Posted by John Harris on June 15, 19102 at 09:23:20:
I concur with what little I've read so far on this message board concerning the word "conservative". It is, at best, a two-edged sword (i.e., "Don't throw away the past--especially the privileges my group enjoyed therein"). At worst, it means nothing at all. It declares that its wielder wants lower taxes and less government regulation as it affects his or her business--but not necessarily fewer guards at the airport. As a religious person, I find self-styled Christian conservatives especially disappointing. Having worked in several of their burgeoning colleges (which do very well thanks to the "threat" of teaching evolution and the moral debacle of the PC campus), I still cannot quite digest their genuine hostility--all public relations matter aside--to classical letters and the humane tradition. Anything pre-Calvinist or non-Calvinist is untouchable (a position which Calvin himself would have renounced... where would he have been without Erasmus?). More importantly, any values not indexed to the here-and-now of "answered prayers"--more grant money, a pay raise, a new house, healthy childbirth--are off the screen as an utter irrelevance. This is pure positivism! Where in it all is the smallest trace of a belief in things unseen? Things seen are entirely the measure of that other power. As for pleasing God by telling the truth and losing your job, by taking a smaller house to keep from corrupting your children on extravagant luxuries... gee, now I'm sounding like a liberal!
But why does it reek of liberalism to espouse the reality of higher things, of univesal principles and moral duty? Isn't that precisely the gist of the two-millennia heritage which the books touted by jollyroger wish to CONSERVE? Classical liberalism had a title to that honor, as well, though we all know that neo-liberalism has thrown it all away to pursue its wholly dishonorable affair with utopia. But where are the true conservatives while all this is going on? They want lower taxes. Well, hell, so do I--or at least until one can have some assurance that taxes are not being used to fund more permanent bureaucracy and buy more votes. But this is a reactionary strategy. Where is the inspiration? I taught my little boy last year to recite Cicero's "cupidum non esse pecunia est"--"not to crave things is as good as gold". Where is that spirit of spiritual endurance, of "I don't need this miserable dross because my contentment comes from a clean conscience and a knowledge of human limit"? You can read NATIONAL REVIEW all year without seeing a hint of such sentiment!
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