The Conservative Dictionary
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The Ten Cannots show the world that conservatives believe in prosperity, social justice, community and character but, unlike socialists, they understand that most short cuts to these goals are self-defeating.
The Roman Catholic idea that a good society is characterised by a concern for the well-being of every person - not just the few or the many.
Compassionate conservatives aim to apply conservative ideas to issues of poverty - issues most associated with the left but which the left have failed to solve.
A dangerous belief that people can be protected from sexual promiscuity or drug use
A stingy form of compassion that meets a vulnerable person's immediate needs but does not help them to overcome the causes of their vulnerability.
Free charities operate independently of state direction.
British voters want healthcare and education to be freely available to every citizen – regardless of income. State-funded public services do not have to be state-supplied, however.
Families, charities, mentors, volunteers and other people-sized institutions provide the kind of personalised, holistic care that society’s most vulnerable people need.
Ineffective institutions like the United Nations and welfare state that hide our consciences from the reality of the difficulties facing our fellow man.
Benjamin Disraeli's idea that deep divisions between rich and poor halves of a nation are unacceptable.
Limited redistribution from the rich to the poor can eliminate offensive inequalities that creates walls within nations.
If the root causes of a nation’s problems are not addressed by a focused ‘nanny state’, those problems will only multiply and make much bigger calls on a bloated ‘welfare state’.
Through school choice parents can free their children from a bad school and choose a more successful school that might also be more consistent with their values or religious ethos.
The cruel (and destructive) belief that the weak be allowed to sink, and the strong be allowed to swim, in order for a society to flourish.
Taxpayers’ money delivered via vouchers, matched funding and asset transfer can build a voluntary sector that is less politicised and more rooted in the needs of stakeholder communities.
The British public believes that pensioners and children are society’s two most vulnerable groups.
The nurses, doctors, teachers and police officers who deliver Britain's public services.
Iain Duncan Smith has argued that today's voters don't just want to support a party that is 'good for them'. A decisive number also want to support a political party that is 'good for their neighbour'.
The institutions and values that a society can draw on - and must always replenish.
A left-wing term that conservatives should colonise with their own distinctive approach to poverty-fighting.
The values of a community - such as an aversion to indebtedness - that can protect against serious social ills.
The most important care for vulnerable people does not come from the state. It is provided by a free society's people-sized institutions, particularly the family.