Comments on: Conservatism, Southern nationalism & response to criticism

By: ossian

ossian — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 00:43:31 +0000

To understand conservatism we must ask, “What does the conservative wish to conserve?” Many assume as a given that that which is desired to be conserved is Western Civilization and Values. This is not always true, after all, what does a “conservative” like John Innanity want to conserve. Certainly not any form of classical conservatism I’m familiar with. On the other hand, Southern Agrarians seem to want to preserve Western Civilization and Values…Christendom. A cognitive dissonance can be seen from the very beginning of the Republic, one document, the Declaration of Independence, is basically a Natural Law argument for freedom. The other, The Constitution, is a positive law document that undermines the DoI; all men are created equal, while some are more equal than others. America is of a split mind, it advances Natural Law until it doesn’t, then it advances the positive law. Is it any wonder that “conservatism” is likewise of split mind? I don’t think so

By: mike360000

mike360000 — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 01:48:34 +0000

Michael, may I add….
It seems to me that the word conservatism does in fact relate to too may ideologies that is taking place about us. When one then tries to address the philosophical factors of conservatism and relate it to the ideology being used by different people, it really does dilute the word.

While I can’t say you or everyone would agree with me, I’ve found an alternative way of dealing with this situation. Conservatism as you state most loosely means, preserving what you have, the political concepts and ideologies that are in practice. But this can also be broken into two other forms of conservatism, “neo-conservatism” and paleoconservatism”. I know you’ve heard the terms before and probably have used them. However it would be a great help when identifying conservatism, to simply address which one of the two you are most closely referring to. While paleoconservatism is not 100% in agreement with our understanding of how we believe conservatism to be, it comes as close as anything you can identify with and is much more exclusive than the word conservative itself. In retrospect to your presentation, neo-conservative would in fact fit extremely nice in your assertions concerning the status quo and throughout your presentation where you were referring to conservatives, while the word paleoconservative would not. In reality the two forms of conservatism are vastly different and opposes each other.

Michael– Deo Vindicabamur

By: Virginian Secessionist

Virginian Secessionist — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 23:41:17 +0000

This is why I label myself a “Reactionary” and not a “Conservative.”

By: Amy

Amy — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 21:57:18 +0000

Yes, very well done. But then I thought the original speech was pretty good, too.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 18:17:03 +0000

Thanks, Pat.

By: Pat Hines

Pat Hines — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 18:10:59 +0000

Well done, Michael. While I probably wouldn’t have taken the time to answer Chastain’s gibberish, you did well with it.