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Offline mountaineer

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Ten Conservative Principles
« on: October 21, 2018, 12:05:50 pm »
Might be a good starting place for all who squabble over what is, or isn't, a conservative.
Quote
Ten Conservative Principles
Russell Kirk

Being neither a religion nor an ideology, the body of opinion termed conservatism possesses no Holy Writ and no Das Kapital to provide dogmata. So far as it is possible to determine what conservatives believe, the first principles of the conservative persuasion are derived from what leading conservative writers and public men have professed during the past two centuries. After some introductory remarks on this general theme, I will proceed to list ten such conservative principles.

Perhaps it would be well, most of the time, to use this word “conservative” as an adjective chiefly. For there exists no Model Conservative, and conservatism is the negation of ideology: it is a state of mind, a type of character, a way of looking at the civil social order.

The attitude we call conservatism is sustained by a body of sentiments, rather than by a system of ideological dogmata. It is almost true that a conservative may be defined as a person who thinks himself such. The conservative movement or body of opinion can accommodate a considerable diversity of views on a good many subjects, there being no Test Act or Thirty-Nine Articles of the conservative creed.  ...

 The following ten articles of belief reflect the emphases of conservatives in America nowadays.

First, the conservative believes that there exists an enduring moral order. ...
Second, the conservative adheres to custom, convention, and continuity.  ...
Third, conservatives believe in what may be called the principle of prescription.  ...
Fourth, conservatives are guided by their principle of prudence.   ...
Fifth, conservatives pay attention to the principle of variety.  ...
Sixth, conservatives are chastened by their principle of imperfectability.   ...
Seventh, conservatives are persuaded that freedom and property are closely linked. ...
Eighth, conservatives uphold voluntary community, quite as they oppose involuntary collectivism. ...
Ninth, the conservative perceives the need for prudent restraints upon power and upon human passions. ...
Tenth, the thinking conservative understands that permanence and change must be recognized and reconciled in a vigorous society. ...
Lengthy analysis follows each point. Please go to The Imaginative Conservative to read the entire essay (originally published at that website Oct. 2013).

Quote
Kirk was born near the railroad yards at Plymouth, Michigan, in 1918 and lived much of his life at his ancestral place, Piety Hill, in the village of Mecosta, Michigan. ...He took a leave of absence from teaching to research the history of the principal thinkers of England and America at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.  The resulting manuscript earned Kirk the highest arts degree, the doctor of letters, from the University of St. Andrews.

Henry Regnery published this lengthy work as The Conservative Mind in 1953.   ...   When not in his library in Mecosta, Dr. Kirk lectured at colleges and conferences around the country on political thought and practice, modern culture, educational theory, literary criticism and social themes. ...

Dr. Kirk passed away on April 29, 1994.
[/i]More about Russell Kirk
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Offline Skull

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Re: Ten Conservative Principles
« Reply #1 on: April 24, 2021, 02:21:34 am »
Just a plug for this great site which is overflowing with good, often brilliant writings from and about conservatives.  Yes, Russell Kirk is one of their noble ones!

https://theimaginativeconservative.org/
Truth is against the stream of common thought, deep, subtle, difficult, delicate, unseen by passion’s slaves cloaked in the murk of ignorance. Vipassī Buddha

Online bigheadfred

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Re: Ten Conservative Principles
« Reply #2 on: April 24, 2021, 02:23:22 am »
Just a plug for this great site which is overflowing with good, often brilliant writings from and about conservatives.  Yes, Russell Kirk is one of their noble ones!

Welcome to TBR
She asked me name my foe then. I said the need within some men to fight and kill their brothers without thought of Love or God. Ken Hensley

Offline Skull

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Re: Ten Conservative Principles
« Reply #3 on: April 24, 2021, 02:33:28 am »
Glad to be here Fred. 
Here is the first from another list of ten in the 2019 edition of Kirk's Concise Guide to Conservatism:

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Conservative leaders, ever since Burke and Adams, have subscribed to certain general ideas that we
may set down, briefly, by way of definition. Conservatives distrust what Burke called "abstractions” ---
that is, absolute political dogmas divorced from practical experience and particular circumstances. They
do believe, nevertheless, in the existence of certain abiding truths which govern the conduct of human
society. Perhaps the chief principles which have characterized American conservative thought are these:

1. Men and nations are governed by moral laws; and those laws have their origin in a wisdom
that is more than human—in divine justice. At heart, political problems are moral and
religious problems. The wise statesman tries to apprehend the moral law and govern his
conduct accordingly. We have a moral debt to our ancestors, who bestowed upon us our
civilization, and a moral obligation to the generations who will come after us. This debt is
ordained of God. We have no right, therefore, to tamper impudently with human nature or
with the delicate fabric of our civil social order.

