Why I became a conservative

The New Criterion, Vol 21, No. 6 ^ | February 2003 | Roger Scruton

[newheart]

I was brought up at a time when half the English people voted Conservative at national elections and almost all English intellectuals regarded the term "conservative" as a term of abuse. To be a conservative, I was told, was to be on the side of age against youth, the past against the future, authority against innovation, the "structures" against spontaneity and life. It was enough to understand this, to recognize that one had no choice, as a free-thinking intellectual, save to reject conservatism. The choice remaining was between reform and revolution. Do we improve society bit by bit, or do we rub it out and start again? On the whole my contemporaries favored the second option, and it was when witnessing what this meant, in May 1968 in Paris, that I discovered my vocation.

[BfloGuy]

I was born with a Conservative spoon in my mouth.

Heh. I guess I was, too.

My Dad was a Republican -- a farmer.

He hated unions and thought you weren't entitled to anything you didn't earn yourself. For some reason, that hit home and throughout college in the seventies, the progressive baloney just didn't stick to me.

I hated campus life. Everyone was self-centered and out-of-it. I had a part-time job at a supermarket and looked forward to escaping college in the evening and be around real people with families and financial problems who were trying to deal with it.

I still think that, if you must send your child to a liberal college, a job will prove to be a pretty good inoculation against creeping progressivism.

[Alaska Wolf]

looked forward to escaping college in the evening and be around real people with families and financial problems who were trying to deal with it

I had no choice. I had to tend bar and work nights as a sorter for UPS to pay for tuition, books, car, gas, insurance, food and lodging.

[wku man]

"Why I became a conservative"

Because I was born with a fully functional brain.

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

[rockrr]

As I was growing up I noticed that every time there was unrest or violence it was invariably at the hands of leftists. Right-wingers could be violent too but with them it was usually preceded with , “Alright, I’ve had just about enough of your crap”. I was largely apolitical but it was pretty apparent that if I was into breaking sh!t the dhimmicrat party was the place to be. I was more interested in playing music and chasing girls (not necessarily in that order) and so typically voted the way my folks had.

The pubbie candidates always seemed sort of stodgy but compared to scumbags and degenerates stodgy seemed a better choice. No one seemed to have an exit strategy for Vietnam much less a winning strategy but Nixon at least appeared competent.

My only regret about politics is that I wasn’t vocal enough in voicing my apprehensions about the direction the party has drifted. Perhaps if more of us had been more outspoken a while ago we might not be in the situation we face ourselves now.

[Lancey Howard]

There is no need for long words, deep thought, or psychoanalysis. Keep it simple: Most liberals want free stuff, confiscated from their neighbors by government, and handed over to them in exchange for their votes. Rich liberals want the loot confiscated from other people handed over to the proxies for their guilt, "the poor". Liberals walk into the polling place and vote for government to increase its efforts to confiscate money - - from friends, neighbors, and complete strangers. (Can you imagine behavior more selfish, rude, and boorish than that?)

Understanding liberals truly is that simple.

[ottbmare]

Thanks but I get them from the horse’s mouth.

[Samurai_Jack]

” the utopian promises of socialism go hand in hand with a wholly abstract vision of the human mind—a geometrical version of our mental processes which has only the vaguest relation to the thoughts and feelings by which real human beings live. the utopian promises of socialism go hand in hand with a wholly abstract vision of the human mind—a geometrical version of our mental processes which has only the vaguest relation to the thoughts and feelings by which real human beings live. “

What an outstanding Read!
This writing has real depth and is filled with these kind of profound observations. You will find them reflected in your every day dealings. The Conclusions he’s reaching are chilling when cast against the clarity with which he colors our times.

I urge everyone to give it a look. And thanks for posting.

[newheart]

I get them from the horse’s mouth.

In person?

[chasio649]

That’s an example of why i read your posts...comforting for me ;)

[wardaddy]

Thank you very much

My dear aunt who lives nearby us now but who was in Jax MS same as me then reminds me how insufferably idealistic I was then..lol

[wardaddy]

I used to be quite preachy about the Negro issues back then...strident

Most here including one of my foes on this very thread would never believe that