Ask Dr. Helen: Where Is Conservative Culture?
The election is over and everywhere you turn, people are saying that the Republican brand sucks, conservatives are on the way out, and free markets are over.
This is a hope on the part of liberals and not reality. Haven’t people been saying that Democrats or Republicans were on the way out since, well, there have been Dems and Republicans? Conservative and libertarian ideas are still good ones, but ones that need to reach out to a wider audience in venues that they can appreciate.
My email question today has to do with where to find conservative culture:
Hello Dr. Helen,
I am just discovering PJ Media. What a nice surprise. My question is where is the conservative culture? Conservative politics is fairly easy to find. What I am looking for is music, novels, tv, movies, magazines — see what I mean? So much popular culture is lead by deadbeat celebrities. Perhaps PJ Media will evolve to fill this need. I hope so.
A Reader
Dear Reader,
You raise a good point: culture drives politics and not the other way around, at least in my opinion. Because of this, it is imperative that if conservative and libertarian ideas are to survive, we must educate people in ways that they can relate to — and this means popular culture in the form of books, music, television, movies, and social groups, starting with education.
I used to think that people could resist being indoctrinated in our education system and culture in left-leaning modes of thought, but I found out that I was wrong. For example, in an article in Forbes, author Ray Fisman explains how professors can turn bleeding hearts into capitalists — and vice versa. Students taught by economics professors who valued efficiency tended to be more capitalistic in their outlook, and those exposed to philosophy professors who focused more on “equality” tended to be more into wealth redistribution.
My guess is that public schools teach more like the latter professors than the former, giving students more exposure to liberal ideas than conservative ones. How do we instill more conservative and libertarian ideas into schools? Talk to your school board member and find out what books the kids are reading. Suggest at a meeting that they be exposed to a plethora of ideas and not just one or two. Donate books to the school library that are conservative or libertarian in nature. I take right-leaning books to my local bookstore for resale or to put them in the free bin just to give the place some ideological diversity. Perhaps you can do the same at your local schools. Run for school board or support those who you think might be willing to balance conservative and liberal ideas in schools.
That point made, there are many good places to read or learn more about conservative culture. I will give my suggestions and turn the floor over to others who can widen this selection. Science fiction is a good place to start (though I am not a big fan, many people are!). Try Robert Heinlein’s books if you have not already done so. Starship Troopers and The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress are good places to start. Or try Venor Vinge works such as Singularity and Rainbow’s End. (Here’s an interview my husband and I did with him here.) Orson Scott Card’s books also might be of interest to you; as a layperson when it comes to science fiction, I enjoyed interviewing him about Empire, a fascinating thriller set in 2008 that tells the story of what will happen if the political polarization in America continues to divide this country on the issues. In terms of music, try John Ondrasik’s (Five for Fighting) albums. (You can listen to music clips and our interview with him here.) John writes pro-American songs that I find very beautiful and may or may not be your cup of tea. What about Firefly by Tim Minear, who talks here about his work? There is so much more that I do not have room for.
So, PJM readers, can you help our emailer with more suggestions on where to find conservative culture? What books, magazines, shows, music, movies, etc., do you consume to get your dose of conservative ideas? Do you organize or belong to any groups that have conservative or libertarian ideas? Lastly, how can we reach out and support more right-leaning culture?
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If you have a question you would like answered, please leave it below or email me at askdrhelen@hotmail.com. Your questions may be edited for length and clarity. Please note that your first name only or no name at all will be used to identify your question — if you want me to use your name, tell me; otherwise you will be referred to by your first name or as “a reader,” etc.
They aren’t for everyone but I am addicted to military thrillers. Writers like Tom Clancy & Dale Brown are some of the best. While these books are not specifically conservative, their storylines tend to back up conservative opinions of global events. Further, most of these authors are also meticulous researchers so what you read will not be far from what could happen.
I would also hazard to say that most country music is conservative, as are some mainstream singers. Creed & specifically Scott Stapp lean that way as well (don’t shoot me) Jonas Brothers & Miley Cyrus for the younger generations.
Go back to the 1950′s and 60’s with the domino effect and Nikita Khrushchev and look at the political map color transition. Mr. Khrushchev made some interesting statements about the incremental takeover of the USA capitalistic culture without the need of firing a single shot to complete the effort. Recent elections and the creeping color change in the map make it clear that Americans want to get rid of capitalism and move into a government run society.If the USA wants to become the USSA then I would say we are on course because at the moment the conservative base is asleep at the wheel and running full throttle into a new and changing era of collectivism with nothing standing in the way. These are interesting times indeed.
I am a conservative artist and use conservative themes in my work. I have been seeking other right wing artists to start an online community and perhaps collaborate on some shows. To see my work http://www.wontondon.com or email me at wontondon@hotmail.com
Hey Slveryder……check out Vince Flynn!
I would like to see a national conference convene to talk about these issues as soon as possible. The conference would include conservative/libertarian bloggers, writers, media, marketing experts.
We shouldn’t rely on the party apparatus to do anything for us ever again. It’s time we wrote a new playbook and got started.
Heck, we can also find our own cipher as candidate as well. Newt Gingrich as the new leader of the GOP? GET REAL.
Anybody up for this?
http://www.saraforamerica.com
The most dangerous thing we have to face in America is the fact that almost half of the population doesn’t have to pay income tax. Those people have no incentive to keep government spending down. Hell, why should they? They’re not paying for any of it! They will always be able to be bought by the demagogue who promises them the most bread and most exciting circuses.
The second most dangerous thing is the vicious partisan hatred between the parties. America is getting poorer because we run a horrible balance of payments deficit and ship 700 billion per year overseas to people who hate us. Tough times make for people who are angry and looking to take it out on someone else. If what I’m seeing on the blogs and in my own circumstances is the general reality, we’re not far from taking it to guns.
Actually, I think a lot of people will welcome that. When it’s over, there won’t be any more problems with a recalcitrant opposition. Spain was quiet for forty years after Franco crushed the left, and a lot of Spaniards think the last 30 of them were the best years Spain has ever had. Most Russians, having been conquered by Communists who killed or exiled a lot of their political opposition, probably wouldn’t think the years from 1917 to 1992 were the best years they’ve ever had. Some do, however.
If we don’t get back to a situation in which both sides of the political divide feel like there is some common ground on which to stand, the United States of America will end in my lifetime. We are not held together by anything other than a few pieces of paper now and the centrifugal forces working on us seem to get stronger by the year. Other nation states have religion, or ethnicity, or language to hold them together. We have only ideals, and they seem to be weakening daily as our moral fiber decays and Machiavellian “ends justify the means” politics corrupts our system of government.
I’d like to be optimistic but the failure of people on the left side to pay any attention to the fraudulent money raising and voting criminality shown in this election is deeply troubling. They’re happy with it because they won. Don’t they realize that criminality and fraud can cut both ways? Or are they thinking there won’t be any more elections?
If the left, as they have threatened, try to prosecute George W. Bush for war crimes, this country will be finished. It will be a clear signal that losing an election will have become, just as in the worst places in the Third World, tantamount to losing your life. When both sides see that as their fate, all bets are off.
Okay, Helen, I guess this means that for the sake of Culture I need to dig out my old screenplay about treeplanters in a remote inlet on the BC coast. It didn’t make the final cut at the Praxis screenplay competition in Vancouver ten years ago, (judges’ cluelessness is clearly the reason) but it would make a good novel. One might call it conservative because the story turns on issues of trust and honor, excsue me, honour (Canada}. Quit writing when I came back to The States in ’00, but Duty calls, maybe…
Interestingly, the right doesn’t spend much energy (just whining) using cultural stuff to alter society. The left has succeeded at mastering its use to the point of electing Obama – a world class socialist who supports infanticide. The child-like statement teachers hear in the earlier grade school children of, “It’s not fair” has become the driving engine of voting adults, (It’s really the sin of envy)because of decades of both subtle and overt leftist propaganda in the popular media -TV – movies -etc.
Note that propaganda itself in a neutral method of communicating ansd could be used well by the right -but they have left it -the biggest weapon to reach people’s hearts to the liberals. And so the libs are in charge and converting people to Godless socialism faster than St. Paul.
One institution worthy of support is my alma matter, Hillsdale College. Conservative and libertarian ideals flourish there.
On the level of the arts, I think even media that is not explicitly conservative (or even flagrantly liberal) can be useful if one is have a conversation about the ideas in it, especially if you can tease out the logical implications of certain ideas, etc. Of course, most people are more interested in being entertained than in thinking critically about a movie’s worldview.
The most complete book and movie compendium on conservative and libertarian values can be found here.
http://www.survivalblog.com/bookshelf.html
I advocate checking out the entire site.
Patriot’s surviving the coming collapse by JW Rawles
Lucifer’s Hammer, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
Pulling Through by Dean Ing
Some Will Not Die by Algis Budrys
No Blade of Grass by John Christopher
Vandenberg by Oliver Lange, later republished under the title “Defiance”.
The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton
Last of the Breed by Louis L’amour
From here in Europe it seems that the American Conservative movement became a hostage of it’s Evangelical wing. I don’t say religion isn’t important or the Ev’s should have a say but it’s a bit weird when a large Culture War is focused down onto two or three, strictly religious issues (gays, babies, abstinence).
