The Instinct of a Conservative


Steven F. Hayward, writing in the Washington Post today, postulates that the conservative movement is currently brain dead.

It is a fashionable statement among those living in Washington, D.C. housed at think tanks. And I guess it is when think tannkers are pushing out columns on the lack of ideas rather than pushing out columns with ideas. Nonetheless, I generally agree with Steven Hayward that the movement needs to be reminded of its intellectual foundations. Hayward does, however, miss some critical points and flubs a few along the way.

I have a column on this in the Washington Examiner. My position is not that the tea party movement is brain dead, but that it reflects the conservative movement at an instinctual level.

What we see across the country are more and more people standing up realizing the direction we are headed is wrong. They are unorganized. They are unfocused. But they do not lack a “connection to a concrete ideology,” they just are not skilled or trained in the ideology.

There is no greater conservative sentiment than “stop.” Bernard Bailyn’s influential The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution laid out how conservative the American Revolution was.

The popular messages of “freedom” and “liberty” were not slogans of propaganda put forward by the 18th century equivalent of a 501(c)(4), but were very real and meaningful to the colonists on the street and in the fields.

While no one should expect a revolution against government from the tea parties, we should expect and hope for a revolution in conservative thought and an upheaval of at least the Republican Party as the tea party activists start putting down their protest signs and picking up campaign signs. Then, perhaps, they will move on to taking over their local political party.

“[T]he right must do better than merely invoking ‘markets’ and ‘liberty,’” Hayward writes. I agree. But I do not think it is the right per se invoking those words. Like the colonists in the late 1700s, it is the people invoking those words. The people have a fundamental understanding that those principles are good things and things on which the freedoms we enjoy in this country are premised.

You can read the whole thing here.

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If a poll of 500,000 tea party protesters was taken....

americanmale Monday, October 5th at 1:10AM EDT (link)

one would get 500,000 different reasons for protest. And the reality is that each answer would be correct. There is something fundamentally broken in the core elements of our America. I liken it to that mysterious noise you hear in an engine….you just can’t put your finger on it.

The conservative movement is no where near brain dead. Actually, the conservative movement is quite a bit more sensitive to a change in the fundamentals of society…..because the conservative is more constitutionally centric than the liberal.

The majority of america is conservative….and thus there is a lot of headshaking going on out there….a lot of double takes if you will. That is what is being seen out in america. Something is woefully broken…and a lot of people are noticing.

Agree 1000% percent

bobbymike Monday, October 5th at 2:32AM EDT (link)

I have no trouble, as a layman, navigating the web and finding excellent poicy positions and other studies for conservatives or libertarians on every issue under the Sun. In fact the volume of information exceeds my ability to absorb it. How this can be defined as “lacking ideas” is beyond me.

I have a felling “lacking ideas” means “centrist meet the dems halfway garbage” that got Republicans and conservatives in trouble in the first place.

Let’s not forget the MSM plays a little trick on Republicans and conservatives. They love to say “Republicans disagree or are against a certain liberal policy” but then ALWAYS fail to tell their audience what the Republican alternative is. You still have media people saying - or letting the liberal commentator say - the conservatives in Congress have no healthcare plan when I personally have read accounts of at least SIX Republican alternatives.

 
 

To anyone that thinks Conservatives 'lack ideas'

$peciallist Monday, October 5th at 2:17AM EDT (link)

VDH is one of the most serious and principaled thinkers today.

davo119 Monday, October 5th at 6:35AM EDT (link)

