[William McKinley]

So you would equate expedience and pragmatism (and separate them from excellence)? The reason I ask is that Kirk makes a distinction between the two; he cites backing from Burke and Adams and Calhoun (among others) for the conservative merits of expedience, but I am still left not quite understanding the distinction between expedience and pragmatism that Kirk (and, by proxy, the others) made.

[cornelis]

So you would equate expedience and pragmatism (and separate them from excellence)?

Kirk is right to differentiate because there is a pragmatic acquiescence involved in our obliging the status quo dictated by law. When can recognize that even though excellence must be retained, it cannot be had, entirely. That recognitioin that we cannot entirely have whatever excellence strives is the patience of pragmatic common sense. It would become expedience if impatience stepped in to rid ourselves of the very human situation of limited possibilities.