There should be much, MUCH more to Conservatism, especially in culture: common sense, masculinity, honesty, courage, tradition, anti-utopianism, patriotism, classical culture, classical philosophy, aesthetics, and so on.
My advice is to focus on the classicals – Aristotle, Cicero etc. etc.
conservatisim would benefit from more conservative popular narratives in the movies, tv, and books. we dominate the radio talk show but alot of people do not want to hear politics 24/7.
i am also enamored with the idea of regional/national conventions where mainstream conservative culture is highlighted (rather than limited to religious conservativism).
The military is a conservative culture. The majority of veterans are conservatives. Maybe our experiences have trained us to see through liberal BS, or we just don’t care to hear from whiners who aren’t pulling their own weight.
I also have enjoyed many conservatively themed sci-fi novels. Pornelle/Niven’s “Fallen Angels” is a funny spoof of liberal environmentalists. John Ringo is obviously conservative and Michael Z. Williamson’s “Freehold” is as Libertarian as anything Heinlein wrote.
What about the “conservative” movie, An American Carol? It was in my area so briefly, I didn’t get to see it. I was thinking of buying DVD’s for my family for Christmas presents, but apparently they are not yet available.
I forgot to add to also
Check out the friendly community on the web at
LittleGreenFootballs.com
For the most democratic part, the blog site is a compilation of contributions made by the poster/members.
The site is hosted by the well respected head Lizard, Charles Johnson.
Lively debates on conservative and libertarian culture values are discussed continuously 24/7.
Today is the 233rd Birthday of the USMC.
To all the leathernecks out there, THANK YOU for your DUTY HONOR COURAGE!
Semper Fi! OO RAH!
“Low” culture: The movie *300.* The television cartoon *Freakazoid,* which is not political, but was written (mostly) by conservatives, if I got that story right. David Zucker’s last movie, *An American Carol.*
High(er) culture: Tom Stoppard, Tom Wolfe. The British “Inklings” and their friends, on religious matters (C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien. Also: colleagues Chesterson, Dorothy L. Sayers).
Some of Clint Eastwood’s serious movies are at least provocative, and will inspire thought on moral issues. Anything promoted by the Moving Picture Institute or On the Fence films. Ben Stein’s last film, *Expelled.*
The Penn & Teller series *Bullshit!*
This is almost funny. “Conservatism”, whatever that means, has been anti-intellectual from the beginning. Wasn’t it Wm. F. Buckley who said conservatives have no ideology? They’re like a bunch of no-nothings. And the Libertarians (or “libertinians”) often come across as children who wonder why they can’t just do whatever they want with no standards by which to determine whether what they want is good for them or not. You’re not going to defeat today’s “Liberals” with slogans or folksy wisdom or appeals to tradition. You need a coherent rational philosophy. The author of the book pictured at the beginning of your article made an inspiring beginning. What will you do with it?
If a world view is composed of answering the three questions: Where did we come from, why are we here and where are we going? Then the alternative to the present secular and humanistic world view in dominance is in the Church. Islam and other world views also offer their own alternative and clearly right now Islam has a plan and is executing it through Sharia imposition world wide. It is here in the US where we are looking for alternatives.
Talk radio and Fox news broadcast from the point of view of the loyal opposition within the secular humanist world view. They bring in a clear and less intrusive government model for secular humanist view of life with room for other views within the dominance of secular humanism, something more a kin to living in the late 50s early 60s.
The main point in this is to share a couple things happening within the world view of Christianity.
I think some moves by even local churches show signs of life in beginning to stand against the dominate culture. A local church in Georgia has started making movies including the present one on the scene called Fireproof which is a well done low budget movie that fits the bill of new media, and alternative art. Made for $500k and now having make over $25 million and in over 800 theaters now…sales holding up for over a month now. This is a good sign they will continue with that kind of return on investment. Compare that to the string of money losers on the war in Iraq.
When it comes to live broadcast in the music world, the number one spot is held by a little band of rebels at the international house of prayer in Kansas City Missoui. They are online all the time with live music, much of it composed by the young sermon on the mount living Chistians that have abandoned themselves to Jesus. They produce more broadcast live than CNN, FOX, NBC, ABC, CBS and probably more than all of them together as there is no breaks in the 24 x 7 worship/prayer. The prayer and worship has been going on for 9 years. The live portion since last year. http://www.ihop.org
The Catholic Church has their own TV system now. God TV now is all over the world and now available on Direct TV and broadcasts many live events and is starting to coordinate world wide prayer vigils during crisis.
The transformation team at the Sentinal Group
http://www.sentinelgroup.org/
are documenting the places in the world where God has arrived in power in combination with a united praying church and the culture has and is being completely transformed. For a walk on the wild side check out one of these videos.
Cheers, and look up your redemtion draws near
John
Conservative oriented culture? Louis LaMoure any and all of his books, they provide a mind set, as it were.
I believe that a significant part of our “culture” problem is that we’ve allowed the definition of culture to be constrained. Certainly, the arts are one leg but religion is the other. Unfortunately, we’ve allowed the prohibition of religious discourse in all of our public institutions and relegated it to the private institutions only.
Without an effective moral compass, we cannot govern ourselves and are doomed to more regulation, less freedom, and more strife. More study of real history would help but the history we dish-up today has also been stripped of a positive view of religion on people’s lives.
If liberalism is the feminine
and conservatism is the masculine
then the balance of the two brings the
true culture .
Nature has it’s way and 2012 is another rhythm .
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………. MITT ROMNEY * BOBBY JINDAL ……….
________________________________________________
i recently read Mr. Sammler’s Plant, by Saul Bellow, which is astonishingly good. i read the new criterion, the national review, and use the comments sections and look inside! feature on amazon.com to discover what sounds like a Good book. ‘a savage war of peace’ is not really a conservative book, for example, but it is quite good on the algerian war. as for movies, the recent Lives of Other was good, as is the movie Together – ironically enough about a hippie coven in Sweden.
actually i think the biggest and most entertaining project for any conservative at this point is to read a lot about the Soviet Union. it forms the strategic and cultural backdrop to nearly everything that happened in the 20th century. in the popular imagination, it’s almost as though it didn’t exist. i saw a kid wearing a CCCP hockey jersey at my test on saturday morning this weekend, for example. if i was an ass i’d have said, “oh, you like massing-murdering concentration camp countries?” – but it would have been a reasonable question nonetheless.
i agree with miklos, but i believe the apparent takeover of the right by the various christian evangelical movements is at least as much a figment of left-leaning media preoccupation as it is a reflection of evangelism’s actual power. i mean, bush prays. so what? this was supposed to be evidence of incipient theocracy or franco-style fascism. please.
a lot of religious people do not vote as a bloc by any means – look at all the pro-abortion catholics. and of course christian and judeo-christian philosophy and culture are in fact the backbone of the West, whatever its critics like to say.
but i think dr. helen’s phrase “culture drives politics” is the essence of american conservatism – that is, that sensibility is what distinguishes those who are not sympathetic to the left. for the left, everything is a policial phenomenon. “left” simply means socialism, and for the socialist nothing is just unless it is attacking that which does not conform to socialist expectations (i.e., everything). it is the Ur-ideology.
the major problem is that somehow “conservatism” somehow was transformed (by socialists) in an ideology, which it is exactly not.
so i think the best way to think of conservative culture is everything that is not self-consciously socialist or one of its stealth special ops ideologies – post-colonialism, for example.
unfortunately this is difficult to reverse unless we restore a classics-based curriculum – it is impossible to do with the last 40 years of fiction and music and philosophy and art, because all of these have either been subsumed in the combat with the left in self-defense, or are marooned in a vapid culture which any wise artist finds a poor canvas of presumptions on which to paint.
Lets not forget Jerry Pournelle. Jerry was on Reagan’s kitchen cabinet and is a first rate technical and political mind. His books have explored the edge of life when politics breaks down. Mote in God’s Eye is one of the top 5 sci fi novels of all time. His essays on science and politics are first rate.
http://www.jerrypournelle.com/
Musical selection should be focused on libertarian/conservative rock bands like:
1. Ted Nugent
2. KISS
3. Aerosmith (Joe Perry just came out as a Republican)
4. Alice Cooper (Republican Golf aficionado)
5. Oingo Boingo
6. Steely Dan (Skunk Baxter)
7. Rush (Neal Peart is an Ayn Rand fan)
8. ZZ Top
9. Toby Keith
10. Lee Greenwood
Having taught in a college for over 20 years I really appreciate your article.
We need to see more like this.
also I would be interested in communicating with artists writers and musicians.
Helen, I tell you. I’m a member (perhaps the least member, but a member) of the International Association of Astronomical Artists. At the World SF Convention in Denver, I was chatting up an attractive, talented fantasy artist, while avoiding my collegue with the exhibit to the east, because he and I haven’t really spoken since he told me the folks in the Towers on 9/11 deserved what they got, and I told him that if he ever said it to my face he’d need to be well insured. (I was working in that building the month before and had friends working there that day; I take the attack personally.)
Happened that I appeared on Fox News a few days later with the Palin Rumors thing. I got an email from the attractive, talented fantasy artist, in which she said, paraphrasing, “That was really interesting. I hope it’s not too personal, but um, are you a … well, conservative? It’s okay to tell me, I am actually too, but I hate to tell anyone in the arts world.”
