We All Have a Bit of Conservatism Inside Us

Commentary The Christopher Dawson Centre of which I am the director is a conservative advocacy group. But that’s not a political statement. We are not “right-wingers.” Being conservative nowadays has very little to do with the political left or the political right. Though some of our views might be characterised as right-wing (by those who disagree with us) we hold many opinions that would commonly be regarded as more typical of the left. There’s nothing odd about that: Pope St John Paul II was both a social conservative and an outspoken critic of unrestrained capitalism. Further, we live in strange times: the old working class (left) may not have disappeared but its numbers have certainly diminished....