[Bill_Nye]

But I mean more the Conservatism of the past. When we were united as a society due to the intense pressures of the time. I find China to be conservative in these ways now. Is this just a "phase" every society goes through? It seems once a society has a certain level of economic prosperity and no external pressure that it just devolves into laziness and apathy. I could even see myself compromising on things like Abortion where I think we have a responsibility to not cause harm and since the brain develops the capacity to feel pain around 17 weeks of gestation I'm not sure if abortion is so moral after that point. I also harken to the time of my parents and grandparents around the 1920s-1950s. I think conservatism then led to the restraint of some of our worst natures. I like "intellectual" conservatism as well and admire the character of some on the right and people like Marcus Aurelius. I even like some of the "tough guy" protectors like Clint Eastwood. I just don't see a place for myself in the modern Republican party and would hardly characterize it as "conservative." Maybe I need to switch countries or something? I also miss when science and the "high iq boys" were in charge for example during the construction of the atom bomb. I think this created a place for people like Oppenheimer though he was later castigated under McCarthyism. If any of you are familiar with Jungianism I would say that during these times the country was largely a Sensing and Judging type of conservative country. I think I am an introverted thinking type and I think I seek an extroverted feeling type (at least according to Jung). That would lead to an ESFJ personality type, but again I would seek perhaps a foreigner from China or India or Japan rather than a hardcore Republican conservative Christian or something like that. So, is there any place in Conservatism (big C) for me?

[Puffer Fish]

Is this just a "phase" every society goes through? It seems once a society has a certain level of economic prosperity and no external pressure that it just devolves into laziness and apathy.

I think this is a good insight and there is a good amount of truth in it.

I had this same thought before.

Conservatism often serves a function in societies with limited economic resources. It's usually only in societies that have become economically affluent that we see the rise of social liberalism. Because now the society and people in that society can afford to be liberal.

Yet it's also paradoxically true that the middle class in many societies often tends to be more conservative than the poor. It may be because the middle class strives for a higher degree of responsibility and has apprehensions about falling down into the lower social class. (In traditional Victorian era society, the middle class also worried about social reputation)

But it's also true that in some societies many people in the upper middle class can be much more socially liberal than the middle or lower middle class. Because their money sort of "frees" them, and mitigates the consequences of being socially irresponsible.