So I’m guessing there are more of them than it seems. Maybe we need to start wearing Forget Me Not pins or something.
Oh, look for L Neil Smith, by the way.
One group says that capitalism is good because it is the only system consistent with objectivity and reason; that reason is our tool of survival and that capitalism allows that tool to operate, whereas other systems destroy or preclude men from thinking, preclude men from having reality as the standard of truth; other systems force men to act as if Fuhrer or Government Dictate or Pharaoh were the standard of truth.
For the perspective they provide like no one else and for their insightful philosophical and moral foundation of individual rights and capitalism, I like to see what ideas and arguments the Ayn Rand Institute has.
Their commentary is here: http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=index
There are good articles and op-eds here, too: http://www.capmag.com/
I highly recommend the trilogy of longish poems by Dante Alighieri, Areopagitica by Milton, Montaigne’s essays, Thomas Nashe’s writings, Flannery O’Connor, Flann O’Brien, Richardson, Hardy, Stewart O’Nan’s “A Prayer for the Dying,” Kesey’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” Joss Whedon’s Firefly series, South Park, Augustine’s “City of God,” Martin Gardner’s “Science: Good, Bad and Bogus,” Keats, Shakespeare, Gibbons’ “Rise and Fall,” Plutarch’s “Parallel Lives,” Machiavelli’s “The Prince” and “The Mandragola,” Samuel Daniels’ “A Defence of Rime,” Ariosto’s “Orlando Furioso,” Boccaccio, Thomas Huxley on Rousseau, Galileo’s “Starry Messenger,” Pico’s “Oration on the Dignity of Man.”
It’s too late, the right wing has been clipped and the bird as much as it will try to remain on the middle course, is being forced to the left. Bad news from Podesta this weekend. Should of known that the only things certain are death and taxes and there is a good change our tax dollars will be paying for death.
Do we really have time to ponder this now?
Guantanamo prisoners to be tried in U.S.
No Drilling
We must stop federal funding for ACORN, and make voter identification cards mandatory, or we will never have an election again.
Ponder later, act now.
Because I’m not as eloquent a speaker as I wish I was, I just recommend to my liberal friends that they read “America Alone” and let Mark Steyn do my talking for me. As for fiction, I recommend “Prayers for the Assassin” by Robert Ferrigno. Both are standard conservative fare. And I’ve suggested PJM and LGF to young bloggers as well.
Baen books. Science fiction and fantasy. They face enemity from distributors AND bookstore managers, but they’re the best sf/f going. Please support them.
Amen to the emailer…we need to rebuild from the ground up. To assume all Americans understand and disregard popular culture when voting has cost the conservatives some key elections…I have my doubts about suriving Obama and the real lefties but if we want to win again, we’ve got to start with popular culture, embrace and make it our own.
Some suggestions for movies:
“We the Living” — a good demonstration of the destruction of individual soul and spirit and material wealth that communism causes; the movie (a black & white) is based on one of Ayn Rand’s novels, but made in Italy during WWII. The movie was popular and well-received…until the authorities realized the movie was not just anti-communist but anti-totalitarian, and had the movie pulled from all theatres. We are lucky there were still some surviving copies of the movie after the war.
“This Land is Mine” — a black & white with Charles Laughton; set in WWII.
“To Have and Have Not” — a black & white with Bogart and Bacall. Again, set in WWII…I think. Netflix.com says “Dynamic duo William Faulkner and Jules Furthman scripted this Howard Hawks classic starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall (who, rumor has it, fell in love on the set) that’s supposedly based on an Ernest Hemingway tome.”
“Ruggles of Red Gap” — a black & white with Charles Laughton. Set…not in WWII!!…but in the old West. A comedy-drama about an English valet who has to move to America and deal with the culture shock.
“Ridicule” — a modern French movie (color; subtitled) about a civil engineer who goes to court to try to attain funding for a drainage project in his city. The movie does a good job, by implication, of showing how things get done in capitalism vs. non-capitalistic systems.
“Executive Suite” — a black & white with William Holden, Barbara Stanwyck, Frederick March, Walter Pidgeon; presents business as positive and important!! A rare feat for Hollywood!!
I feel unlike most that constant exposure to an Obama Administration will do much to change Young America. When they realize he is talking down, not to them, that he intends to make all the important decisions for them and that a free Education will be worth about what it costs.
Witness Saudi Arabias promise to the Sunnis.
A free education for all and no menial jobs. Hence the large number of Religious scholars on Government stipend, free to harass the Civilian population. Good jobs dominated by foreigners because it is beneath the dignity of a Saudi citizen to drive a truck, operate machinery or be a Mechanic.
Jarhead91,
War is the most collectivist action a government can undertake. Just how are you conservative? You are actually an uber-communist. War is the absolute acquisition of property by a government. You are probably some National Guard chickenhawk poser. There are many Democrats in the military, and they comprise the majority in some quarters.
You want to keep your kids from public-school indoctrination? Homeschool them. Let’s at least save the next generation; they’re the ones that are going to suffer worst from our generation’s failures to curtail federal spending.
As other commenters have mentioned, science fiction and military fiction in general are pretty conservative. I would add nautical fiction as well.
With films, I woould suggest the classics.
But a word of warning…very few explicitly conservative books or movies do well. Heinlein’s “Starship Toopers” is the exepction that proves the rule. The normal route to success is not to make the philosophy the story, but rather the tool that the protoganists use to succeed. It’s the idea that “Right Makes Might”…a concept that tends to be overwhelmed by the modern notions of “Everybody’s a Villain”.
A few days before the election, I saw the woman on video who was absolutely thrilled because, under President O, she would no longer have to worry about making her house payment and filling up her gas tank.
I sat opposite the bartend-ress who turned to the tee vee during an O deliverance speech…and shouted…”I just want to know what you’re going to do for me !”
And I thought, well, this is some kind of America, when people have been so conditioned to look directly to the Nanny State as a source of personal stuff. An unrecognizable far cry from the founding principles of America.
As pointed out by a few pundits, the US of A is still, by and large, center right. And O, promising “tax cuts” was running as a conservative in his final weeks. (With all the emphasis on taxes in this election, it never became clear who intends to do what in terms of raising/lowering taxes for which population segments. I guess the failure to explain was part of the intentional obfuscation, which satisfied the change & hope (chope) crowd. Apparently, some 47 million individuals who pay no federal income taxes at all can expect to get something like a $1000 check in the mail. Which will leave them panting for more.)
Buying allegiances for the continued decline of the American experiment.
Culture ? I dunno, if self-reliance and freedom aren’t bred into your bones, it’s tough to acquire them.
Jim M:
I can assure you that Buckley knew the difference between “know-nothings” and “no-nothings.”
Russell Kirk through Regnery published “The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot” in 1953. It was favorably reviewed in both TIME and the NYT. (How times change!)
Kirk wrote about 30 books before he died in 1994, as well as hundreds of book reviews, essays, forwards, and opinion pieces.
He also recommended “Ten Conservative Books” at a lecture. He is the link:
http://www.heritage.org/research/politicalphilosophy/hl72.cfm
Here is a link to Kirk’s works:
http://www.kirkcenter.org/index.php/detail/kirk-books/
Kirk’s recommendation for the emailer would be to begin with Edmund Burke’s “Reflections on the Revolution in France.” He would recommend the writings of John Adams, George Santayana, Irving Babbit, and T.S. Eliot.
Having worked with Kirk for a very fertile year, I would recommend G.K. Chesterton and Christopher Dawson, as well as Richard Weaver and Alan Tate. Then pick up Homer, Thucydides, and Virgil.
Regarding our current economic troubles, one 20th-centuiry economist I know of would see through it all because of his extensive classical education and Christian humanism: Wilhelm Roepke, author of “The Humane Economy” and “The Social Crisis of Our Times.”
If 10,000 Americans read ten of these works and then went into teaching, politics, science, or parenthood, the world would be a different and better place.
Jim M,
“You need a coherent rational philosophy.”
No. That’s the whole point: currently we have so little scientific knowledge about the human mind and human society that any kind of rationalistic politics is a dangerous pipe dream, because we pretend to know stuff we do not know. This is why we have to rely on common sense, tradition etc. – generally, pattern recognition, as opposed to theoretization.
Read Robert Heinlien (a long list, but a good start is The Moon is a Harsh Mistress). A lot of his books have quite libertarian social environments coupled with quite conservative politics. Every conservative should know what TANSTAAFL means. I think this offers lessons for what the Republican party should become, by the way.
Williamson (Freehold, The Weapon).
Military history and historical fiction – re duty and honor, and to provide some understanding of why the military virtues are what they are, and are important. Pressfield’s The Hot Gates is excellent.
John Ringo sci-fi is quite conservative, although some is a rather raw. Start with The Last Centurion.
I find post apolcalytic fiction interesting as an exploration of why the conservative virtues – hard work, family, planning ahead, etc. are important. What really matters, and how thin and fragile the veneer of modern society is. Try Sterling’s Dies the Fire.
Pournelle is good. The Prince of Sparta might be a good start.
