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One of the few examples of an intellectual development within recent American conservative thought not centrally concerned with foreign policy to have achieved any great prominence is the emergence of the theory of compassionate conservatism, principally because it was championed by George W. Bush's administration. Yet among commentators it has rarely been taken seriously in its own terms as a theory. What this article aims at showing is that compassionate conservatism is not merely an empty political slogan; instead, when the nature of conservatives' compassion is properly understood, it can be seen to be a concept of great significance to conservatism.
A particular obstacle to understanding in this area arises from the seeming novelty of the adjective "compassionate" being attached to conservatism, which has sidetracked much of the attention the theory has received. Critics' focus has been upon those instances in which conservatives appear to have betrayed their vaunted compassion, which was perceived to have occurred many times during the Bush era. For example, in 2005 the administration was widely denounced for its failure to respond adequately to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans - as one commentator among many suggested, this revealed "the empty sloganeering of 'compassionate conservatism,' the lack of concern for the 'underprivileged'."1 Even its defenders recognize the unusualness of finding the two words linked together - as Myron Magnet, a proponent of compassionate conservatism, admits: "At its core is concern for the poor - not a traditional Republican preoccupation."2
Yet the mere fact of conservatives avowing compassion is not what is truly significant about the theory; nor is the fundamental problem with compassionate conservatism the inability of conservatives to live up to its demands in practice. What requires understanding is that there is a world of difference between what compassion means in everyday use and when conservatives deploy the term; "concern" for the poor or underprivileged can take many forms, not all of which would be recognized by nonconservatives as "compassionate." Conservatives use an understanding of compassion as a "tough-minded," rather than a "soft-hearted," moral virtue to challenge the fundamental precepts of competing social philosophies.
This article therefore argues that there remains a need to examine the true place of...