« Last Edit: April 25, 2021, 05:18:28 pm by Skull »
Truth is against the stream of common thought, deep, subtle, difficult, delicate, unseen by passion’s slaves cloaked in the murk of ignorance. Vipassī Buddha

Online bigheadfred

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Re: Ten Conservative Principles
« Reply #4 on: April 24, 2021, 02:42:25 am »
Glad to be here Fred. 
Here is the first from another list of ten in the 2019 edition of Kirk's Concise Guide to Conservatism:

bkmk
She asked me name my foe then. I said the need within some men to fight and kill their brothers without thought of Love or God. Ken Hensley

Offline Skull

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Re: Ten Conservative Principles
« Reply #5 on: April 24, 2021, 04:12:09 am »
Truth is against the stream of common thought, deep, subtle, difficult, delicate, unseen by passion’s slaves cloaked in the murk of ignorance. Vipassī Buddha

Offline Skull

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Re: Ten Conservative Principles
« Reply #6 on: April 24, 2021, 04:14:50 am »
On to Kirk's 2 & 3:

Quote
2. Variety and diversity are the characteristics of a high civilization. Uniformity and absolute
equality are the death of all real vigor and freedom in existence. Conservatives resist with
impartial strength the uniformity of a tyrant or an oligarchy, and the uniformity of what
Tocqueville called "democratic despotism."

3. Justice means that every man and every woman have the right to what is their own—to the
things best suited to their own nature, to the rewards of their ability and integrity, to their
property and their personality. Civilized society requires that all men and women have equal
rights before the law, but that equality should not extend to equality of condition: that is,
society is a great partnership, in which all have equal rights—but not to equal things. The
just society requires sound leadership, different rewards for different abilities, and a sense of
respect and duty.
« Last Edit: April 25, 2021, 05:20:33 pm by Skull »
Truth is against the stream of common thought, deep, subtle, difficult, delicate, unseen by passion’s slaves cloaked in the murk of ignorance. Vipassī Buddha

Offline catfish1957

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Re: Ten Conservative Principles
« Reply #7 on: April 24, 2021, 04:37:23 am »
Translate please.

bkmk=Bookmark, as to keep for future reference.
I display the Confederate Battle Flag in honor of my great great great grandfathers who spilled blood at Wilson's Creek and Shiloh.  5 others served in the WBTS with honor too.

Offline Skull

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Re: Ten Conservative Principles
« Reply #8 on: April 24, 2021, 02:48:53 pm »
bkmk=Bookmark, as to keep for future reference.

Ah ha, thanks. 

The book is small & cheap - here is the Table of Contents:

Quote
Introduction
Chapter I
The Essence of Conservatism
Chapter II
Conservatives and Religious Faith
Chapter III
Conservatives and Conscience
Chapter IV
Conservatives and Individuality
Chapter V
Conservatives and the Family
Chapter VI
Conservatives and the Community
Chapter VII
Conservatives and Just Government
Chapter VIII
Conservatives and Private Property
Chapter IX
Conservatives and Power
Chapter X
Conservatives and Education
Chapter XI
Permanence and Change
Chapter XII
What Is the Republic?
About the Author
Index
Truth is against the stream of common thought, deep, subtle, difficult, delicate, unseen by passion’s slaves cloaked in the murk of ignorance. Vipassī Buddha

Online bigheadfred

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Re: Ten Conservative Principles
« Reply #9 on: April 24, 2021, 02:52:49 pm »
Ah ha, thanks. 

The book is small & cheap - here is the Table of Contents:

Thank you. And to @catfish1957 the same.  :beer:
She asked me name my foe then. I said the need within some men to fight and kill their brothers without thought of Love or God. Ken Hensley

Online Cyber Liberty

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Re: Ten Conservative Principles
« Reply #10 on: April 24, 2021, 02:53:44 pm »
bkmk=Bookmark, as to keep for future reference.