Its important to understand how incredibly richer we are today than a few hundred years ago. Capitalism, the industrial revolution, and in the last generation computers, have had a profoundly positive impact on the lives of everyone, but particuarly the bottom 99% of society, and on women. If you have some understanding of economic history, most of the things the Democrats say are obviously riduculous.
The largest conservative cultural institution in America is professional sports. Hard work, fair play, impartial judgment. Fouls and penalties. Winners and losers.
“Conservative” means a lot of different things to a lot of reasonable people.
But for those of us who generally don’t truck with secularism, moral relativism, nanny-state dependancy, restrictions on free trade, and anti-Americanism at home & abroad… a good website on cultural matters is http://www.culture11.com. Its blogs, essays, debates, and reviews of books, films & music are from a perspective generally friendly to the above-stated values.
Here’s the first place to look:
http://www.statemaster.com/region/south
Some recommended books:
“Economics in One Lesson” by Harry Hazlitt. He says “[T]here is a second main factor that spawns new economic fallacies every day. This is the persistent tendency of men to see only the immediate effects of a given policy, or its effects only on a special group, and to neglect to inquire what the long-run effects of that policy will be not only on that special group but on all groups. It is the fallacy of overlooking secondary consequences.
“In this lies almost the whole difference between good economics and bad. The bad economist sees only what immediately strikes the eye; the good economist also looks beyond. The bad economist sees only the direct consequences of a proposed action; the good economist looks also at the longer and direct consequences.
…
“There are men regarded today as brilliant economists, who deprecate saving and recommend squandering on a national scale as the way of economic salvation.”
“The Myth of the Robber Barons” by Burton Folsom. A good book showing the wealth-building and pro-man consequences of the business empire builders, and showing false the view that “robber barons” were evil men who stomped on others like Hegel’s “heroes” who came upon the world scene and smashed the rules and smashed heads. (People like Robespierre did the smashing — businessman cannot if they want make a profit and have a successful business.) There is an audio talk based on the book here: http://www.fee.org/events/detail.asp?id=6114.
The best traditional cultural review with a conservative bent remains “The New Criterion.” Their blog is http://www.newcriterion.com
Check it out, well worth the subscription.
The most intellectually vibrant culture on the Right today is within the Objectivist movement. The best place to start of course is with Ayn Rand’s two greatest novels, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. The problem with traditional conservatives, of course, is that they share many of the same moral principles as liberals and socialists (e.g., altruism). Objectivism is the only moral philosophy that categorically opposes the Left with an absolute moral code, which is also what differentiates it from the libertarians.
You might also take a look at what they’re doing at the Ayn Rand Institute: http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=index
Conservative culture is going to be difficult to develop so long as the left as such a dictatorial, Stalinist stranglehold on existing cultural and media institutions.
Possibly nothing short of a Red State secession (and I’m in a deep blue state with no possibility of moving, BTW) will allow such a culture to incubate and grow.
We may have to accept that the Gramscians have won, and that democracy is a dying chapter of human civilization.
We are headed for a new Dark Age — it may be Marxist or Islamic, but it will be Dark — and may last forever.
kochevnik:
Whether or not they realize it, members of the military willingly subject themselves to an authoritarian organization so that everyone else (and them, when they are out of the military) can live in freedom. The military may be socialist and it may contain people who think collectivism is good, but most servicemembers do not believe that America in general should be like the military. Hard-core lefties know that people dont want real socialism, or they’d package it that way. Imagine if a politician said to the entire country: “I’m going to give you free health care and job security, but I will be completely in control of your actions, and if you refuse any order I give you, you will be arrested, detained, and possibly shot.” Think that would be a winning campaign pitch? Luckily for people like Obama, most voters dont realize that’s pretty much exactly what they are voting for.
Interesting that LGF is mentioned. I’m fighting a battle over there to reserve the term “social conservative” to social issues which do NOT make explicit reference to religion. Most of the community believes that social conservative == a fan of Intelligent Design, which is anathema to Charles (and to me).
As for “Expelled” the movie, it’s an out and out fraud. To the extent that conservative culture descends into magical thinking, it will be viewed as a failure to the nation at large. Incidentally this is why Jindal (currently) is hopeless as a candidate.
If conservatives approach art and culture in a purely utilitarian way (…how can it help our side win?), the art they produce will have no lasting power. It must emerge from an artist’s deeply-ingrained worldview –-as great art always has (Dante, Bach…).
It also important to keep clear the distinction between conservative themes in art (the film ‘Fireproof’) and the work of political conservatives (Aerosmith) that is morally corrupt in its themes.
Some quick examples of popular conservative art created by conservative artists: Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings; CS Lewis’ Narnia Series. Why did conservatism not take advantage of the enormous recent popularity of these movies/books to help convey its values to young people? Requires too much thought and reflection? Are conservatives fundamentally suspicious of art as a means of persuasion? Are conservatives not clear on their own cultural values (beyond patriotism)?
Please…let’s not allow ‘An American Carol’ to carry the conservative banner in the world of art and ideas, or we will be pegged as simpletons.
Conservative culture? Don’t bother. What we should be aiming for is a conservative counter-culture.
Lefties own just about the entire culture apparatus from high to low, and somehow, I don’t see the kids getting all fired up by, for example, Rush Limbaugh – nice guy though he may be… he’s getting older and why should the left spend the effort trying to silence him with the (un)fairness doctrine when time will do it for them, albeit a little more slowly.
Think more in terms of how to get today’s high school kids, after being hectored, preached to, and collectivized by the entire gamut of leftist mind control, to seek out the dark allure of individualism and free thought.
Best to keep politics out of art altogether.
I agree with you, Helen, that the classroom is key. As I wrote here a few months back:
We wonder how many busy parents caught up in the controlled frenzy of their many-faceted lives are unaware of not only what goes on outside at recess but, perhaps even more importantly, inside the classroom, where
zombiesteachers inculcated with the Marxist talking points of influential anti-capitalist propagandists like Obama neighbor Bill Ayers are, as Sol Stern wrote, assiduously working below the radar to “turn the little ones into young socialists and critical theorists.” And critical-pedagogy types like Ayers acolytes aren’t the only ones trying to turn the nation’s younger generation into pod people. The self-esteemsters who ban the award of valedictorian to the highest-ranking senior because it might hurt someone’s feelings come to mind, not to mention the textbook publishers with their eye on the bottom line. All are complicit, for different reasons, in the politicization and dumbing down of the nation’s curricula. As we wrote in our post “Stealth education” four years back:It isn’t just infidel-hating Wahhabists who are trying to brainwash our children, of course, but interest groups of every stripe. We’ve blogged about these issues before, noting that textbook companies and educators take the path of least resistance, responding to the squeakiest wheels.
Isn’t that what identity politics is all about, ceding center stage to the squeakiest wheels? Appeasement is always a mistake. The more you give in, the more they demand.
Fine arts
Not that pop culture doesn’t have it’s good elements, it’s probably worthwhile for conservatives to become consumers of art that is based in classical traditions. It is harder said than done in the post-modern era, but there are pockets of artists that value classical training and seem to be interested in uplifting humanity rather than tearing it down.
http://derriereguard.com/mission.html
The Derriere Guard is a group of artists interested in “rediscovering and reinventing traditional forms and techniques.”
The PBS show “Think Tank” detailed the group in the episode “Art Under the Radar,” a few years ago. It was the most inspiring show I’ve seen on tax-payer supported TV. Here is the transcript:
http://www.pbs.org/thinktank/arts_transcript.html
“Think Tank’s” video interview with Tom Wolfe at their 10th Anniversary festival is available here:
http://www.thinktanktv.com/media/index.php?a=watch#video_place_holder
I don’t think this is a right / left thing (said the British leftie), the labels “right” and “left” are overused and too often wrongly used.
We in Britain associate the “right” with authoritarianism, the thought police of Orwell’s 1984 and repression of individualism but in America is is the politically correct thinking of the left that is associated with such things.
The real enemy of creativity is conformity. People are coerced into conformity because they are afaid to be different. The root of this problem lies in the education system.
My generation (I’m 60) was the last to benefit broadly from what was known as the “renaissance education” which provided a broad grounding in Grammar, Languages, Mathematics, the natural sciences, music, philosophy and history. The idea of this curriculum was to provide a broad grounding from which the studen could progress to follow several interests in later life. Most of all it taught people to think for themselves.
Now the most promising pupils are steered towards a narrow goal much too early while the less able seem to emerge from the school system with a barely adequate grounding in literacy and numeracy.
Start teching people to think for themselves and they will be equipped to realise the banal, cliche ridden speeches of Barak Obama, and sloganising of his followers are not in any way comparable to the rhetoric of Abraham Lincoln or William Gladstone, Winston Churchill or Franklyn D. Roosvelt.
As that great rhetorician Cicero said: “The mind of a man is the whole of the man.”
Low Brow: Supernatural tv-series. It’s not pushing conservative agenda, tells the story of good vs. evil, heaven vs. hell, battling it out on earth. The protagonists are self-reliant. South-Park and Team America (more libertarian than conservative) and not something you let your kids watch. Most Clint Eastwood westerns (you can argue low vs. middle vs. high-brow on these). Aimed at kids: Veggie-Tales (not so much after the acquisition) and God Rocks.
