What determines whether an organization thrives or dies? How can you predict where any institution is headed? And what does this mean for the conservative movement and the Church?
This article is a lightly edited transcript of the “Here’s the Point” podcast by Ryan Helfenbein, executive director of the Standing for Freedom Center, which is included on this page.
Last month during “No Quarter November,” I had the opportunity to travel to Moscow, Idaho, taking part in an “Ask Me Anything” event sponsored by Turning Point Faith at the University of Idaho, and I also got to be a guest on “CrossPolitic.” While there, I had dinner with Doug Wilson and his band of merry men.
Over that dinner, Doug brought up Robert Conquest’s Three Rules for Politics — observations so precise they’ve held true for decades across many institutions.
Robert Conquest was a British historian and poet, best known for his work documenting Soviet totalitarianism. He was a long-time research fellow with the Hoover Institute. His work was very influential on President Ronald Reagan and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
But his most lasting contribution could very well these three simple axioms that explain why organizations succeed or fail, why movements drift left, and why bureaucracies seem to work against their own stated purposes.
These aren’t just interesting observations. They’re diagnostic tools for understanding where every organization is headed right now — including churches, schools, media outlets, and political organizations.
First, everyone is conservative about what he knows best.
This is human nature. The plumber who votes conservative seeks to defend his trade against regulatory overreach. On the flip side, a leftist professor who champions “equity” will fight tooth and nail to protect academic tenure. People instinctively conserve what they believe and understand deeply, especially when it impacts their life directly.
This explains why in 2024, so many minorities and working class Americans left the Democratic party in droves. They understood what was at stake and what was being conserved. They’re not trying to tear down the nuclear family, their livelihoods, or their communities.
They know what works. They know what is dear to them. They will conserve it. And when progressive policies threaten what you’ve built and what you love, you suddenly become a rational and reasonable conservative — at least about those things you know best.
Second, any organization not explicitly right-wing sooner or later becomes left-wing.
This is Conquest’s most famous rule, and the most devastatingly accurate one. He doesn’t say, “might become left-wing” or “could drift left,” but will become left-wing. It’s inevitable, like a rule of nature.
Why? Because the left plays in the dialectic. Things are always evolving and constantly changing. If you’re not regularly in the practice of conserving your institution, your mission, or your values, you will forfeit them at the moment of convenience or coercion.
The left understands this rule quite well. They understand that institutions are downstream from culture, and culture is downstream from faith. They worked to demoralize and dismantle the institutions systematically — universities, media, entertainment, corporations, even churches — and transform them from within.
Meanwhile, conservatives operate from the primary principle of faith. We know neutrality isn’t possible. We build organizations with explicit commitments to first principles, principles of faith and freedom. At some point, those organizations become lax or succumb to the idea of accommodation.
When the storms of life come, the subsequent generation looks to jettison the nonessentials. It is exactly in those moments that things not bolted down to the hull of the ship will be tossed overboard. And in a moment of panic it is difficult to determine the difference between essentials and non-essentials.
Make no mistake: This is exactly what happens to mainstream evangelical denominations, most Christian universities, and even many “conservative” think tanks. They started conservative, but they ended up in the left ditch on the opposite side of the road.
Third, the simplest way to explain any bureaucratic organization is to assume it’s controlled by a cabal of its enemies.
This sounds cynical until you watch it play out. Often bureaucracies undermine the very institutions they claim to serve. The education bureaucracy undermines education, making learning unachievable. The healthcare bureaucracy makes healthcare more expensive and patients less healthy. The immigration bureaucracy for decades enabled mass illegal immigration. This is a common theme.
Why? Because bureaucracies exist to perpetuate themselves, not necessarily to accomplish their stated mission or purpose. Organizations invariably move from missional success to operational success. Often missional success means bureaucracies come to an end. So, they redefine success, move the goalposts, and ultimately serve their self-interests contrary to the missional purpose of the organization.
How are Conquest’s rules helpful for us today?
Christians must not be naïve to the natural tendency of all organizations to drift. Neutrality is a myth. Eternal vigilance is the only thing to guarantee fidelity to conservative bona fides. Robert Conquest understood what many today still don’t: An organization is only as strong as its people and its commitment to its mission. Organize boldly. Build explicitly. Guard relentlessly. Fight unwaveringly. Or watch it fall to the enemy within one generation.
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