He doesn’t pander to any of the elites nor does he soft pedal the impossible situation we find ourselves in, to wit , collapse of moral standards, the threat of world terrorism supplied with weapons of mass destruction, utter lack of leadership for anything but special interest payback, clueless approach to financial stability… The list is nearly endless. Suffice it to say that the term “chaos” finds a reasonable home in any description of the world today.
This is precisely the goal of those threatening our civilization and the very fact that is so stubbornly denied by those in power and the elites who support them. Energetic engagement is seen as being ham fisted and barbaric. Instead, nuanced diplomacy and compassion for the other party’s position is pursued at the expense of our own core values like human life and freedom and individual liberty. And failure is termed progress, ie. the 10 year EU nuclear negotiations with Iran.
Looking for the concrete expression of conservative values one needs to look no further than the village pillory. That is where today’s conservative leaders are to be found. The collective Medea has branded them as being stupid, racist throwbacks to a bygone era void of any useful contribution, nay, a solid threat to progress in building the Universal State.
And even with the most recent blunder, the visit to Copenhagen by BHO, the leaders of the attack on Western civilization can only be thrilled and confident that everything is going to plan.

Never give in! Never! Never! Never!

I have several of his history books

kyle8 Monday, October 5th at 7:11AM EDT (link)

Even my most recent Uber lefty history professor respected Hanson’s work, even though he didn’t agree with him.

“Nothing works like freedom, Nothing succeeds like liberty”
Kyle

 
 
 

I read the article, too...

basalt_conservative Monday, October 5th at 2:20AM EDT (link)

…and I thought it was a big crock of cow dung. This guy came across as an “intellectual” looking down on us “rednecks”.

Sorry, Erick…I am sick of being condescended to by a bunch of elites who think they “know” how “proper” conservatism should act.

DON”T TREAD ON ME is a slogan that is short, simple and to the point, and it doesn’t take a person with all the right edumacation to get it!

Life is hard; it’s harder if you’re stupid. - John Wayne

Man is not free unless government is limited. - President Ronald Reagan

My sentiment

basalt_conservative Monday, October 5th at 2:27AM EDT (link)

I'm with basalt conservative

BAW Monday, October 5th at 4:41AM EDT (link)

and Lori Roman.

 

I'm with basalt conservative

BAW Monday, October 5th at 4:41AM EDT (link)

and Lori Roman.

 

Hayward would like the National GOP to look like New Jersey...

Read Chesterton in New Improved Jersey Monday, October 5th at 1:47PM EDT (link)

The worst offense a statewide Republican candidate can commit in New Jersey is to have been successful in lower office and bringing democrat voters with him. It’s the kiss of death. The socially liberal Country Club GOP bosses just won’t abide a popular conservative candidate. Just ask Schundler and Lonergan. TH NJ GOP has proven that they would throw a gubernatorial race to the democrats before they would allow a working class populist with an R after his name hold the office.

“Nature is not our mother: Nature is our sister. We can be proud of her beauty, since we have the same father; but she has no authority over us; we have to admire, but not to imitate.” - G. K. Chesterton, “Orthodoxy,” Chapter VIII.

 
 

basalt_conservative...

Aaron Gardner Monday, October 5th at 8:08AM EDT (link)

I read the article and didn’t feel as though Hayward’s intent was to talk down to us “rednecks”. Rather I saw it as a chastisement of the current crop of “conservative” intellectuals.

In fact, the one person who Hayward actually gives credit to is Glenn Beck. Although Hayward does mention Beck’s crying, he also points out that Beck is one of the only ones out their on T.V. making the intellectual arguments against liberalism instead of mere cheer leading based purely in partisanship.

Smagar, in his comment below, nails it.

And as implied by Erick in this post, the cure for the intellectual side of conservatism is for those engaged in the Tea Party movement to bridge the gap between the instinctual conservatism and intellectual conservatism. In affect joining the positive forces of the two by renewing the leadership of the latter.

Aaron’s Archive

conform and celebrate diversity….or else!!!

Why?

basalt_conservative Monday, October 5th at 6:48PM EDT (link)

With the highest regard for you, Aaron, and Great Americans like Erick, why should the Tea Party movement take action to bridge the gap, when it is the intellectuals who are basically part of the problem? Namely, elitists versus the rest of us?!