Not rated by brow: Band of Brothers, We Were Soldiers, Braveheart
High-Brow: The Origin of War and Preservation of Peace by Kagan, The Road to Serfdom by Hayek, anything by Friedman and Mises. Biographies by McCullough. Most anything in the Western Canon.
700-Club and Fox News are too great sources for conservative topics. I especially enjoy the 700-Club’s inclusion of positive news items and pushing an individual’s responsibility to care for his fellow man (versus the government’s responsibility). If you’re not religious parts of the 700-Club may turn you off, but the news parts provided an interesting take.
I have thought about this often. There is not ONE conservative culture but MANYconserative cultures, and that leads to dilution. Partly it is due to the diversity of thought and believes on the right, and partly due simply to the way America has changed.
There is a conservative culture and your effort to foster new alliances and communications is meet and right, as I used to hear in church. I wonder if, since there is still, understandably, a lot of rage burning, that it might need to exhaust itself before more constructive energies are embraced. Dr. Helen is making use of her training in showing us how to properly deal with the emotions of loss, but some of may need a little time to catch up.
There is an op-ed on Bloomberg today where Kevin Hassett recommends a return to civility. He’s right about losing the hate. Conservatives need to take the high road because the best in our tradition calls for it.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=a.SRXM1tMSBE&refer=columnist_hassett
Most of America is a little right of center, I read, so once the dust settles the rebuilding effort will gain momentum. Thanks to Dr. Helen for providing a place.
The best thing we can do is to stop apologizing for our conservatism and demand that our politicians do the same! Dems and the MSM (redundancy) call it “bipartisanship” when Republicans fold, do what the Dems want, sit in the back, and shut the h3ll up. When they stand up for conservative values, they are pilloried as obstructionists and/or racists. Those brave pols need to hear from us as do the MSM talking heads.
What immediately came to mind is Michael Z. Williamson’s SF novels Freehold and The Weapon, although the protagonist society on the planet Freehold is more accurately described as being Libertarian than Conservative. Heinlien’s most beloved characters would have been right at home there.
Hi Helen,
Psychologist Jonathan Haidt has done what I believe to be some ground-breaking work that may actually point to an approach here.
I’ve been collecting thoughts on this here and I’m interested in any feedback folks would like to offer – especially next steps, if they’re warranted.
Appeasement is always a mistake.
“An appeaser feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”
~Winston Churchill
Great comments y’all, giving me chope, uh, hope for the human condition.
TO: Dr. Helen, et al.
RE: Where To Find Conservative Culture?
I can tell you where you WON’T find it…..
• Television — As my mother-in-law who has Stage IV cancer has been staying with us, I’ve watched television as part of her entertainment for the last several months and I have to say I am glad, GLAD I tell you, that I’ve not watched it in YEARS: since 1998.
The blatant bias. The outrageous lies. The unrelenting sexual aspects. It’s mind-numbing.
Looking into it was looking into the proverbial abyss. And I tend to leave the room when the television comes on.
• Street Fairs in San Francisco — Three guesses. First two don’t count.
• University Campuses — Overwhelmed by a political correctness that will not tolerate dissent. And that from people who claim to be ‘tolerant’.
So….
…..where DO you find ‘Conservative Culture’?
How about the following:
• Real Christian, i.e., Biblical-based, Churches. [Note: Yeah. I know....the Blogfather doesn't care for such. But it's up to you to persuade him that killing babies just so he can live longer is not, repeat NOT, a Go[o]d idea. It’s like a Larry Niven Tales of Known Space novel gone horribly wrong, i.e., organ harvesting as punishment for misdemeanor crimes.]
• Classic Theater Groups — We have one in OUR town. They do great work with the talent that lives in the area. It’s like those bits of entertainment put on by the crew in ST:TNG: Ryker doing a trombone recital, Data performing a scene from A Christmas Carol, choral groups doing concerts, etc.
You learn to appreciate humans better.
• Selective videos — As I said earlier, we gave up on television as a waste in 1998. Ever since then we’ve been expanding our library of VHS and DVD materials. We mostly get those that are ‘Conservative’ in their ethics and morals. However, we have some of the other sort, just to remind us, now and then, how bad things are getting.
• Association with people who really ARE tolerant of differing opinions. We’ve got liberal friends. Indeed. They ARE ‘liberal’, in the classic sense. And I suspect we are too, as we tolerated people with differing opinions. The so-called ‘Liberals’ today are hardly what anyone with more than two synapses to rub together would call ‘liberal’.
The bottom line is that you make your own culture.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[Each one of us, ultimately, chooses the high or the low road -- that is, we rise above the madness of our particular culture and discover our true identity and destiny, or else we identify with our insane culture and revel in it. -- David Kupelian]
Zimriel,
You can try to fight the battle for individual freedom and social conservatism without reference to religion, but you will lose. The fact that you can live your life wedded to ideals of freedom and decency while thinking that Christianity is akin to “magical thinking” is fine for you, but most people need something greater than Randian philosophy to convince them to abandon their own selfish pursuits in defense of higher ideals. We are fighting to contain human nature, which is eventually destructive if left unchecked. That’s a battle only religion has ever been able to win, fleeting as the victories have always been.
I understand that athiests/agnostics dont want to hear about religion. Ok, but then we better get used to hearing people like Obama (and the far more openly socialist people who will follow him) preach the magic of “unselfishness” that is somehow embodied in voting for the guy who will give you the biggest check and relieve you of personal responsibility. And then maybe after that we can do like the Europeans (whose Christian churches are now empty) and listen to Muslims (who have no problem talking about religion) slowly take over our society.
Harry Potter. All of them.
Complete with good vs evil; making hard choices instead of easy choices; necessity of sometimes doing the unpopular thing to do the right thing; incompetent government bureaucrats more interested in maintaining image than doing right things; the meaning of friendship, loyalty; true sacrifice; innate human rights (muggles as human as wizards/witches); proper use of power/gifts; etc etc.
#17,
You are quite right that conservatism has been anti-intellectual from the beginning. But this may not mean what some take it to mean. No one put it better than Thomas Sowell (I will have to edit heavily to keep the word count down):
“Intelligence may take many forms, from the incrementally imperceptible and partially unconscious modifications of behavior over the years that we call “experience” to the elaborately articulated arguments and conclusions that are central to the intellectual process. Intelligence and intellectual are two different things. The hoped-for result is that the latter will incorporate the former, but whatever the facts may be about their overlap, they are not conceptually congruent …
Intellectuals — persons who earn their living by transmitting generalized ideas — have incentives and constraints determined by the peculiarities of their social class, as well as incentives deriving from the nature of the intellectual process …
… An intellectual is rewarded not so much for reaching the truth as for demonstrating his own mental ability. Recourse to well-established and widely accepted ideas will never demonstrate the mental ability to the intellectual, however valid its application to a particular question or issue. The intellectual’s virtuosity is shown by recourse to the new, the esoteric, and if possible his own originality in concept or application — whether or not its conclusions are more or less valid than the received wisdom.”
You are calling on us to embrace the dark side. No thanks.
Not sure if someone has mentioned him yet, but Vince Flynn is an amazing writer and his books are wonderful. Very much in the line of Tom Clancy but updated with realistic threats that we face today – not all about the cold war and Russians.
“The problem with traditional conservatives, of course, is that they share many of the same moral principles as liberals and socialists (e.g., altruism).”
No! Those filthy bastards!
You Randian cultists crack me up. When you don’t make me want to wretch.
There’s a very strong conservative movement in SF, although it’s generally not friendly to the Evangelicals. Libertarianism is very strong in SF as well. Check out quite a number of BAen Books authors in particular. David Weber (Author of the NYT bestselling Honor Harrington series) and John Ringo (Also a perennial NYT Bestseller) pretty much lead the pack for conservative SF. Mike Williamson’s one of the better Libertarian authors, without L. Neil Smith’s silly level of enforced ideological pedantry.
Music also has a strong conservative side, particularly in country, but it shows up a fair bit in the Metal and Goth scenes as well as occasionally in Rockers. There’s even conservative punks (One of the Ramones was a Republican) and Libertarian types are not unheard of in Punk or Metal.
Really, the supposed lack of Conservative Culture exists almost entirely in film and TV. Libertarians are somewhat better represented their (Firefly’s a good example) and there’s some Conservative friendly stuff, often in SF or Fantasy settings (Battlestar Galactica, Terminator, Angel and Buffy, etc).
Conservative humor, satire, and parody:
http://www.thepeoplescube.com
For those who recommend Heinlein (who everyone should read, of course), keep in mind that Heinlein repeatedly advocated abortion on demand in his stories.
For whatever that’s worth.
Where to find Conservative and Libertarian principles in a nice thirty minute package? Where indeed? What about South Park?
Okay there I said it. As much as some people find it detestable nothing is safe from South Park’s timely mockery, especially the political correctness movement.
There’s even a book called “South Park Conservatives” by Brian C. Anderson. It’s worth a read.
I am not sure how we can go about cultural transformation, given the fact that we conservatives prize independence and individualism. Conformity is not exactly in our dna. On the other hand, the Gramscian Communists are hugely successful in their decades’ long project to infiltrate (“the long march through the institutions”)all the transmission belts of society (media, education, and law). Very briefly, years ago, I was an academic Marxist who left socialism in 1987. I saw firsthand what these people were doing and what their overarching goal was. They are well on their way to achieving it now.
