Posted on 04/16/2018 2:51:17 PM PDT by Voption
"Conservatism has all-too-often found itself unable to articulate a coherent positive doctrine. By this I mean specifically that the laudable conservative tendency to preserve the best of past has too-often manifested itself in a series of "thou shalt not" statements, instead of laying out a manifesto of fundamental values that might serve to unite people around a set of common ambitions. I am attempting to rectify this problem with this statement of principles, some of which I believe might have the additional virtue of being attractive to young people, looking for mature and forthright purpose and responsibility. I am not making the claim that the statement is perfect, comprehensive or final."
In brief: 1. The fundamental assumptions of Western civilization are valid. 2. Peaceful social being is preferable to isolation and to war. In consequence, it justly and rightly demands some sacrifice of individual impulse and idiosyncrasy. 3. Hierarchies of competence are desirable and should be promoted. 4. Borders are reasonable. Likewise, limits on immigration are reasonable. Furthermore, it should not be assumed that citizens of societies that have not evolved functional individual-rights predicated polities will hold values in keeping with such polities. 5. People should be paid so that they are able and willing to perform socially useful and desirable duties. 6. Citizens have the inalienable right to benefit from the result of their own honest labor. 7. It is more noble to teach young people about responsibilities than about rights. 8. It is better to do what everyone has always done, unless you have some extraordinarily valid reason to do otherwise. 9. Radical change should be viewed with suspicion, particularly in a time of radical change. 10. The government, local and distal, should leave people to their own devices as much as possible. 11. Intact heterosexual two-parent families constitute the necessary bedrock for a stable polity. 12. We should judge our political system in comparison to other actual political systems and not to hypothetical utopias.
"Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites, in proportion as their love to justice is above their rapacity, in proportion as their soundness and sobriety of understanding is above their vanity and presumption, in proportion as they are more disposed to listen to the counsels of the wise and good, in preference to the flattery of knaves. Society cannot exist, unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere; and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters."-Edmund Burke- 1791
Wonderful words. Thanks for posting.
Well presented my friend!
Unfortunately, our educational institution’s stopped teaching Burke during the ‘progressive era,’ 100+ years ago.
That being said—
You're welcome. Edmund Burke had a flair for stating principles that are easier to understand because he articulated them.
This is another pearl of Wisdom he articulated.
"The use of force alone is but temporary. It may subdue for a moment; but it does not remove the necessity of subduing again: and a nation is not governed, which is perpetually to be conquered."
I often interpret this to mean that society must have a moral underpinning wherein people are obligated to control themselves.
Thou shalt not espouse communism or fascism or progressivism or Marxism or Islamism or Alinskyism or totalitarianism...
Stalinists lie. Always
Plus they are poopyheads
(sorry)....
That being said—
Personally, I’m on the agnostic, materialistic-determinism, behaviorist end, of the spectrum. But I darn well have “morals,” and the 10 Commandment’s are... brilliantly stated. (the only ‘religion’ I fear, is islam.)
Concurrently, I’ve grown to adopt more cognitive-based outlooks and am highly intrigued with quantum mechanical processes as potentially being the physical substrate for human consciousness.
Peterson’s skill, in my opinion, is to bridge the gap, just enough for my liking, between the physical and the metaphysical, in an extremely “poetic” yet utterly rational manner.
In the meantime, before I die, my goal is mind my own business, play well with others, be a good person, and try to secure a stable environment for my grand-daughter to grow up in.
The Greatest-Generation, sacrificed & died, so I could have untold wealth & opportunities showered upon me, in comfort and security, just for practically showing-up. Our current so-called Leader’s, don’t have 1/10th of the smarts or ability, as Peterson, to explain even a smidgen of that to 1/2 the population.
Thank you. I've always been impressed with the wisdom of Burke. Glad to see it is shared.
Unfortunately, our educational institutions stopped teaching Burke during the progressive era, 100+ years ago. That being said
Yes, and more's the pity.
Something you might not know is this: Adam Smith, who wrote "Wealth of Nations" (considered the father of Fiscal conservatism) and Edmund Burke (considered the father of Social conservatism) were not only contemporaries, they were good close personal friends, and their ideas are complimentary precisely because they were evolved together in their discussions with each other.
Both Burke and Smith were strongly influenced by each other in developing what became known as their signature works.
Peterson has a great clip on “casting pearls before swine.”
