Unpleasant Truths: A conservative view of the world today.

NRO ^ | August 2, 2002 8:45 a.m | John Derbyshire

[GeorgefromGeorgia]

I agree with some of this depressing diatribe, but like Reagan, I have more optimism. The Internet has make information freely available to the world, making it hard to hide the truth (over time), unless you live in a Stalinist country like N.Korea. Science still continues to change the world. Within 100 years fossil fuels will be virtually unnecessary for energy generation. More people are living in countries with some degree of free trade, private enterprise and democracy than ever in history. The environment will survive. Countries like China and India will eventually figure out that bad water and bad air kills.

[TheForceOfOne]

The Ronald Reagan of 1980, if he were to stride onto the national stage today, would be unelectable.

BS

[technochick99]

I am surely not rich, but have what I consider quality health care (based, in part, on the freedom of the system). Culture, while it has its dregs, is still very vibrant. While garbage flows, a lot of wonderful stuff is out there, if you look for it. It might be a niche market, but it is available.

He is going to be miserable if he doesn't change his outlook.

[WOSG]

America is a successful nation in large part because America believes in positive thought and action. We believe that we can make things better. And we do.

Think about it.

[Oztrich Boy]

"You can't handle the truth! ... You don't want the truth. "

[Restorer]

FWIW, Mr. Derbyshire is a proud naturalized American citizen of a couple years standing.

[jordan8]

Most of this is spot on, some of it is tongue in cheek. Most people who call themselves conservative aren't, because if you won't conserve the culture you won't conserve anything. Thus in the past conservatives could talk about defending Christendom, or our culture, or Western civilization, things that are virtually unmentionable today. Let those who talk about the success of "conservatism" or individualism show the political manifestations of that success. Would it be the bloated budget and the vast expansion of government programs under the Republicans, for example? The politically correct rules that govern so much of our lives? Conservative values in the media? What?

[GreenAccord]

After getting about 3 paragraphs into this, I think it's fairly obvious when the author states that he's an "an Old World conservative settling in America" what he means is that he's Democrat.

Give aways:

Most of us will die in poverty.
By who's measure?

Quality health care for all is not possible.
Who said the government was supposed to provide it?

Then I got bored and quit reading it.

[Alien Gunfighter]

I love it. But then again, look at my tagline.

[Oztrich Boy]

This just proves my premise, that European conservatism and American conservatism aren't even remotely related

American conservatives do not differ from socalists in believing that they can build a society that will last forever. But, historically, every society in the history of Man has eventually failed.

[Junior_G]

Then I got bored and quit reading it.

You should have kept reading it. You might have at least avoided the preposterous conclusion that the guy is a Democrat.

[OB1kNOb]

Quit spoiling my dour mood! I work #$%& hard to achieve it! Now I have to clean my monitor from spewing water while laughing out loud and wiping my eyes. I love a good curmudgeon. - OB1

[Oztrich Boy]

After reading the article ask yourself

What stage am I at?

[RipSawyer]

Most US children born in this decade will see the year 2100 due to medical advances.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

That may very well be true but there is no way to be certain of it!

[Alexander Rubin]

This is pretty depressing. But he's right about a lot of this stuff.

[x]

This is quite an "I was just thinking" column. There ought to be some humor or an interest-catching hook to tie such unrelated particulars together, not just rampant pessimism.

A lot of what Derbyshire says is true is true, but his enthusiasm for pessimism is hard to take.

There is a connection between conservatism and realism and a connection between the Old World and pessimism, but it's not necessarily true that to be a conservative is to be a pessimist.

If Derbyshire stayed in Britain he could be as pessimistic as he likes and still vote socialist. There are a lot of people like that over there -- they're convinced that they'll never get anywhere and will die poor so they vote for the party that gets them the most freebies.

You have to have some faith or hope to keep you going. We're in a "period of transition" and things will look different at the end of it than they do now, but that hardly means that all is lost.

The world changes and things pass into and out of being, but still there is some cause for hope and even progress.

[Junior]

Great masses of ordinary Americans believe that "conservative" means "repressed fundamentalist freak."

A depressed ping.

[beeler]

He's painfully correct with every point he brings up. There's only one way to possibly stop any of this, and there's no one with the guts to say what it is, not yet anyway.

[untenured]

Pshaw.

1. Far more of the world will have decent standards of living, because of the long, ongoing spread of economic freedom. Every generation since 1750 in the West has lived better by 50% than the last, and that will continue. The last thirty years have seen the first instance in history in which absolute global poverty and inequality have declined. (Mr. Derbyshire could look it up if he had the inclination.) Hundreds of millions of people have been moved out of poverty in the last 35 years, many hundreds of millions more will be in the next 20.

2. Some pop culture is admittedly miserable, and it tends to be the most visible culture. But culture nowadays is far more interesting than it has ever been, because global communications technology allows us to sample and recombine what the world has to offer. Think about American food, for example. It is dramatically more compelling than when I was a child. Americans can eat traditional sushi and Japanese can eat sushi with avocados in it, or vice versa. The world is benefiting immensely because young Chinese and Korean piano wunderkinder want to play Beethoven in New York.

3. China will be tamed by modernity. Their parents will never stomach a war fought with their only child. The Chinese are far more in control of their own lives than in 1979, and will be far more so in a decade. They are a prideful people on the rise, and that is always a dangerous combination, but they and India will be integrated into the modern global system ultimately. (Pakistan is a different story.)

4. The world is in the midst of a great Christian re-awakening, stretching from Alabama to California to Nigeria to Korea. Christianity is more vibrant, more revitalized than in centuries because of the rising up in places where long ago Europeans apread the gospel. Only this time the doctrinal disputes will be carried on without the bloodshed of the European Reformation.

5. Having said all this, I agree that the Arab world is a different story. It may well be hopeless.

American conservatives are happy because of what we are trying to conserve - the pursuit of happiness in an environment of limited government. The European right is just not like that.

[PatrickHenry]

Very depressing.