The big question is how to begin reversing this process when we don’t control the very things that they control. This is NOT a center-right nation anymore, and those who think it still is are stuck in denial and delusion. In fact, I would argue that the ideological shift occurred a long time before the election of Barack Obama. It has been happening in stages for quite some time, but this election is the clearest indication that the shift is real and discernible even to the most dull.
So, we don’t control the institutions that the collectivists now have pretty much an ironclad grip on. Therefore, we have to invent and organize our own alternative sub-cultures and learning environments. We need to do this, first of all, to at least preserve and re-energize what we believe in. Every movement needs a base. Think of how the monasteries during the Dark Ages were the places where Graeco-Roman-Judaeo-Christian civilization was preserved and then gradually disseminated. And while on the subject of monasteries, we cannot proceed without a more solid grounding in moral and religious traditions. Why do you think that the Communists have first attacked those?
JD @ 54:
Chapter 8, “Proud Legions,” of T.R. Fehrenbach’s “This Kind of War” discusses this in detail. Highly recommended.
“The values of a liberal society, and the values required to defend it, are often at war.”
That’s from memory, and may not be exact. He meant “liberal” in the freedom-loving sense of “classical liberal”, not the modern sense.
Add Fehrenbach to the list of recommended authors for this column. Non-fiction, mostly history.
Need to take action for a conservative future?
Get into Boy Scouts or Venturing. Be a balance to what the kids are being force fed in schools. When the news hits that someone is suspended due to carrying nail clippers as a Zero Tolerance policy Laugh at the administration and slavish rule following. Tell the kids about what you experienced when the explorer club set up a firing range at the school.
Teach them the difference between Zero Tolerance, and common sense safety rules. Teach them to love the outdoors, but that doesn’t mean cutting human contact with nature. Teach them character and how to be a leader and a good citizen, not to accept non-judgmental philosophy as an outlook. Give them the tools and training they need to grow into Conservative young adults.
Several of us have been compiling classical liberal/libertarian/conservative reading lists here.
For a pop parody of Leftist Utopia, remember to watch “Demolition Man.”
I’ve been fighting the quiet good fight in behalf of conservative culture by writing historical novels set on the American frontier, in the belief that we must, absolutely must, connect with who we are, where we came from, and those worthy attributes of our ancestors. They were people of honor, decency and courage, whose lives were every bit as complex and challenging as we can imagine – and I got tired of hearing them brushed aside as continent-plundering, uncultured racists. “To Truckee’s Trail” was about the first wagon party to take their wagons all the way to California, over the Sierra Nevada in winter. They stuck together, helped each other out, and never gave up.(it’s been available on Amazon for two years) My “Adelsverein Trilogy” debuts in December – and that is a family saga, of German immigrants, building new lives for themselves on the Texas frontier. (That’s another relatively unknown story – hardly anyone outside Texas knows that Gillespie County was almost entirely German speaking until after WWI) In these books I am also exploring what it was to become American, what all these people were looking for when they came here, and how they fared in that process. (Sample chapters at my website, of course, and at my regular blog, The Daily Brief)
Of course, I have had to publish with tiny regional small presses, or POD presses, rather than main-stream publishers, who would prefer to sign the fat book contracts with celebrities or an existing best-seller which is practically the exact duplicate of their last twenty best-sellers.
Ayn Rand is to political philosophy what L. Ron Hubbard is to religion. That applies to both groups of followers as well.
#3 @wontondon
Good to know you are out there. I am libertarian in most ways and an artist. I do not use conservative or political themes in my work really but I am publicly open about my political beliefs within my community. And proud of that.
TO: SteveA
RE: Fehrenbach’s Proud Legions….
…is chapter 25, from the book, This Kind of War: A Study in Upreparedness, 2d printing, 1963, sitting at my side.
Got it after coming to Colorado (Fort Carson) after finishing IOAC, wherein every general officer who came to address the assembled classes of Benning School for Boys said, “READ THIS BOOK!”
I had Tattered Cover do a search for it.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[Good judgment is based on experience. Experience is based on bad judgment. -- some general officer addressing the assembled classes at Chattahoochie High.]
Philosophy/economics:
Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom. I found a very nice condensed version for my daughter (actually is the Reader’s Digest condensed book) online through Wikipedia:
http://www.iea.org.uk/files/upld-publication43pdf?.pdf
This book was supposedly credited for preventing (delaying?) the emergence of authoritarian socialism in the UK right after WWII. Even if you’ve already read it, it’s worth reading again in relation to today. See if it doesn’t send chills up your spine in many places.
I recently watched a special on a Writer’s House where young writers went to learn their skills, and to be supported. No doubt, it was quite leftist.
This would be a good thing for a new crop of young writers. Many writers at the very beginning struggle immensely, and the support emotional and modest monetary would be wonderfully helpful.
Imagine a summer Boy’s Camp for writers with basic food and critiquing efforts by a retired writer or editor. All very basic, and not that expensive, but it could end up producing some bestselling new writers.
=======
As to Social Conservative=Intelligent Designer that is just silly. And I’m for both.
As to ‘magical thinking’, we need some good, basic philosophy so that we can clearly trace the roots of conservative thought going down into the primordial earth of Genesis. There is a lot of magical thinking indeed–in the ‘just so’ stories told by evos.
I watched Expelled twice, and it was quite good.
======
We need to nurture conservative artists and writers (I confess self-interest in this issue as I have some astonishingly brilliant
stuff on the web for POD that yearns for a new home). John Campbell, publisher of Amazing, nurtured a lot of SF writers who weren’t that good (and many never became that good despite their press, but that’s another tale.) by giving them small jobs and a bit of cash for stories which kept them going until they got good.
A conservative SF reader with a bit of cash on hand could do the same by financing a web magazine and buying SF stories he thought neat. Again, this is very inexpensive, and it might end up earning you actual profits and literary fame. Aim for a revival of the pulps, but explicitly conservative pulps.
======
The pulps brings up another issue. Sure, American Carol cannot be the end all of Conservative thought, but it looks to be funny. We have to have places for high and low and middlebrow culture.
Conservatism=High Culture is a falsity. I will not deny that there is a drift toward more complexity, more deepness, more of the sort of things that would appeal to the successful, but I maintain that this is a bent of modest importance compared to the foundational ideals of the worldview.
Indeed, we can fall into the RINO error of past years. If its in the English Canon does not necessarily make it good or even conservative. I fear that Spock’s take on literature is correct….’I had read all the greats, like Danielle Steele’ after they had travelled back in time to the 20th century.
And we need to speak to the culture of today.
I am not a poet, but I highly reccommend supporting poetry. Poetry has become a field of barren hopes for success, and so it offers the best chance for renewal if some visionaries were to come in and invest time and money in to it.
One thing the Left has done is to create Literary Movements. Cyberpunk is one example (and its pretty explicitly anti-fiscal and anti-social conservative). Do the same thing back to them.
One are is Realism. Eric Flint and CS Lewis both touched on this. Realism claims to show reality in all its warts, but it doesn’t show reality because reality contains heroism. Call this new movement…oh…Actuality, or some such name. Its goal is to show the actuality of life in all its glory and horror with the actual consequences of choices made instead of bad choices getting happy endings. Although sometimes it might show bad choices getting happy endings for a while because the key tenet of Actuality is to show life as it really is rather than to sugarcoat it. And sometimes as the Psalmist lamented, the wicked do flourish. But in the end they are cut down.
Conservatism does not readily lend itself to culture; it doesn’t need it. We are well grounded, and we don’t need or want the approval of the Madonnas or Al Frankens of the world.
If I were permanently transported back to the time of Disco or Hippies or Beatniks (like a reverse Farnham’s Freehold), I’d make a beeline away from urban America to a small town. No matter what era, I’d find people like me. To some extent, hard work, self-reliance, and belief in eternal truths form a loose culture.
I much rather knock back a beer with a recently immigrated family man from Estonia than any member of the SNL cast.
If we have a American conservative culture, it’s defined by those who have lived and espoused our eternal values. John Wayne, Ronald Reagan, and the great Teddy Roosevelt. It’s robust, macho, and optimistic. It’s Chuck Norris.
National Review’s 100 Best Conservative Films:
http://www.nationalreview.com/conservative_movies/conservative_movies.shtml
Wow, thanks all for such thought-provoking comments. I am sure that our emailer will have plenty of conservative and libertarian culture to consume after reading all of this. I know I will. There are many books and videos that I would love to read or view–some are new to me, others I had just forgotten about. Keep adding to the list–for it will be a great resource to those 58 million of us who did not vote for Obama and who could use a reminder that we are not alone.
Chuck Pelto,
I am sorry to hear about your mother-in-law. I am glad, though, that your family is getting to spend some time with her.
