Please disable your Ad Blocker to better interact with this website.

Can conservatives be compassionate?

My name is Brandon, and I’m a compassionate conservative.

Some would say that is an oxymoron, but only if you believe Liberal propaganda. The Left has been effective at convincing voters that they alone show true compassion, while conservatives are just cruel capitalists.

My goal is to change this by making the case that Conservative worldview cares most about minorities, immigration, environment, general welfare of society.

Where did the phrase originate?

The term “compassionate conservative” was first used by Doug Wead, historian and presidential advisor to George H. W. Bush, back in 1977. The phrase is not just reserved for Republicans, however. Both Republicans and Conservative Democrats began using the label to describe their political philosophy.

James R. Jones, Democratic Congressman from Oklahoma told the New York Times in 1984,

“I think we should adopt the slogan of compassionate conservatism…We can be fiscally conservative without losing our commitment to the needy and we must redirect our policy in that direction.”

President George W. Bush picked up the term and used it in 1987 and popularized it in his 2000 presidential campaign. In fact, he wrote the foreword to Marvin Olasky’s book, Compassionate Conservatism: What it is, What it Does, and How it Can Transform America (2000).

Compassionate Politics

Liberals define compassion in a fundamentally different manner than conservatives. For example, a liberal believes it is generous to take money from one group of people and redistribute it to another less fortunate group.

A conservative believes that true compassion and generosity comes from the heart, and giving of one’s own self and wealth to help others in need. I would have much more respect for a liberal who gives of his own wallet than a liberal who wants to give away money from his neighbor’s wallet.

It is obvious that liberals see the redistribution of wealth as a way to increase their own political power. After all, there are more in the working class than there are in the upper class. Liberal politicians know they can get the votes they need by creating a divide by claiming the 99% are owed by the 1%. They make promises to working people and minorities that “the government” will meet all of their needs. Where will the government get the money that these “generous” liberals want to give away? Perhaps the left doesn’t really care about people after all. Maybe they are just power hungry!

But for the sake of argument, let’s assume liberals do have pure intentions and really want to help their neighbors. I am sure that particularly some of the younger members of the Democratic party are simply altruistic. Will their ideas of wealth redistribution work? No.

Socialism is just a lighter more palatable version of communism. Communism and socialism have left Venezuela, North Korea, the former USSR, and every other nation who’ve tried it starving and bankrupt.

Many of our country’s most wealthy in Hollywood are pushing socialism; unfortunately they appear woefully ignorant of history! As former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is famous for saying,


Conservatives believe that capitalism is the best chance for minorities and immigrants to escape poverty and have limitless opportunity to achieve the American dream. Capitalism is inherently completely non-racist and non-discriminatory! Capitalism is the only economic system that doesn’t care if you are black, white, Hispanic, Native America, or Asian, or a combination of all the above. Capitalism doesn’t care if you are Christian, Jewish, or Muslim.

Despite what many liberals would have us believe, capitalism disregards a person’s inherited social class, allows anyone to rise above whatever limited means they were born to, and has not yet been proven inferior to any other economic system!

My grandparents immigrated to America from Italy. My great-grandfather Luigi didn’t want to be a poor farmer eking out a living in the rocky soil of the Marche region, and sought the streets paved with gold in America. When he arrived, he found the streets were not paved with gold, after all, and it was the Italians doing the paving!

My ancestors fought strong discrimination, delved into learning English, went to school, and eventually took jobs, paid their taxes, and contributed to the economy. Was it because the government helped them? No. They had freedom to succeed or fail and capitalism rewarded their hard work and dedication. I owe my success in life to the family God gave to me, and their example, not the government.

In my bestselling book, The Wolves and the Mandolin, I unfold many stories of my immigrant ancestors, and how their ups and downs in pursuit of the American Dream laid a foundation that allowed me, a third-generation Italian-American, to become the founder of not one, but two multi-million dollar conservative media companies.

Compassionate Immigration

America is made of immigrants from many nations and cultural backgrounds. These immigrants came to America to become members of “one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” It was their love for American ideals and a pursuit of the American Dream that united them together to form what we like to call a melting pot.

Sadly, the Left has been exploiting our differences for their own political and economic gain. They desperately drive us to divide us into separate groups based on our skin color or our gender to further their own political careers. They’ve been playing the race card so often that it’s beginning to lose its effect. I am waiting for them come up with a new label for those who cry foul.

Even worse, Democrats want to replace America’s Republican voters with new Democrat voters from third world countries. It all began with Ted Kennedy’s Immigration Act of 1965. Ann Coulter exposed their frightening agenda when she said,



We can’t admit computer scientists from Spain fleeing their failing socialist nation because we have to make room for a recent Senegalese immigrant’s brother-in-law with no skills but great needs. [Excerpt from Demography is Destiny, by Ann Coulter]

Conservatives aren’t completely off the hook. I know that many conservatives have forgotten that their own ancestors were once immigrants too. There’s DNA evidence to suggest that the Native Americans also emigrated here from the Siberian Highlands thousands of years ago. The fact is that all Americans were at one time immigrants to this country. Xenophobia is simply not an option.

