The other has his name on a state prison in Massoftwoshits.
“One is quoted, ‘ All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing ‘
The other has his name on a state prison in Massoftwoshits.” [sic]
Glad to be proven wrong, even if only a little.
Americans like Edmund Burke - he advised George III and his government to let the Colonies go peacefully, admonishing them that those contemptibe Americans would prove to be more trouble than they were worth. George & government ignored him.
Burke is best remembered on this side of the pond for the quote knarf posted, about triumph of evil and good men doing nothing, etc.
Horace Walpole was a member of Britain’s House of Commons from 1741 until 1768, leaving office three years after Edmund Burke was elected to office. He also sympathized with the American cause; like Burke, he took a dim view of the French Revolution and promoted Burke’s attack on it, _Reflections on the Revolution in France_.
Walpole said “Good men cannot save a great nation, because good men will not go to the lengths that may be necessary.” (quoted in _Winston’s War: Churchill 1940-45_, by Max Hastings. Vintage, 2011).
I deem it useful to put the second quote right up there with the first.
Conservatives are inclined in the direction of moralistic complacency, assuming - much too comfily - that Burke’s quote applies directly to them, and thus all they must do is be their natural selves (their self-arrogated “good”ness is a foregone conclusion), and the nation will save itself as if on autopilot.
The quote from Walpole is a reminder that some pretty ugly unhappy measures might need to be undertaken. If conservatives deign to recognize that necessity, they go all squishy, and prissy, and insist that it’s more important to be moral than to win.
They need to be jarred out of their rut, if we are to survive this.