I don’t think the average American who is heavily influenced by modern culture is going to dive into Hayek or Thucydides, or choose to listen to Aerosmith for its conservative tone. I do think some core conservative principles can be emphasized in cultural contexts in ways that encourage people to live those principles. The most straightforward one is individual independence – “self rule”, if you will. Individual responsibility is a necessary corollary. Those things are also central to conservative religion, but not exclusive to it. There’s no need for a libertarian/ religious divide. People who embody those characteristics need to be held up as honorable examples, people to admire and emulate. A large nanny-government is diametrically in opposition to the concepts of self-rule (I am in control of my life) and individual responsibility (I accept responsibility for my actions and their consequences). The difference between libertarians and the religious is that the religious give control of their lives to God’s will and measure the appropriateness of their actions against God’s law. The two philosophies will clash where God’s law and “liberty for all” clash – for example, gay marriage. Big issues, but they don’t obviate the similarities of the two philosophies.
But, again, the average voter or voter-to-be, especially teenagers, aren’t going to sit around thinking deep philosophical thoughts and put them into practice. They want to watch TV, dance to music, go to movies with their friends, get ahead in life. The basic principles of conservatism need to come through in simple basic terms as the best way to live your life. As another commenter said, you can’t impose politics and philosophy on the arts, especially. Art emerges from the inner creative being. We just need to encourage and enable artistic conservatives to freely express their conservative inner creative being, in movies, music, fine art and any other venue.
We also need to hold all office holders, especially Republican/conservative, accountable, from the smallest city council to the federal government. I believe there would be a groundswell of support to eliminate earmarks if a movement focused just on that took off (and it’s already gotten a lot of traction). The senators in my state are among the worst; I’m joining the local Republican party and I’m going to be very vocal about pushing them to stop it themselves and push for others to. And make no mistake: If a senator is forced by his/her constituency to forego earmarks, he’s going to push hard to make sure no one else can get them either.
There’s a lot more that can be done. But each of us has to embrace the core of conservatism to make it happen: Individual responsibility. Don’t just chat about it online. Make changes in your own life and community. That’s what the libs have done. There’s no reason we can’t too.
Gene Wolfe, science fiction and fantasy writer–conservative, devout Catholic, served in Korean War.
FAIRNESS DOCTRINE: A FOOLS FANTASY
How and why the Democrat pursuit of talk radio will blow up in their faces:
http://greensrealworld.blogspot.com/2008/11/fairness-doctrine-fools-fantasy.html
On the “classics” side, hopefully no one’s forgotten John Stuart Mill’s essay “On Liberty”. It’s an outstanding piece of writing, making the case for individual liberties and examining the extent of power that a ruling body can, or should, exercise over individuals.
Ret7army–agree with your choice of Louis L’Amour. His works remain entertaining reading even today (“The Lonesome Gods” is my personal favorite). I appreciate that they were written by a man who personified self-reliance and resourcefulness, and that he emphasized the importance of character, integrity and courage in his writings.
For those with a bit of intestinal fortitude, I highly recommend “Dependent on D.C.” by Charlotte Twight. The author (an economy prof with no affiliations with the left or the right) originally intended the central theme to be her doctoral thesis; she eventually expanded on her original thesis, and it evolved into the book. It paints a brutally honest picture of just how intrusive our government has become since the early 1900′s, along with descriptions of how it got that way and why. It’s a devastating read, but it should be required reading for every American who steps into a voting booth.
TO: Dr. Helen
RE: Thanks….
….for the sentiment.
Even though the AMA doctors have thrown in the towel, we’re still fighting it. We’ve discovered graviola and pawpaw. Both of which, according to research are VERY effective in attacking and killing cancerous cells. [Note: Oddly enough {nudge-nudge, wink-wink} the AMA and FDA don't seem to interested in pursuing research that in 1997 proved its efficacy in vitro via tests done at Purdue University. I suspect it has something to do with the fear that all those oncologists and radiologists would have to give up their lucrative practices and open tea shops.]
We’re not out of the woods yet. But a retired minister in my weekly Bible study group has been working as a major metro hospital chaplain and hospice spiritual care provider for years and he’s absolutely amazed at how long mom has been ‘hanging in there’.
Regards,
Chuck
[God made the Earth and everything therein for Man. We just need to figure out what to use everything for. -- CBPelto]
« The most dangerous thing we have to face in America is the fact that almost half of the population doesn’t have to pay income tax. Those people have no incentive to keep government spending down. »
Given this, in fact the economy is a permanent miracle.
George Bush: the most hilarious, emotionally-jarring, caricature the Republicans have had the tenacity to put on the world stage.
If that’s entertainment, please guys, don’t try any more!
So what is the deal?
I dont know much about many arts. I am an American rocker – sometimes drummer.
Gimme screaming Fender Strats, Marshall stacks, Telocaster Bass, a Ludwig/Zildjian drum kit and lets go with that. Light up and pass another beer around. My own idea of jamming music.
Conservative music? I dunno. I love American music. This classic for example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHw9b4BBV9Y
Cant get enough of that.
I understand that in arts there are many trails to follow. Someone else loves classical jazz or opera more than I do. I like that too but it doesnt speak to me in the same way that ‘All Along the Watchtower’ does. I like the Dave Mason version best.
This is USA and we kick-butt in music. Ya’ll conservatives should just sit back and listen to the old Woodstock tapes. Those folks were looking for you. You just havent found each other yet.
“you can get anything you want,
at Alice’s restaurant”
Peace-out,
Spindok
What follows is an idiosyncratic list, and not everybody would consider it “truly conservative”.
First, some light stuff.
Short works that should be read at least once a year:
* Pericles’ funeral oration
* Gettysburg Address
* American Declaration of Independence
NB: these are “light” only in the sense that they are easy to get through.
Detective stories of interest for their setting:
* the Sherlock Holmes stories give a portrait of Victorian London
* the Nero Wolfe stories give a portrait of New York when the Republicans still dominated the American North-East
Movies:
* Conan the Barbarian
* High Noon
* The Dark Knight
* Karakter: shows that Dutch culture is much more conservative than people might think (the movie is set in the early xx century, but one can still see echoes of the same attitudes)
* The Big Lebowski: the Walter Sobchak character is a neocon depicted with gentle irony
* Team America: World Police (the title says it all)
* Yojimbo
* Seven Samurai
* Black Hawk Down
* Saving Private Ryan
* Himalaya: l’enfance d’un chef
* Dr Strangelove (apparently anti-conservative, but I think that conservatives ought to challenge authority)
Susanna in Alabama — you got in right when you said the essence of conservatism is self-rule AKA respect for the individual. This is really the reason that evangelical Christians tend to be conservative — they want the freedom to decide for themselves rather than having the state decide.
Some wonder why evangelical Christians focus on issues like homosexuality, abortion, and sex education. It is because the liberals are constantly attempting to force their liberal views of these issues on evangelical Christians via television, movies, music, and especially the educational system. While we can avoid television, movies, and music — it is hard to avoid the educational system. It is not evangelical Christians who are attempting to “force” their morality on others but rather it is the liberals who are attempting to force morality on the evangelical Christians.
People like to say there should be a separation of Church and State. The problem is that as the State becomes bigger and bigger and encroaches on more of people’s lives, there is no room for other institutions like the Church or the Family. This is one big reason why Socialism is such a bad thing — it does not leave room for individual freedom or self-rule.
Don’t forget the popular fiction written by both Russell Kirk and William F. Buckley.
Russell Kirk wrote award-winning ghost tales:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Russell+Kirk
William F. Buckley wrote a thriller series featuring Blackford Oakes:
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/b/william-f-buckley-jr/
For good military science fiction I recommend Tom Kratman – http://www.tomkratman.com/
I’ve recently been entertaining my self rather than relying on professional entertainers. I took up swing dancing and that lead to blues, Cajun, and zydeco dancing. It’s hard to be pessimistic while doing the Charleston.
Most of my CD purchases now are of music from the 20′s, 30′s, and 40′s. I used to like folk music, but that was before 9/11. Music from the perpetual adolescents of society no longer interests me.
Here is the heavier stuff in my idiosyncratic list. Some of it is still a pleasure to read, but some is too heavy even for me.
Books with a “realist” view of human nature and how to deal with people:
* Il Principe by Machiavelli (the Discourses should also be worth reading)
* The Art of War by Sun Tzu
* The Icelandic Sagas have been described as a working-out of the fundamental laws of human nature, and the praise is fully deserved. A bit difficult to keep track of all those Viking names: get editions with name indexes and family trees at the back
* Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, by Charles MacKay (highly recommended to Obama supporters)
* Any economic history, e.g. Angus Maddison
* Any history, as long as it is written with a realist perspective: no nationalist/romantic or anti-nationalist/politically-correct history
Cultural history:
* English Culture and the Decline of the Industrial Spirit, by Martin Wiener
* Tocqueville: I have read only his Memory on Pauperism, but want to read more.
* Rodney Stark has written several books on the rise of Christianity and the benefits that Christianity has brought to Western civilization
* Arthur Brooks: I did not read his books, but his research shows that conservatives are happier, live longer, have more children, give more money to charity, and donate more blood
* Learned Optimism, by Martin Seligman: actually this is a self-help book, but chapter 11 is highly relevant to cultural history
History of ideas:
* Popper: The Open Society and Its Enemies (or anything by Popper for that matter)
* Hayek: The Road to Serfdom
* Isaiah Berlin should be worth reading, although I have not done so
* Jonah Goldberg: Liberal Fascism (Goldberg looks odd in this august company, but probably wrote the most accessible book — although I have not yet read it)
Economics, political or not:
* The Armchair Economist, by Steven Landsburg
* anything by Milton Friedman
Finally, I should say that writing long computer programs has taught me the most important conservative principle: be careful when you mess around with complex systems.
