Ongoing Debate Over the Word ‘Conservative’ | Eastern North Carolina Now

Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the John Locke Foundation. The author of this post is Mitch Kokai.

    Jay Nordlinger of National Review Online ponders the meaning of an important term.

  • Twenty-five years ago, I met Scott Morris, when we both worked at The Weekly Standard. He asked, "What kind of conservative are you? What is the basis of your conservatism?" I attempted a couple of answers, which did not satisfy him. Scott was an intellectual, who had studied philosophy, including over in Oxford.
  • Finally, I said to him, "Look, Scott, I'm a simple fellow: I just hate the Reds. Hate, hate, hate the Reds." He laughed and laughed, and let me off the hook, for a while.
  • I had made a serious point, however. George F. Will says that the first thing a conservative is, is anti-Left.
  • His friend William F. Buckley Jr. traveled the country for more than 50 years, giving talks. Most of these talks had Q&A periods. The most frequent question he got was, "What is a conservative? Can you define 'conservatism'?" WFB always had trouble with this, believe it or not. He often said that conservatism was more of a mindset, or disposition, than a doctrine or program.
  • George Will has titled his most recent book "The Conservative Sensibility." He also asks a basic, mandatory question: "What are conservatives trying to conserve?" His answer, for American conservatives, is: our Founding. ...
  • ... First come rights — our natural rights — and then comes government. It is the job of government to secure our rights.
  • George Will is not everyone's cup of tea, of course, because no one is. (Neither is the Founding.) I know people on the right who insist that Will is not a conservative at all. I know others who think that Will is the living, breathing embodiment of conservatism. "Your mileage may vary," as I see on social media.
  • Conservatism has long been a house of many mansions, and maybe too many.

Go Back


Leave a Guest Comment

Your Name or Alias
Your Email Address ( your email address will not be published)
Enter Your Comment ( no code or urls allowed, text only please )




Panning the Election ‘Expert’ Predictions John Locke Foundation Guest Editorial, Editorials, Op-Ed & Politics Did You Know? for Some Post-Graduate Plans, Employer Tuition Reimbursements Is the Way


HbAD0

Latest Op-Ed & Politics

The Missouri Senate approved a constitutional amendment to ban non-U.S. citizens from voting and also ban ranked-choice voting.
Democrats prosecuting political opponets just like foreign dictrators do
populist / nationalist / sovereigntist right are kingmakers for new government
18 year old boy who thinks he is girl planned to shoot up elementary school in Maryland
Biden assault on democracy continues to build as he ramps up dictatorship
One would think that the former Attorney General would have known better
illegal alien "asylum seeker" migrants are a crime wave on both sides of the Atlantic
UNC board committee votes unanimously to end DEI in UNC system

HbAD1

Police in the nation’s capital are not stopping illegal aliens who are driving around without license plates, according to a new report.
Davidaon County student suspended for using correct legal term for those in country illegally
Lawmakers and privacy experts on both sides of the political spectrum are sounding the alarm on a provision in a spy powers reform bill that one senator described as one of the “most terrifying expansions of government surveillance” in history
given to illegals in Mexico before they even get to US: NGOs connected to Mayorkas
committee gets enough valid signatures to force vote on removing Oakland, CA's Soros DA
other pro-terrorist protests in Chicago shout "Death to America" in Farsi

HbAD2

Only two of the so-called “three Johns” will be competing to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) as leader of the Senate GOP.
House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) is looking into whether GoFundMe and Eventbrite cooperated with federal law enforcement during their investigation into the financial transactions of supporters of former President Donald Trump.
Turkish diplomatic sources say he did
Popularity of government leader crashes, even among his own party members.
Wisconsin voters ban private money, nonprofits from the election process after 2020 ‘Zuckerbucks’ controversy; spotlight now on 22 states that still allow it.
6 month old baby fighting for life after mother killed; policewoman finally arrives, shoots knifeman

HbAD3

 
Back to Top