Of course, America is a work in progress. We’ve learned from earlier mistakes such as slavery and the mistreatment of Native Americans, and we are still self-correcting. Ultimately it has been our belief in God and our God-given rights that guided us into becoming a better nation through the times.

If we are going to move America past these divisive issues, we must have a new immigration policy that is humanitarian and biblical. The new policy must respect and secure our borders and the rule of law, while giving skilled and motivated people in other nations the opportunity to become citizens and contribute to our economy, and achieve the American dream for themselves and their families.

Compassionate Environmentalism

As a Christian, I believe that God created this world and its inhabitants. The notion that the entire universe and all that it contains is the result of a cosmic accident is neither scientific nor believable to me. In fact, there’s an enormous body of scientific research supporting the Biblical history of the universe.

If we believe that we are a result of slow “molecules to man” evolution, then why care about what happens to other less fortunate people or endangered species? After all, evolution teaches that weaker species must die out to make way for stronger species. Since most liberals believe in evolution, isn’t this a major contradiction?

In contrast, it is the belief that God made all life, and all life to be equal before Him, and that humans are this planet’s caretakers that makes the most sense.

In the book of Genesis, God gives humans the command to take dominion over all the earth, a phrase that literally means to rule it. If you destroy what you’ve been given to rule, you’ll not be ruling much for long!


Because I want to obey God and believe this planet is more than an accident, I want it to leave it in better shape than I found it for my grandchildren, and all future generations. I teach my children they were created by God, and that He will hold us accountable for our stewardship of this planet.

I can assure you this is not a lesson taught in our public schools and universities. In addition to teaching atheism and purposelessness, our students are taught that government regulation is the only option for protecting the environment. Humans must be forced to comply with government mandates in order to preserve the earth’s resources. Like most liberal ideas, they might sound good on paper. The problem is that regulators are often just as evil as the regulated.

The Bible teaches us that men are sinful and greedy. In the past, men have cut down entire forests, wiped out species, and polluted our water and air. Capitalism that is unchecked by Christian morals is capable of devouring resources. But government officials are also sinful and greedy. Many times, big business executives and politicians make alliances with each other to eliminate competition and line their own pockets. Government regulation can become so big and powerful that is suffocates all creativity and ingenuity and most importantly, competition.

The only way to ensure that business will provide the best product to customers is to allow competition to flourish. It is my conviction that the “invisible hand” of the free market will judge businesses that rape and pillage the environment, and reward those who don’t. If some regulation is necessary, it should be enacted to promote economic fairness between businesses, not stifle them and their ability to grow.

The Ultimate Compassion

Foundationally I believe the conservative worldview is a Christian worldview. Having a Christian worldview means seeing the world with its problems and ultimate purpose through the lens of the Bible.

The Bible tells us that the first man and woman were created perfect, in a perfect world unmarred by bad things. Mankind fell from grace through an act of disobedience. God is holy and cannot tolerate sin, which meant we must all face His wrath on the day of our death. But God loved His creation so much that He sent His only Son to this earth to save us. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ lived a perfect life, and then gave Himself up as a sacrifice to pay the penalty for the sin of all humans.

As we turn our hearts to God in Faith and receive the water of Baptism, we are freed from our sinful nature. We have the option of obeying God’s perfect Law. The first Christians began changing the world in the first century AD. History has proven that Christianity civilized a barbarian world, and ushered in the renaissance. Literature, Art, Science, and Technology exploded and developed because of Christian Civilization.

Christianity has such profound power because the promise of redemption is for every gender, ethnic background, culture, race, and social class. In Galatians 3:28, the Apostle Paul says:


As Christianity spreads around the world, we have the promise that one day we will no longer need weapons or warfare; we will not struggle against slavery or gender equality. The prophet Isaiah promises,


As a Christian and a conservative, I have a God-given compassion for all humankind and the world in which we live. I want evils such as racism, poverty, disease, and wars to cease. I want everyone to prosper economically and push civilization forward to achieve things we never dreamed possible. I want to see a world where all are valued and given the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Liberalism and government control do not hold the answers. They can only attempt progress at best and limit it severely at their worst. As a compassionate conservative, I believe that faith and freedom are superior to atheism and regulation in solving the problems of our world.

It is only when we embrace compassionate conservative philosophy that we can succeed in bringing about real, positive, & lasting change.

Will you join me in taking the Compassionate Conservative pledge?







Brandon Vallorani

Author Brandon Vallorani

Entrepreneur | CEO | Author | Family Man

More posts by Brandon Vallorani


Share your thoughts


Send this to a friend