The ideas of the French Revolution were the beginnings of democracy, and yet you are told to hate Robepierre for being a “radical”. This is by design because conservatives have long played a role in manufacturing a hatred of democracy.

Americans will say that he guillotined too many people, while simultaneously celebrating the American Revolution and its many executions of political opponents. This is by design because Jefferson didn’t expand democracy in the way that Robespierre did.

Robespierre wanted not only universal suffrage for all male citizens (a step forward from feudalism at the time), but he supported the abolition of slavery as well. He also implemented price controls to protect people from price gouging.

Jefferson, by contrast, wanted universal suffrage for all white men specifically and opposed the abolition of slavery because he owned slaves himself. He also opposed a strong central government and believed that the states would run democratically, even if slavery existed.

By observing these differences, you may notice why American conservatives love Jefferson for overthrowing a monarchy but despise Robespierre. While American conservatism seeks to preserve early American classical liberalism, it also seeks to preserve the old social order.

While America claims to be founded upon the principles of liberalism and democracy, we have to remember that those principles of liberalism and democracy only existed for white men, especially those who owned slaves and land.

This is where you can start to notice that the American Revolution wasn’t so much about the national liberation of the American people, but rather it was about American merchants being given more rights, masked in false ideas of self-determination and liberal democracy.

The biggest proponents of the American Revolution were wealthy planters, slave owners, and merchants who wanted their own government that would protect their property rights instead of the British government which wouldn’t protect their property rights.

In effect, the American Revolution did not truly get rid of aristocracy and the old nobility but rather replaced it with a new one that was considered more American and had the same caste system, landed gentry, and lack of upward mobility that existed under feudalism.

When we think of caste systems, we often think of India, but Europe and America had their own, and America still has elements of it today. America still has a minor caste system because the effects of years of slavery still remain due to the Sherman Plan not succeeding.

Conservatism, as we know it, grew out of the French Revolution, in opposition to liberal and progressive reforms. Today, conservatives, whether liberal conservatives or traditional conservatives, seek to erode democracy, albeit in different ways.

Liberal conservatism, a variant of conservatism that is common in the urban and suburban areas of Europe, North America, and Oceania, tends to support the liberal ideas of free market capitalism since they see it as maintaining hierarchy within society, known as Social Darwinism.

Traditional conservatism, however, tends to appeal to rural areas and conservative ideas of tradition to maintain hierarchy and social order through strict social norms around daily life and often supports some level of economic regulation to maintain the social order.

This is why we see both liberal conservatives and traditional conservatives smearing Robespierre as a radical. Liberal conservatives dislike that Robespierre supported price controls and believed in economic democracy. Traditional conservatives oppose the abolition of nobility.

Conservatism, whether liberal or traditional, opposes democracy. Liberal conservatives oppose economic democracy, and traditional conservatives oppose liberal political democracy, even when separate from economics.