“JBP Don’t Cast Pearls before Swine”
https://youtu.be/upTHZwSXayc
4:08)
The full one-hour interview hosted by Jay Fayza at Rebel Media, is at:
https://youtu.be/1ncZ9IJm1oc
Very Good stuff!
Highly recommend Smith’s, “Theory of Moral Sentiment’s.”
It’s a heavy book (physically & mentally), and I’d suggest anyone wanting to tackle it, should check out Russ Roberts over at Econ-Talk,[Liberty Fund] he did a 6 hour podcast series on reading it.
bookmark
see:
“Klein on (reading) The Theory of Moral Sentiments”
Episode 1—An Overview
Russ Roberts & Dan Klein
EconTalk special 2009
http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2009/04/klein_on_the_th.html
He’s likely going to be the “voice of a generation”. A classic liberal Christian’s defense of Christianity, conservative values, personal responsibility, Western civilization.
Book Review: ‘12 Rules for Life’ by Dr. Jordan B. Peterson
https://hubpages.com/literature/Book-Review-12-Rules-for-Life
thanks!
personally, I’m in my car, a lot, and I strip out the audio from his YouTube videos and listen to him.
highly recommend:
Jordan Peterson (Full event)
12 Rules for Life,
Beacon Theatre,(NY) March 25 2018
(he only gets through 6 Rules however)
https://youtu.be/pfbA_3adRrw
(2:15:22 total)
and there’s a newer one as well:
Jordan Peterson @ Lafayette,
A Conversation and Q&A, (Full Event)
April 10, 2018
https://youtu.be/qT_YSPxxFJk
(2:47:35 total)
this is a repeat from me:
“12 Rules For Life: The Album”
ft. Jordan Peterson—Words, & Akira the Don—Music
https://youtu.be/fSQSETwnrio
(47:30)
There’s a track listing in the description. I’m not generally big on ‘computer-music,’ but this is fantastic!
Spoken like an egghead academic who lived a charmed and peaceful childhood followed by a placid adulthood.
Truly a rant grown in an ivory tower, which cannot long survive in the brutal world outside.
It's not that there is no truth anywhere in his words, but that the very foundation from which he proceeds is built upon...not even shifting sand. He founded his thinking upon a frozen lake which will surely melt beneath him.
Holy cow, dude!
“Set Your House in Perfect Order before You Criticize the World”
-The musical cut, featuring Akira the Don
https://youtu.be/XwvP7H5OGMY
(4:19)
“Jordan Bernt Peterson is a Canadian clinical psychologist, cultural critic, and professor of psychology at the University of Toronto. His main areas of study are the psychology of religious and ideological belief, and the assessment and improvement of personality and performance.
He earned a degree in political science in 1982 and a degree in psychology in 1984, both from the University of Alberta, and his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from McGill University in 1991. He remained at McGill as a post-doctoral fellow for two years before moving to Massachusetts, where he worked as an assistant and an associate professor in the psychology department at Harvard University. In 1997, he moved to the University of Toronto as a full professor.
Dr. Jordan B Peterson has been a dishwasher, gas jockey, bartender, short-order cook, beekeeper, oil derrick bit re-tipper, plywood mill labourer and railway line worker. Hes taught mythology to lawyers, doctors and businessmen, consulted for the UN Secretary Generals High Level Panel on Sustainable Development, helped his clinical clients manage depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, and schizophrenia, served as an advisor to senior partners of major Canadian law firms, identified thousands of promising entrepreneurs on six different continents, and lectured extensively in North America and Europe.
He has flown a hammer-head roll in a carbon-fiber stunt plane, piloted a mahogany racing sailboat around Alcatraz Island, explored an Arizona meteorite crater with a group of astronauts, built a Native American Long-House on the upper floor of his Toronto home, and been inducted into the coastal Pacific Kwakwakawakw tribe.
With his students and colleagues, Dr. Peterson has published more than a hundred scientific papers, transforming the modern understanding of personality, and revolutionized the psychology of religion with his now-classic book, Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief. As a Harvard professor, he was nominated for the prestigious Levinson Teaching Prize, and is regarded by his current University of Toronto students as one of three truly life-changing teachers.”
The only thing our seventeen year old wanted for his birthday was tickets to see Jordan Peterson. More than we normally spend, but it will be a great experience for him.
And that, Voption, is political thought based upon life experience. Personality doesn't enter into it. Temperament will not override.
Repeating that those things are more important that experiences doesn't make it so. No matter how flowery a resume the speaker or writer may have.
The piece is an intellectual failure at the very most fundamental level and it suffers a critical collapse before it even gets past its title.
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