[William McKinley]

The American Democrat by James Fenimore Cooper, available at Amazon.com

It is interesting to consider how Cooper's visualized gentleman is attacked full-bore by Marxist precepts, and how in particular the death tax works to prevent this potential protector of liberty from flourishing in America.

[William McKinley]

Previous excerpts:

The Conservative Mind: Burke & The Politics of Prescription (An Excerpt)

The Conservative Mind: John Adams and Liberty Under The Law (An Excerpt)

[weikel]

Tyler and Toqueville both quickly proved that popular government doesn't work( It has in Switzerland maybe they have a genetic predisposition not to vote themselves things which aren't theirs but it has never worked anywhere else for an appreciable amount of time). Popular governments devolve to the majority robbing the minority, endless multiplication of laws and generally end with a socialist dictatorship.

[ELS]

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[Ohioan]

An interesting and thought provoking posting. Thank you.

Cooper also wrote at length on naval questions. A decent and interesting man!

William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site

[IronJack]

the hope for democracy lay in the survival of gentlemen, leaders of their communities, superior to vulgar impulses, able to withstand most forms of legislative or extra-legal intimidation.

And therein lies the germ of the charges of "elitism" leveled against conservatives. A charge to which I would most emphatically plead "Guilty."

Can it be mere snobbery to propose that one's community be run by the best and the most sterling of character? Can one not with good right demand that those accorded great power be made of purer stuff than those they rule? Are the rabble to be our overlords, the ignorant our teachers, and the dim our guidelights? Do we really want blind men on our watchtowers?

While I am not a great fan of Cooper, another author Kirk cites is Sir Walter Scott, whose noble prose inspired me in childhood, and still does to this day.