If one puts a colon on the front and back of "bkmk," like this ":bkmk:" one gets this:

:bkmk:
For unvaccinated, we are looking at a winter of severe illness and death — if you’re unvaccinated — for themselves, their families, and the hospitals they’ll soon overwhelm. Sloe Joe Biteme 12/16
I will NOT comply.
 
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Offline Skull

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Re: Ten Conservative Principles
« Reply #11 on: April 24, 2021, 02:55:12 pm »
Wilfred M. McClay wrote the Introduction. His most recent book is a superb history of America - Land of Hope: An Invitation to the Great American Story.

Onward with some more of the ten essentials:

Quote
4. Property and freedom are inseparably connected; economic leveling is not economic
progress. Conservatives value property for its own sake, of course; but they value it even
more because without it all men and women are at the mercy of an omnipotent government.

5. Power is full of danger; therefore, the good state is one in which power is checked and
balanced, restricted by sound constitutions and customs. So far as possible, political power
ought to be kept in the hands of private persons and local institutions. Centralization is
ordinarily a sign of social decadence.

6. The past is a great storehouse of wisdom; as Burke said, "The individual is foolish, but the
species is wise." The conservative believes that we need to guide ourselves by the moral
traditions, the social experience, and the whole complex body of knowledge bequeathed to
us by our ancestors. The conservative appeals beyond the rash opinion of the hour to what
Chesterton called "the democracy of the dead"—that is, the considered opinions of the wise
men and women who died before our time, the experience of the race. The conservative, in
short, knows he was not born yesterday.

7. Modern society urgently needs true community: and true community is a world away from
collectivism. Real community is governed by love and charity, not by compulsion. Through
churches, voluntary associations, local governments, and a variety of institutions,
conservatives strive to keep community healthy. Conservatives are not selfish, but public-spirited.
They know that collectivism means the end of real community, substituting
uniformity for variety and force for willing cooperation.
« Last Edit: April 25, 2021, 05:22:25 pm by Skull »
Truth is against the stream of common thought, deep, subtle, difficult, delicate, unseen by passion’s slaves cloaked in the murk of ignorance. Vipassī Buddha

Offline Skull

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Re: Ten Conservative Principles
« Reply #12 on: April 24, 2021, 04:20:47 pm »
Quote
8. In the affairs of nations, the American conservative feels that his country ought to set an
example to the world, but ought not to try to remake the world in its image. It is a law of
politics, as well as of biology, that every living thing loves above all else—even above its own
life—its distinct identity, which sets it off from all other things. The conservative does not
aspire to domination of the world, nor does he relish the prospect of a world reduced to a
single pattern of government and civilization.

9. Men and women are not perfectible, conservatives know; and neither are political
institutions. We cannot make a heaven on earth, though we may make a hell. We all are
creatures of mingled good and evil; and, good institutions neglected and ancient moral
principles ignored, the evil in us tends to predominate. Therefore, the conservative is
suspicious of all utopian schemes. He does not believe that, by power of positive law, we can
solve all the problems of humanity. We can hope to make our world tolerable, but we
cannot make it perfect. When progress is achieved, it is through prudent recognition of the
limitations of human nature.

10. Change and reform, conservatives are convinced, are not identical: moral and political
innovation can be destructive as well as beneficial; and if innovation is undertaken in a spirit
of presumption and enthusiasm, probably it will be disastrous. All human institutions alter
to some extent from age to age, for slow change is the means of conserving society, just as it
is the means for renewing the human body. But American conservatives endeavor to
reconcile the growth and alteration essential to our life with the strength of our social and
moral traditions. With Lord Falkland, they say, "When it is not necessary to change, it is
necessary not to change." They understand that men and women are best content when
they can feel that they live in a stable world of enduring values.

In the short chapters which follow, I shall touch upon these several principles of conservatism,
directly or indirectly; and I shall address also the conservatives' attitude toward religion, the family,
education, and some of the pressing issues of the day.
« Last Edit: April 25, 2021, 05:24:23 pm by Skull »
Truth is against the stream of common thought, deep, subtle, difficult, delicate, unseen by passion’s slaves cloaked in the murk of ignorance. Vipassī Buddha

Online Fishrrman

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Re: Ten Conservative Principles
« Reply #13 on: April 24, 2021, 10:07:48 pm »
I don't particularly believe in "conservatism" any more.

