Conservative Philosophy

The Republican Collapse

I don't consider myself a conservative but I found this op-ed by David Brooks at the New York TImes to be illuminating and thoughtful. What struck me the most about it is that he makes the point that the traditional notion of conservatism that he adheres to is most definitely not the creed that free-market capitalists, religious conservatives, and political neoconservatives espouse. And most interesting of all is his assertion that the Bush administration's policies run counter to the conservatism that he favors. All in all a good read.

Modern conservatism begins with Edmund Burke. What Burke articulated was not an ideology or a creed, but a disposition, a reverence for tradition, a suspicion of radical change.

When conservatism came to America, it became creedal. Free market conservatives built a creed around freedom and capitalism. Religious conservatives built a creed around their conception of a transcendent order. Neoconservatives and others built a creed around the words of Lincoln and the founders.

Over the years, the voice of Burke has been submerged beneath the clamoring creeds. In fact, over the past few decades the conservative ideologies have been magnified, while the temperamental conservatism of Burke has been abandoned.

Full article here from the New York Times

Letters to the Editor in response to Brooks' column