Canadian intellectual and clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson released what he calls a “conservative manifesto” on Sept. 17, which he says can act as a guideline for those who hold “traditional values.”
Peterson’s manifesto is comprised of a set of values that he calls “foundational principles.”
He said the prevailing ideologies and trends that influence the current political climate, such as identity politics, “threatens the trust upon which peace and prosperity necessarily depends” and undermines “the spirit of our sons and daughters.”
“What can those of us who attempt to abide by and manifest a courageous faith in the traditional values of our past offer in such times?” Peterson said, before listing a number of principles that he calls for conservatives to follow.
“Humility, liberty, autonomy, truth, agency, identity, merit, responsibility, tradition, community, stewardship, justice, and unity,” Peterson said, to which could be added the “inevitability of economic inequality” and “the practical realities of the individual competence.”
Peterson not only listed the principles he believes conservatives should follow, but also the pitfalls they should avoid.
He said conservatives should not simply “appeal to cynicism and bitterness,” nor hold the belief “that our social and political institutions are fundamentally unreliable, corrupt, and untrustworthy.”
Peterson also cautioned against upholding any “moral code noteworthy only for its joylessness, sterility, and tendency to forbid and damn.”
