Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: Conservatism

  • Joseph Sobran

    Joseph Sobran is dead at the age of 64.  Beginning as a paleocon, he ended up an anarchist, and apparently something of an anti-Semite.    His 1985 Pensees: Notes for the Reactionary of Tomorrow, however, contains a wealth of important ideas worth ruminating on.  A couple of excerpts, not necessarily the best: "The poor" are…

  • Conservatives Versus Libertarians on Immigration

    Victor Reppert thinks that a conservative case can be made against immigration restriction but cites a libertarian article in support of his contention.  But as I see it, it is important to distinguish carefully between conservative and libertarian positions on this and other issues, despite several important points of agreement.  Pace Reppert, no conservative who…

  • Understanding Conservatism and Tradition

    An outstanding essay by James Kalb.

  • Conservatism, Religion, and Money-Grubbing

    This from a reader in Scotland:  I'm a first year undergraduate philosophy student with some very muddled political views. My father has always been a staunch supporter of the Left to the point of being prejudiced against all things on the conservative or Right side as 'religious' and 'money grubbing' . I never questioned any…

  • Oakeshott on the Conservative Temperament

    Before one is a conservative or a liberal ideologically, one is a conservative or a liberal temperamentally, or by disposition. Or at least this is a thesis with which I am seriously toying, to put it oxymoronically. The idea is that temperament is a major if not the main determinant of political commitments. First comes…

  • Conservative Activism, the Left’s Incomprehension, and the Genetic Fallacy

    'Conservative activism' has an oxymoronic ring to it.  Political activism does not come naturally to conservatives, as I point out in The Conservative Disadvantage.  But the times they are a 'changin' and so I concluded that piece by saying that  we now need to become active. "Not in the manner of the leftist who seeks…

  • Why Are Conservatives So Mean?

    Here.

  • ‘The Wrong Side of History’

    I once heard  a prominent conservative tell an ideological opponent that he was 'on the wrong side of history.'  But surely this is a phrase that no self-aware and self-consistent conservative should use.  The phrase suggests that history is moving in a certain direction, toward various outcomes, and that this direction and these outcomes are…

  • Is Glenn Beck Good for Conservatism?

    Glenn Beck is doing good work and he is effective.  Van Jones is out and ACORN has been defunded.  But Beck can exaggerate and misrespresent as in his attack on Cass Sunstein.  So is he a liability to the conservative cause as, I have maintained, Ann Coulter is?  David Frum and David Horowitz discuss the question…

  • Standing on the Terra Firma of Antecedent Reality

    That beautiful line is contained in the following passage from the pen of Richard M. Weaver (1910-1963): It is my contention that a conservative is a realist, who believes that there is a structure of reality independent of his own will and desire. He believes that there is a creation which was here before him,…

  • Crude Conservatives and Harsh Language

    It is no surprise to find crude liberals. After all, liberals are big on toleration, including toleration of every manner of bad behavior. Indeed, some of them are so tolerant that they tolerate those with no respect for the principle of toleration. This is part of the explanation of why they tend to be soft…

  • The Conservative Disadvantage

    We conservatives are at a certain disadvantage as compared to our leftist brethren. We don’t seek the meaning of our lives in the political sphere but in the private arena: in hobbies, sports, our jobs and professions, in ourselves, our families, friends, neighborhoods, communities, clubs and churches; in foot races and chess tournaments; in the…