What Happened to Conservative Optimism?

Townhall.com ^ | February 23, 2017 | Cal Thomas

[Kaslin]

I had never heard of Milo Yiannopoulos until recently, perhaps because I don't visit some of the websites where his musings are published.

Milo, as he calls himself because of the difficulty some have pronouncing his last name, was disinvited from this week's Conservative Political Action Convention (CPAC), the annual gathering of the right in Washington. Apparently the organizers were not bothered by Milo's association with the so-called "alt-right." CPAC withdrew the invitation only after a video surfaced showing him apparently endorsing man-boy relationships that qualify under the definition of pedophilia. Yiannopoulos has resigned as an editor at Breitbart.com and apologized for his remarks.

The editors of National Review, as well as other traditional conservative publications and individuals, criticized CPAC for inviting Yiannopoulos to speak. The conservatism of Russell Kirk, William F. Buckley Jr. and Ronald Reagan was about ideas, not emotion and exclusion. Reagan, whom the modern right likes to claim as one of its own, was an optimist. Even when he criticized the left's policies, he almost always presented a superior alternative. He wanted to attract as many people to his worldview as possible by winning the argument and converting opponents, whom he always regarded as fellow Americans and "friends," even when he disagreed with them.

Today, conservatism has become known in the eyes of many for what and who it is against, not what and who it is for. Yes, part of this is due to media stereotyping, but not all. Traditional conservatism has been a positive "we can do better," an inspiring and uplifting philosophy that motivates rather than denigrates.

In his 1993 book "The Politics of Prudence," Russell Kirk set down principles he believed should define conservatism. Among them were the following: an enduring moral order; an adherence to custom, convention and continuity guided by the principle of prudence; the principle of imperfectability, meaning we don't look to government to create perfect men and women, or a perfect society, thus rejecting utopianism; the belief that freedom and property are closely linked; conservatives uphold voluntary community and reject involuntary collectivism; the need for prudent restraints upon power and upon human passions; permanence and change must be recognized and reconciled in a vigorous society.

That last one bears elaboration, and Kirk offers it.

"The conservative knows that any healthy society is influenced by two forces, which Samuel Taylor Coleridge called its Permanence and its Progression. The Permanence of a society is formed by those enduring interests and convictions that give us stability and continuity; without that Permanence, the fountains of the great deep are broken up, society slipping into anarchy. The Progression in a society is that spirit and that body of talents which urge us on to prudent reform and improvement; without that Progression, a people stagnate."

One sees this in the debate over the Constitution between liberals, who believe it to be a "living" document, subject to constant change and updating, and conservatives, who believe it a rock of stability that serves as a guide even in the face of rapid technological and cultural change. Just as a GPS must have a starting point in order to arrive at an intended destination, so too must America have a source from which it can plot its direction and not get lost on the journey.

In 1962, William F. Buckley Jr. denounced the John Birch Society as "far removed from common sense" and urged the Republican Party to purge the movement from its ranks. So too must today's conservatives separate themselves from the "alt-right" white supremacists and anti-Semites and reclaim traditional conservatism as the authentic brand.

Conservatives can win elections and govern without beyond-the-fringe types like Milo Yiannopoulos. If they can't, they don't deserve to win.

[poconopundit]

Thanks! Looks like a great list of places to try...

Great name: HoneyBadgerRadio :- )

[humblegunner]

a sample of the type of content that exist in the alternative media world where Milo exist, and why these types of voices need to be promoted, here is just a partial list of the channels I’m subscribed to on YouTube

So.. probably lots of butsecks and faggotry?

Good stuff, that.. eh?

[fellowpatriot]

Look we can have gays make out onstage AND be a conservative! We aren’t homophobic!) accomplishes nothing.

Have you ever watched any of Milo's speeches?

[VanDeKoik]

No, retard NeverTrump jackass.

For such a straight guy, you love talking about anal sex more than any gay dude.

[PapaBear3625]

People like Milo, Mike Cernovich, Paul Joseph Watson and Trump are doing the heavy lifting. They are reaching disaffected Democrats and youth. The Republican party either grows in a new direction or we all fall to the sword of Globalism.

Nationalism says "I value the survival of my own family over strangers, I value my own nation over outsiders". Globalism says "It is immoral to value your own over strangers".

I stand with my own. I will value the survival of my own above others.

[little jeremiah]

For several years, I prefer to call myself a constitutionalist. “Conservative” means nothing now.

[little jeremiah]

The conservatism of Russell Kirk, William F. Buckley Jr. and Ronald Reagan was about ideas, not emotion and exclusion.

---

What is that emotional drivel supposed to mean.

I have disliked the term “conservative” for quite a while, and Cal Thomas is one of the reasons. “Exclusion” - wtf....

[Duchess47]

Also very good term. Thanks.

[wardaddy]

Clueless Cal

This is the meme of CPAC

the road to amnesty and white guilt and a minority white country

This is why I have zero faith in what used to pass for conservatism

Cal using the lefts labels to bash what got Trump elected

God what a tool he is

Hey Pat you dumb shit

Milo is a Jew.....but don’t let that stop you big dummy

[wardaddy]

If you think he’s right give me an example of alt right racists and anti semites

You do understand Bannon is on record calling Breitbart the mouthpiece of the alt right

What Cal the Pious is doing is colluding with the left to degrade the actual conservative groundswell that bucked the establishment GOPe and so called conservatives

Which is why Trump avoided CPAC last year

They were mostly never Trump

Alt Right was what made Trump possible

It sure as hell wasnt CPAC

You are wholly ignorant of what Milo did

Your paragraph says that well enough

Milo fights like few do....that was what made him in endearing in a world of pussy conservatives a poofter showed more balls than doctrinaire pinheads in their belway orbit

It had not a damn thing to do with homo tolerance

It was his courage

[wardaddy]

Exactly and butt kissed by some nevertrumpers who lack the good manners to go anti freep somewhere

Neither they nor Cal have a clue what Milo means

His queerness is nothing but his personality

It’s not his agenda

He’s a Greek British Jewish homosexual agitator with bigger balls than Anyone at CPAC sans Trump and his crew

[Theophilus]

For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

[humblegunner]

And what is your source of information regarding the “never Trump” remark?

Or are you maybe just mad and doing a bit of grasping?

Or.. could it be.. you consider opposition to Milo to be the same as opposition to Trump?

Believe it or not, they really are two separate individuals.

[VanDeKoik]

People screaming about how unseemly they consider Milo to be are the same people that did the same with Trump, like when the hot mic tape leaked.

We also know that the source of the hit on him was a NeverTrump group tied to that CIA nut that ran for president in Utah.

So pretty much its a fair bet that the loudest cranks on Milo on FR are the same people, or are highly sympathetic.