Posted on 11/05/2009 1:58:15 AM PST by bruinbirdman
People say that the election of Barack Obama and his pursuit of radical measures--from state-run health care to unilateral nuclear disarmament--marks the end of American conservatism. One Jeremiah, Sam Tanenhaus, has produced a predictable book, The Death of Conservatism. I do not sympathize with such defeatism. To begin with, conservatism is protean. One kind was neatly summed up by that bluff old Victorian the Duke of Cambridge: "It is said I am against change. I am not against change. I am in favor of change in the right circumstances. And those circumstances are when it can no longer be resisted."
Then there are reactionaries. Margaret Thatcher is a good example. She did not agree with Winston Churchill's principle that Labour's nationalization program, introduced in the postwar period of 1945--51, could not be reversed. She simply reversed the program, privatizing British Airways, steel, water, electricity, gas and other industries.
There are also romantic conservatives. These are the intellectual descendants of Edmund Burke, who see their views as creative and imaginative. They are quite happy to embark on change if it has the positive purpose of underpinning the security and stability of society. The outstanding recent American example of this is William F. Buckley, who left behind a school of his own, as well as his magazine, National Review.
A fourth category is made up of economists, ranging from Milton Friedman to Friedrich Hayek, who identify conservatism with capitalism. They cannot be opposed to change as such, for the chief source of change is capitalism itself--and never more so than today. The birth of industrial capitalism in the late 18th century was the biggest single upheaval in history. Moreover, it was merely the first in a series of technological transformations that continue at an accelerating pace.
One has only to list these
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Very, very nice. Been looking for an article with this particular drift. This gentleman is very good. Should be required reading at every county monthly GOP meeting in the country.
Bump for later
I was just thinking of the Tananhaus book yesterday and how totally
off the mark it was.
SARAH PALIN = True Conservative
Palin is, first and foremost, a cultural(or social) conservative.
The article posted says nothing about social and cultural issues.
In fact, the major criticism of today's republican party is that the GOP defines conservatism on social and cultural issues, not the issues mentioned the article
Conservatism in America is a social conservative conservatism, to know that all you have to do is look at who votes left or right in this country they break down by level of religiosity and church attendance.
The left's major criticism . . .
yitbos
Well said. By the way, I agree.
The description of radical environmentalists is good also.
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