Interest‑First Conservatism

A party that calls itself conservative can nonetheless erode constitutional continuity if it treats constitutional forms instrumentally — as a means to policy or partisan ends — rather than as a heritage to be stewarded. When the Conservative Party frames constitutional change in administrative or economic terms and fails to defend constitutional norms, power drifts toward judges and bureaucrats and long‑run institutional trust falls. — If mainstream conservative parties accept constitutional drift in practice, democracies may face steady normalization of governance by experts and courts, plus periodic legitimacy crises when voters expect constitutional guardianship.