of man and the recalcitrance of history.

Replace Creation with Nature, and strike the "reluctance to discard or tamper with traditional social arrangements", and I'm all for it.