[infidel29]

It's a good article, you should read it when you have the chance. Here's a point:

Conservatism is "a vision of the nation and the world as it should be, not a compromise with the world as it is."

I agree with this point, but would say it differently. I think conservatism, today, should be a vision of the Nation as it was , and through hard work, God willing, will be again.

[RightWhale]

a vision of the Nation as it was

There was a 'golden' time. Maybe more than once. My grandparents told me that 1895 was one such 'golden age.' Maybe there was another in 1953. But, you know, and there is no doubt, that the 'golden' periods were not golden to all. It might be that right now is another 'golden' time. 1776 was 'golden', but by 1787 that was coming apart. It takes work to make this idea real, apparently constant work, it is the kind of work that just won't stay done.

[nosofar]

I agree with this point, but would say it differently.

I disagree. I see conservatism as an acceptance of our limitations and an acknoslwedgment that the insitutions and values evolved over many generations will normally be superior to those that are designed for us by people professing some great insight into humanity.

[RightWingAtheist]

I don't agree. I think conservatism is about looking at the world as it actually is, and not as we wish it were. It's about realism, not idealism, something which goes back to Edmund Burke's warnings about the overreliance on abstract thought in politics, and Kirk's assertion that conservatism is fundamentally anti-ideology.