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No Country for Old Politics (How to Define the Right in a Left World)
traditionalRight ^ | 9/18/2013 | Paul Gottfried

Posted on 07/17/2014 10:46:53 AM PDT by mojito

The task before me is explaining with appropriate distinctions and qualifications “What is right and what is left?” For those who wish to avoid the harangue of an activist, let me assure them that I do not equate “conservative” with Republican or with the viewing habits of FOX News devotees. Being a Republican and dutifully reciting party talking points is for me no sign of being on the right; nor is a disinclination to do either indicative of being on the left.

A classical or essentialist Right is hard to find in the contemporary Western world, where journalists and other assorted intellectuals rush to denounce its bearers, or even partial bearers, as “fascists.” That may be one reason that such types rarely come into public view, outside of certain European parties that have been able to survive in a multi-party electoral system. Being on the essentialist Right is deadly in an academic or journalistic milieu that is shot through with quintessential leftist values. There are isolated intellectual groups in the US that exhibit evidence of a right wing gestalt, but these groups are usually cut off from the movement-conservative mainstream lest they endanger “conservative” institutes or publications by expressing improper anti-leftist ideas. This is entirely understandable, given the prevalence of leftist influences in Western societies—and given the extent to which the establishment non-left has absorbed leftist values and attitudes that come from existing in a predominantly leftist environment.

(Excerpt) Read more at traditionalright.com ...


TOPICS: History; Society
KEYWORDS: conservative; left; marxists; right
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Long, but terrific essay.

h/t David Warren.

1 posted on 07/17/2014 10:46:53 AM PDT by mojito
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To: mojito

Any reason why you didn’t post the entire essay?


2 posted on 07/17/2014 10:51:30 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd (NO LIBS. This Means Liberals and (L)libertarians! Same Thing. NO LIBS!!)
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To: Responsibility2nd
Excerpting is more polite, as it drives traffic to the original site.

The owners of this site encourage posters to excerpt and link, as it makes for friendlier relations between FR and the sites were the stories posted here originate.

3 posted on 07/17/2014 10:59:44 AM PDT by mojito (Zero, our Nero.)
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To: mojito

That isn’t what I’ve read.

JR.—”But our readers are mostly interested in reading relevant posts in their entirety on FR without having to click to an unknown outside website where who knows what kind of cookies or tracking devices may await them.”

“If you would like to see your blog make it to the big times, and you have great news or great ideas to report, post your blog articles in their entirety to our Bloggers Forum on FR, and then join in on the fight for Liberty that follows!! If our readers like what you’re posting, you may quickly become an accepted, trusted FReeper and you may start enjoying hundreds of new hits per each of your posted articles from FReepers who wish to see what else you may have to offer.”


4 posted on 07/17/2014 11:06:33 AM PDT by ansel12 (LEGAL immigrants, 30 million 1980-2012, continues to remake the nation's electorate for democrats)
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To: mojito
Interesting stuff! Doesn't sound like the essentialist Right has much to do with anything that could reasonably be called American conservatism: 'the US was founded in the eighteenth-century as a liberal republic and does not have what Burke called an “ancient constitution” similar to the one found in Europe. The social world that gave birth to classical conservatism was a lot more ancient or medieval than the society that American conservatives set out to defend.'
5 posted on 07/17/2014 11:07:04 AM PDT by ConservingFreedom (A goverrnment strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them.)
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To: mojito; humblegunner

“Excerpting is more polite...”

Is that like saying blogpimping is a good thing?

Pinging the expert.


6 posted on 07/17/2014 11:09:51 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd (NO LIBS. This Means Liberals and (L)libertarians! Same Thing. NO LIBS!!)
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To: mojito
No Country for Old Politics (How to Define the Right in a Left World)

Short answer: you don't.
Longer answer:
You use something that isn't a relativistic measure, like right/left, but something that actually describes qualities, like statist/libertarian.

