Posted on 01/24/2016 7:06:58 PM PST by plewis1250
Russell Kirk was a prolific author, essayist, lecturer, and critic best known for The Conservative Mind (1953). Kirk made conservatism intellectually respectable in the modern era and christened the conservative movement with its name. In the following speech, delivered at the Heritage Foundation in 1987, Kirk enumerates ten principles of conservatism. The list, which he did not intend to be exhaustive, emphasizes an attitude—not a “fixed doctrineâ€â€”toward tradition, private institutions, and prudence which he calls “the negation of ideology.â€
(Excerpt) Read more at heritage.org ...
He was a major contributor to Conservative thought.
In addition to his political works, he was the author of several volumes of ghost stories. Very enjoyable. Check Amazon.
And Kirk is long gone
I don’t know about you, but I’m fighting for the very survival of our nation. Another America-hating godless commie in the White House after eight long years of the Marxist/fascist/Islamist Obama will lead to a total collapse of the USA and or a revolution, and who knows what will come out after that.
I’m with you, Jim. I’ve had it with Think Tanks and their talking heads who never accomplish anything.
It’s time to ride to the sound of the guns.
L
I absolutely am fighting for the survival of this nation.
Personally, I feel that means only one candidate who is currently running represents the possibility of that survival.
Some look at our country’s survival ending with the loss of the general election.
I go one step further: we lose it if the right man does not win the primary.
Well, I’m doubling my odds of winning in the long run by stating loud and clear that I will fight the godless commies to the hilt with whichever of our two best anti-establishment warriors wins the nomination.
Great read! Thanks for posting.
I strongly agree with all 10. Ought to be mandatory for everyone who posts here to read this first.
I believe both Trump abs Cruz would agree to all 10.
...and that is a great loss, in my humble, and totally inadequate professional opinion. And he once told me that he had better financial success with his "romance" novels than with any political writing. I didn't know about his ghost stories; well, it's winter, time for branching out!
I endorse this article.
:-)
Brilliant. How far we have fallen.
a lot of words to say that Jesus == conservatism. maybe that’s why conservatism is such a hard sell to the world.
Sure there are plenty of synonymous themes with the Judaeo-Christian values, particularly the points surrounding a moral order, however I do not think that is the point of his speech.
Instead, I believe his intention was to provide a high level guideline on what IS a conservative. What separates us from the liberals...
Conservatism is a lifestyle, a way of looking at the world. I do think it can go hand in hand with being a born again believer, but I’m not sure the two are completely intertwined.
I would argue someone like Benjamin Franklin would easily have been classified as a conservative, yet he was a deist. Yet he believed in the same moral order Mr. Kirk postulated so many years later.
Our nation faces extremely perilous times ahead. We need an absolutely rock solid leader who we can count on leading this nation through the rough waters. We need someone who fits every one of these principles.
Anyone short should not even be on the table as an option.
He's a selfish man, of very poor manners borne of inconsideration of others, and ostentatious about it.
Which titles do you recommend, both fiction and non-fiction?
yes, FRiend plewis. i would bet, gentleman’s of course, that there’s plenty of common conservative ground between say you and me, and maybe even mostly with the great ben franklin and us (by the way you should read his convention prayer some day...i kinda expect to see him if i make it).
but thinking about it more deeply, i’d say i’m a conservative, but still in training. i would claim that i’m getting more conservative in the limit, to use a mathematical term—getting closer to that perfection that hasn’t been seen since eden and this side of heaven, except in my Lord Jesus Christ.
i’ve lately got some common ground with Him, but i’ve got an infinite way to go to get to that sanctified purity, that perfection, at this point. so, as a born again Christian, i’m, lol, *not* a purist at all. i guess it’d even be a stretch to say i’m a good conservative. i hope i’m a true conservative, though.
thus, if i’m getting to your implicit subtext, i’m *not* a political purist either. and really, i don’t expect anyone else to be either. if God said to vote or do anything that didn’t classify as acceptable under any of Kirk, well, i’d, question, i’d have difficulty, but then hopefully i’d have to say, i don’t get it, but not my will Lord, but thine.
thus, a Christian works hard to make good, “prudent” choices in obedience to God. but knows the infinite gulf between that work and God’s understanding can’t be filled without His grace.
Christianity asks that we attempt perfection, even knowing ahead of time we will fail.
True conservatism never asks this of us. It is not a religion or ideology. There is no "perfect" conservative, as there might theoretically be a perfect Christian.
There are many conservative ideologues on FR and on other conservative sites and journals. Russell believed 'conservative ideology' to be an oxymoron. Buckley may have said it best by castigating liberals for attempting to "Immanentize the Eschaton", i.e. attempting to bring the Kingdom of God down to earth via our own human efforts.
There is a Christian Utopia. It is called Heaven. There is no such conservative Utopia.
Born again Christians can be conservative, as can Calvinists, Mormons, Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Jews, etc.
You don't state this, but others have on FR, that the only true Conservatives are Bible-believing Christians.
This may be the view of some, but it is certainly not the view of Russell Kirk, and is not going to be a particularly successful view for turning our country back toward its founding principles.
i think i’m not to far off from what you are saying. did you see my post #17.
anyway, it’s certainly true that i’ve not deeply studied Kirk or even Buckley. certainly, i believe conservatism like Christianity is a set of principles and values for conducting life’s affairs. my first comment was confined to the 10 point’s in the article about Kirk, which were pretty clearly stated and comprise a good subset of my *own* beliefs about conservatism. however, my definition of conservatism is my own, not buckley’s or kirk’s. when i see others, i compare, interpret and contrast. thus my definition is built by me taking in what i think strikes nearest the mark.
my claim was that i see all of those 10 points claimed as attributes of conservatism as restatements/general principals comprising a (perhaps very small) true subset evident in the Word of God. (btw, if Kirk or Buckley claim leftist utopia evident in the Bible, i would contest that vigorously, there is nothing of leftism in the Bible in my reading outside of the misinterpretation and lies of leftists themselves.) if it were possible in this format, i’m confident i could support my claim with Scripture point by point. i’m not going to write that book here however.
why there should be close a correspondence/correlation between Kirk’s principles and a subset of the Bible’s as i am given to understand the Bible—well if there is such a correspondence...you’ll have to draw your own conclusions about that. i’ve certainly drawn mine.
as far as this view being useful to restoring the republic. i would say that since God made the republic, He can certainly restore it if it is in His will to do so.
certainly, my belief is that man alone has no chance of doing so great a work without Him and I believe that conservatism, as i understand it, is a way of restoration He would approve.
bump
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