I say to Hayward and his ilk…either get with the program or at least step out of the way so that freedom-loving Americans can clean up the Beltway mess. As Smagar put it, contributions by people like “Brooks, Christopher Buckley, Parker, Frum, Noonan” have brought little “to the conservative movement in recent years”

Until these so-called…no…self-called intellectuals are willing to step down off their ivory thrones, grab brooms and help us do the dirty work, they will never be anything else but “nattering nabobs of negativism” against those who they claim share common values.

Life is hard; it’s harder if you’re stupid. - John Wayne

Man is not free unless government is limited. - President Ronald Reagan

basalt, you totally missed the point of what I wrote...

Aaron Gardner Monday, October 5th at 7:35PM EDT (link)

We, the Tea Party activists, must become the intellectuals. Right now many are running on the guttural/instinctual side of the canyon. By US>/strong> bridging the gap we, in affect, take over the intellectual side of the canyon. At that point we end up controlling both.

Get it?

Aaron’s Archive

conform and celebrate diversity….or else!!!

ahh...blown tag.

Aaron Gardner Monday, October 5th at 7:37PM EDT (link)

second try:

We, the Tea Party activists, must become the intellectuals. Right now many are running on the guttural/instinctual side of the canyon. By US bridging the gap we, in affect, take over the intellectual side of the canyon. At that point we end up controlling both.

Get it?

Aaron’s Archive

conform and celebrate diversity….or else!!!

Somehow I missed your point

basalt_conservative Monday, October 5th at 9:32PM EDT (link)

Somehow I missed your point…you explained it more clearly on your second try! :)

…and I hate those blown tags, too…no way to edit…

Life is hard; it’s harder if you’re stupid. - John Wayne

Man is not free unless government is limited. - President Ronald Reagan

 
 
 
 
 
 

They said the same thing about Reagan

Husker Monday, October 5th at 3:52AM EDT (link)

I believe many of here are old enough to remember the same pedigreed individuals of that era dismissing Reagan as an intellectual lightweight and a firebrand. I believe they used the phrase ‘amiable dunce’ once.

I believe this is more of a fight to remain in their status as kingmakers of the party. Look at how these individuals reacted to the choice of Sarah Palin - whether right or wrong can be debated - to be the choice as VP. The self proclaimed intellectuals were acting like pseudo-intellectuals foaming at the mouth, and in some cases hurling obscenities at her when they thought the mics were turned off after an interview.

Before criticizing anyone else, maybe they should take a hard look at their own despicable conduct and their part in creating divisions within the ranks.

 

Idiot Conservatives

VinceP1974 Monday, October 5th at 4:51AM EDT (link)

As the Left becomes more and more irrational, uninformed, mired in Groupthink, and increasingly isolated from the real world, where everything can be reduced to a charge of racism… . it’s only natural that they view thier opponent to be just as stupid as they are.

 

Total Pyschological Warfare Vs Right

VinceP1974 Monday, October 5th at 4:56AM EDT (link)

How come the following questions and comments are never made about the Democrats. [Some of these are things the Democrats used to be called, that they now manipl

Questions and comments about Conservatives and GOP:
- GOP is too angry
- Part y of No
- Who is the leader
- Where are thier grand ideas
- They have no ideas
- They are traitors
- They are political racists

and on and on and on

 

Many of our "thinkers" let us down in 2008

smagar Monday, October 5th at 7:52AM EDT (link)

Brooks, Christopher Buckley, Parker, Frum, Noonan… Talk about a shallow, gullible bunch. After seeing what the Ivy League did for this bunch, my son will attend a state university.

Personally, I’m ready for the “doers” to step forward in the conservative movement.

Color me way-less-than-impressed with the value the thinking, chattering class has brought to the conservative movement in recent years.

“Who will stand/On either hand/And guard this bridge with me?” (Macaulay)

5 5 5 5 5 nt

pilgrim Monday, October 5th at 8:33AM EDT (link)

It is a great advantage to a president, and a major source of safety to the country, for him to know that he is not a great man.Calvin Coolidge

 

MEGA 5, Smagar!

basalt_conservative Monday, October 5th at 6:49PM EDT (link)

…….

