Conservative wisdom is best demonstrated by instances when humans trying to remake the world back measures that do more harm than good. The rise of communism is perhaps the pre-eminent example.

But what about significant changes that do more good than harm? The right would do well to think more carefully about how to identify these instances, especially given the conservative predisposition to misjudge and oppose them. (e.g. the Civil Rights Movement.)

One striking thing about America's conservative coalition, with its affinity for the Founding era and its ties to Christianity, is that its members believe quite deeply in movements that radically remade the world, albeit in the distant past. Has a historical figure as radical as Jesus Christ ever existed? Did a political revolution ever remake the world as thoroughly as America's did? Even if these events are surpassed by one or two others, the point stands: Jesus Christ and the Founders shared a willingness to upend received wisdom by appealing to faith and reason respectively.]]>