I DO believe in the notion of "traditional-minded" Americans who embrace the culture, morals, religion and values of the Euro-descended Americans who founded the nation and sustained its grown for its first 150+ years.

Indeed, I see those who blindly cling to a doctrinaire version of "conservatism" as contributing to the downfall of the country.

"Conservatism" may not save us, any more than "liberalism" would.
What WILL save us is realism and pragmatism about who should live in America and what we need to do to drive the communists out of power and onto history's trash heap...

Offline Absalom

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Re: Ten Conservative Principles
« Reply #14 on: April 25, 2021, 01:00:33 am »
Mountaineer, very well done!
Russell Kirk while a personal friend, was far more importantly;
* a colleague of Bill Buckley,
* a contemporary of Babbitt, Eliot and Kristol,
* an adherent of Hume, Locke and Burke,
* a disciple of Pericles, Plato, Aurelius and Cato;
as well as a Man of great Genius and Wisdom.
Among his majestic writings, perhaps this wisest words were:
" Man was created, along w/the Natural Law, which he uncovered thru logic and reason,
involving concepts of morality derived from human nature, rather than any rules derived
from culture/society. It is a body of eternal precepts that govern Man's conduct
involving attitudes, behaviors, impulses and sentiments totally independent from
economics, politics and religion."

Offline Gefn

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Re: Ten Conservative Principles
« Reply #15 on: April 26, 2021, 09:58:51 am »
@Skull

I’m behind with the welcome wagon. Welcome to TBR

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Offline Skull

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Re: Ten Conservative Principles
« Reply #16 on: May 01, 2021, 05:32:32 pm »
Truth is against the stream of common thought, deep, subtle, difficult, delicate, unseen by passion’s slaves cloaked in the murk of ignorance. Vipassī Buddha

Offline Sled Dog

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Re: Ten Conservative Principles
« Reply #17 on: May 01, 2021, 07:19:00 pm »
I don't particularly believe in "conservatism" any more.

I DO believe in the notion of "traditional-minded" Americans who embrace the culture, morals, religion and values of the Euro-descended Americans who founded the nation and sustained its grown for its first 150+ years.

Indeed, I see those who blindly cling to a doctrinaire version of "conservatism" as contributing to the downfall of the country.

"Conservatism" may not save us, any more than "liberalism" would.
What WILL save us is realism and pragmatism about who should live in America and what we need to do to drive the communists out of power and onto history's trash heap...

The problem is that there is no "doctrinaire" version of conservativism.

Conservatism is like pornography.  As the judge famously said, "I know what it is when I see it". 

The best guide an American has to the definition of "conservatism" is found in the Constitution.   And by "found in the Constitution" I do not mean "found in what the Supreme Court says about the Constitution".

The Supreme Court has ruled that women have a Constitutional right to murder their babies, something found in some penumbra somewhere.   But the Right to Life is found in the Fifth Amendment, which requires an indictment, a trial, a chance to confront accusers for all persons before they are deprived of property, liberty or life.   So the conservative can READ the Constitution for himself, as the Framers intended, and discover what the document says.  No "penumbras".

The word "regulated" in the Second Amendment means "trained", "made regular", i.e. uniform in skills.   The word was not intended to mean "controlled".   

But real conservatives who have ideological disagreements can turn to the Constitution and discuss the intent.   People who are not conservatives have to lie. 

As others make clearly, we can define also the boundaries of conservatism by identifying what it is not.  Conservatism is not:

Affirmative Action and other systemic plans to segregate people by government fiat.   
It is not killing babies on demand.
It is not Open Borders.
It is not any violation of the five freedoms of the First Amendment.  People have the right to go to casinos during a Fake Pandemic, but not go to church?   People can't associate freely to peaceably protest fascist mask rules, but the months-long Riots For Horst Wessel are permitted?  No.
The Constitution does not permit the existence of the Welfare State, the Socialist Security Ponzi Scheme, MessiahCare, federally funded education, the CDC enacting LAW under the guise of false "science", or shutting down the US energy industries to promote the cult of Planet Worship.
Hate Speech is free speech and thus not subject to criminal legislation.  Rioting is not speech.


The GOP is not the party leadership.  The GOP is the party MEMBERSHIP.   The members need to kick the leaders out if they leaders are going the wrong way.  No coddling allowed.