Life is hard; it’s harder if you’re stupid. - John Wayne

Man is not free unless government is limited. - President Ronald Reagan

 
 

Good Oped, Erick - as usual

yoyo Monday, October 5th at 8:51AM EDT (link)

“I told you so.”

‘:o)~

Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum
‘If you seek peace, prepare for war!’
=============================
Pukin’ Dogs - The Fighting 143
Sans Reproache
=============================
The ‘yoyo’ replaced my cigarettes January 22, 2006….

 

Not 'conservatism', but 'republicanism'

nixfu Monday, October 5th at 9:01AM EDT (link)

That fact is that its republicanism that is dead.

Conservatism is alive and well as shown in the recent zogby national poll showing that 1 in 5 Americans are so suck of it that they are clearly in favor of SECESSION and forming a new country.

But guess, what….they want away from the Republicans as much as they want away from the Democrats.

The conservative train is gaining steam and ready to roll down the tracks, and the Republicans don’t have tickets.

 

A small disagreement with Erick's article.

Steph C Monday, October 5th at 2:04PM EDT (link)

But they do not lack a “connection to a concrete ideology,” they just are not skilled or trained in the ideology.

I don’t believe it’s that we aren’t skilled or trained in the ideology. Conservative principles are simple and direct while encompassing enough nuances to make a liberal shudder with delight at the word.

We are, however, like our ideology, simple in deeds, actions, and words. Perhaps, rather than trained in ideology, what most need is to be trained in how to expand on our ideology to meet the needs of the “intellectuals” ?

Yes, it is instinctual in the beginning but understanding soon follows. We are, however, often at a loss to explain that understanding in the words often needed to help others understand the same. We humans are not good at sharing our heart of hearts with anyone else. That, too, is instinctual because to lay one’s heart bare before another is to invite injury to it.

“[I]f the public are bound to yield obedience to laws to which they cannot give their approbation, they are slaves to those who make such laws and enforce them.” –Candidus in the Boston Gazette, 1772
Hillbilly Politics

 

Viguerie & Allen weigh in

bs Monday, October 5th at 9:17PM EDT (link)

5, bs!

basalt_conservative Monday, October 5th at 9:36PM EDT (link)

This article is a great contribution to this discussion!

Life is hard; it’s harder if you’re stupid. - John Wayne

Man is not free unless government is limited. - President Ronald Reagan

 

Viquerie and Allen wrote a nice piece, but I think they miss something...

Aaron Gardner Monday, October 5th at 10:13PM EDT (link)

There is no reason that the players in the new conservative movement can’t play on both sides of the ball, and maybe even make appearances on Special teams.

Intellectuals, activists and politicians don’t have to be mutually exclusive. One could say that Reagan was a good bit of all three, a pity that Viquerie and Allen don’t see it that way. Also a pity that they didn’t see Reagan as an intellectual, because the fact is, he was.

Aaron’s Archive

conform and celebrate diversity….or else!!!

I can see why you'd read that from that article...

bs Monday, October 5th at 10:37PM EDT (link)

as the latter part sort of reads that way. However, early on in the piece, they make it plain that the “roles” are not mutually exclusive:

The divisions between the categories are not absolute. In the modern conservative movement, William F. Buckley Jr. and Milton Friedman straddled the line between intellectuals and activists, and Ronald Reagan the line between activists and politicians. Nevertheless, conservatism, like any political movement, is most successful when it is strong in all three aspects.

Decorum is fo’ suckas

bs...yes and no...

Aaron Gardner Tuesday, October 6th at 9:55PM EDT (link)

Reagan was all three, yet they only give him credit for two. And yes they did mention that “the movement” is most successful when it is strong in all three, but I hope to inspire individuals to be all three. I think this is a subtle, yet important difference. I wasn’t meaning to criticize the piece, I meant to expand on it.

Aaron’s Archive

conform and celebrate diversity….or else!!!

 
 
 
 

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