7 posted on 07/17/2014 11:10:23 AM PDT by OneWingedShark (Q: Why am I here? A: To do Justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God.)
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To: ConservingFreedom
The US is an interesting case, as our founding was a revolutionary act - which Burke supported, by the way. But then, this quintessential conservative was a Whig, not a Tory, who railed against the corruption and cronyism of the Crown.
8 posted on 07/17/2014 11:13:15 AM PDT by mojito (Zero, our Nero.)
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To: Responsibility2nd; mojito

Well.. here’s that Jim Thompson guy expressing an opinion on it:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2636843/posts?page=552#552

“I have no complaint if a good conservative blogger posts his own material to FR, not as an excerpt to drive hits and discussion back to his blog, but rather to impart useful information to OUR readers and to promote and join in on the discussion and conservative activism HERE on FR.

If a blogger can’t or refuses do that, and if he constantly complains or fights with our participants over it, then I’d just as soon he doesn’t post here. It’s not my job to make his content or his presentation or cooperation acceptable to our readers. That’s his job. And if he cannot do it or refuses to do it and continues posting brief excerpts only and obviously attempting to draw away our participants while loudly complaining about it, then I have no sympathy for his complaints and the more apt I am to ban his account and blog.”


9 posted on 07/17/2014 11:15:32 AM PDT by humblegunner
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To: mojito

That is incorrect.


10 posted on 07/17/2014 11:19:32 AM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: Responsibility2nd
Blogpimping is when someone uses an aggregator site like FR to promote their own musings.

I don't have blog, nor do I have an affiliation or financial interest in the articles I post on FR.

But I do believe that authors whose work I share on FR - because I think they have something interesting to say - should be able to reap the benefits of their work by having FR traffic directed to the site where their work was originally posted, as some of those authors are compensated by how much traffic their articles generate.

Polite and responsible people excerpt and link.

And they don't hijack threads.

11 posted on 07/17/2014 11:25:30 AM PDT by mojito (Zero, our Nero.)
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To: humblegunner
This has nothing to do with blog posts.

I don't have a blog.

12 posted on 07/17/2014 11:27:18 AM PDT by mojito (Zero, our Nero.)
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To: mojito

It’s a blog, you excerpted it.

If it isn’t yours, then that’s all you need to say.


13 posted on 07/17/2014 11:33:54 AM PDT by humblegunner
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To: mojito

The very fact you posted an unnecessary excerpt is why this thread was hijacked.

Had you posted correctly, this thread might have had promise. Had I not questioned you, this thread would be at 1 - maybe two replies.


14 posted on 07/17/2014 11:34:10 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd (NO LIBS. This Means Liberals and (L)libertarians! Same Thing. NO LIBS!!)
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To: mojito

bkmk


15 posted on 07/17/2014 11:44:35 AM PDT by Sergio (An object at rest cannot be stopped! - The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight)
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To: Responsibility2nd
The very fact you posted an unnecessary excerpt

I'll continue to post in my way, and you can continue to hijack threads, since what other people do is of more interest to you than what the article has to say.

16 posted on 07/17/2014 11:51:39 AM PDT by mojito (Zero, our Nero.)
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To: humblegunner
It's not a blog.

And Paul Gottfried is not a blogger:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Gottfried

17 posted on 07/17/2014 12:03:23 PM PDT by mojito (Zero, our Nero.)
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To: mojito
It's not a blog.

Proudly powered by WordPress

It's a blog.

18 posted on 07/17/2014 12:11:16 PM PDT by humblegunner
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To: mojito

I’ll continue to post in my way

- - - -

You might want to consider the words of Jim Robinson and the Admin Moderators on the subject. Excerpted of blogs is going to continue to cause you grief.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2636843/posts?page=552#552

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2711802/posts?page=139#139

http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2722423/posts

http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2776537/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2548666/posts?page=38#38


19 posted on 07/17/2014 12:16:41 PM PDT by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer.)
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To: mojito
Thanks for posting this.

Just got back from my property. The mosquitoes were thick out there, too...

20 posted on 07/17/2014 6:44:52 PM PDT by kiryandil (making the jests that some FReepers aren't allowed to...)
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