Conservative culture does not only manifest itself in literature and the arts.
I am as comfortable at a Broadway play as I am at a local dirt track.
I think quite a bit about what constitutes our conservative culture.
I try to savor our culture as I experience it, taking time to smell the roses, if you will.
I felt our conservative culture both days this past weekend at the gun show and target shooting in a field.
I experience conservative culture when I hunt.
I felt our culture when I attended the local college football game on Saturday and when I watched the NASCAR race on Sunday.
I felt our conservative culture at church this weekend.
I experience our conservative culture each time I turn on the radio and listen to 1970s era country music or Southern rock and roll, singing along, of course.
I savor our conservative culture when I attend the Federalist Society annual lawyers conference in Washington, D.C.
Lastly, I experience our conservative culture (and values) each time I refuse to capitulate to the creeping forces of the PC movement, while clinging to God, guns and my conservative values.
There is much creativity on the right (science, education, art, literature etc., but it is not recognized and it is often ridiculed. Try being a creative conservative (art, science, literature, history etc.) on any college campus. You will get clobbered!
Some conservative culture places to consider:
“Imprimis” the newsletter from Hillsdale College and Claremont Institute are two islands in a sea of insanity.
Instapundit (of course), Powerline and Urgent Agenda are sites where conservatives feel welcomed and at home.
As a side note – Professional Golfers and Golf in general tends to have a conservative culture. Individual effort and achievement are rewarded. You call your own penalties on yourself (honor and integrity).
Many pro golfers are generous with their time and money to charitable causes.
Dr. Helen – I think you have struck a chord with your question.
Conservatism lives at my house.
Thank you for this article. This is a very much something we need to be addressing.
I don’t have children so I only know what I hear, but I hear from parents that influencing your children’s schools in this way is easier said than done. I’d love to know I hear wrong.
C.S. Lewis fans might be interested in this musical version of “The Screwtape Letters,” which has been approved by the Lewis estate and is currently in pre-production for the stage in Portland, Oregon. It’s a small project right now, but a brilliant concept, and well written. You can listen to a few of the songs at:
http://screwtapethemusical.ning.com/
We have put great effort into keeping the spirit of Lewis’ work–its humor, spiritual depth and artistic quality. We may not be at the forefront of “conservative culture,” but there is life out there!!
To get off to a great start, especially for the youth, get them a copy of the novel “Watership Down”.
It is a story about rabbits, but also about totalitarianism, freedom, love, sacrifice, heroism, leadership, religion, and conservative values.
It is a wonderful story for younger people or adults to get an intro to transcending values. It also was made into a very good animated feature. Try Netflix.
Many bring up the miliary here. When miliary officers are sworn in – what do the swear to protect and defend? Not the people, the flag, the government or the president – No, they swear to Protect and Defend the Constitution of the United States of Amercia against all Enemies, Foreign and Domestic. Just saying.
Based on the responses here and on LGF, there are no takers for my vision of a social conservatism which makes no explicit appeal to creationism and the Protestant Bible.
Conservatism is doomed.
Christianity, also, is doomed. If you don’t believe in the literal truth of the whole Bible, you’re not a Christian.
The Republican Party is getting set up to become a Protestant fundamentalist Christian, sectarian, populist party of the Deep South. There hasn’t been any libertarianism coming out of Perry, Gingrich, and Huckabee lately, and there won’t be any in future (i.e. Jindal). Smart people will (continue to) flee Southern states in droves, because that’s the only way their children will get a decent education.
You can be a Christian statist, or you can be a transnational socialist. There is no alternative.
Might be interesting to find out where this project currently stands.
@ CB Denver: “People like to say there should be a separation of Church and State.”
We like to say that?
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
What part of that is a problem for you?
And y’all wonder why the party I voted for lost this time.
Spindok
Looking for a conservative take on culture? Check out http://www.culture11.com.
Is it really any wonder that a majority of people want a nanny state. In really tough economic times, who wouldn’t want a huge government safety net to save their lifestyle? Think about it. There are millions of people who have had their parents make their down payments on their $800,000 homes, then watched as values artificially skyrocketed, then took tens of thousands out of their new-found equity to get those Porsche Cayenne SUVs, and the BMW convertibles, not to mention those two-a-year fancy vacations, etc, etc, etc. Well, now what? “I was only doing what everybody else was doing….I was deceived…..blah, blah blah” It won’t be until opportunity in the capitalist system again becomes available that the population will again value that system. It’s the job of the Dems/socialists to prevent that from happening. Fortunately, they’ll have to kill off the Wall Street greed factor to accomplish that, and I don’t see that happening.
“For those who recommend Heinlein, keep in mind that Heinlein repeatedly advocated abortion on demand in his stories.”
Really? This is much better than those stunted mentalities who can’t tell the difference between a baby and a zygote. I’ll have to read more of Heinlein.
Re: conservatism and its sad descent since the days of Barry Goldwater from pro-freedom, pro-capitalism, pro-individualism to anti-immigrant, anti-abortion, anti-limited government: Let it die the death it deserves.
This is a great thread, because I am picking up a lot of leads and suggestions for reading. I believe that the cultivation of the mind and the refinement of morals are the bedrock ways back to a culture that nurtures individual responsibility and smaller government. I was once deep into the collectivists’ intellectual tradition, so I understand very well that ideas and words have consequences – even for the people who, as would seem to be the case these days, are quite unaware of the provenance of the ideas they’ve integrated into their thinking and psyches.
I find myself increasingly going back to Aristotle and Aquinas, but I plan to do some serious study of a tradition I have no exposure to: Ayn Rand and Friedrich Hayek. I’m not an objectivist and because I come from a Catholic Christian intellectual tradition (I’m an ex-Jesuit) a friend of mine told me that I will not agree with Rand’s anti-theological views. Fair enough. But I just want to get an understanding of that tradition, in order to be able to converse with people who come from a libertarian viewpoint.
The fact of the matter is that a truly liberal society will emphasize less government, but will head off the collectivist spirits by having a citizenry that also associates in ways that alleviate many social and economic problems. Instead of government being my brother’s keeper, I am. I find it appalling, amusing, and instructive to note how Oobonga has a dirt poor brother over in Kenya that he does nothing about. Or an impoverished aunt in a Boston housing project that he does nothing about. He and Michelle are quite well off and could afford to help these relations out. But they don’t. My point is that it is our individual responsibilities to take care of each other, not the government. But socialists always want someone else’s money to get it done. Never theirs.
A moral and productive society begins with the individual, not with structures and programs. Occasionally these can be helpful, but there is a point beyond which they become encumbrances that stifle wealth generation. My fear is that this sense of balance and that wisdom is completely lost on the under-30 crowd in this country. Especially Oobonga’s single biggest demographic haul: single females.
I’m so glad you asked:
Here’s my first conservative music and, if you like it, make a donation to my blog so I can make some more. (I’m broke as a joke but dying to get into this battle.) I play Rap, Rock, Jazz, Country, Funk – you name it – and I do it all with the same conviction. But I need your help. Period.
Let’s go, people: pony up and let’s hit these jokers where it hurts!
CMC
Here’s some rock stuff from around 1998 (before I switched parties).
Hope you like it,
CMC
My husband sent me this post KNOWING that it (and all 107 comments) would be must-read material. There went all hope of productivity today. That’s okay — this is important. This is a subject that is near and dear to me, but since I’ll be very lucky if anyone makes it down to comment #108, let me cut to the chase…
This is really too big of a topic to cover this way. Anyone want to try meeting up (virtually or in real-time) to continue the brainstorming? I don’t agree with the commenters saying that conservatism and culture (high or low) don’t mix. Conservatives have already lost the first round to liberals for sitting back and giving no reasonable alternative to a liberal-soaked culture. I’m not an optimist about the future, but neither am I ready to see the few conservative options that exist (like talk radio) go down with nothing to replace them.
There was a lot of good thought in these comments, but if we each drop in our two-cents worth and don’t pool resources, we’ll never change anything.
Anyone know of a place or a way to carry on the conversation? (Easy option: Facebook group; harder-but-better option: some kind of get-together consortium, as an earlier commenter mentioned). Either comment here or e-mail me on my blog.
I don’t know that I have much to say about conservative culture, but I do have something to say about conservative community. In the 90′s I used to be a subscriber of Utne Reader (a monthly roundup of best of the progressive alternative press!) and participated in the local “discussion salons” inspired by the magazine. The topics always gravitated to two things: first, organized religion sucks. Second, our country is utterly lacking in community. Eventually it all wore thin and I dropped out. A couple of years later, I got interested in Catholicism and joined the Church. What did I discover? Two things: First, organized religion doesn’t suck. Second: Our country is chock full of vibrant, active, loving, conservative community. In the churches! There is plenty of conservative culture to be found here, and at least in Catholicism, at as high a level of intellectual caliber as you could want.
TO: John Davies
RE: Good SciFi Reads
I’ll look into him.
On the other hand, I offer most anything by Niven and/or Pournelle. Just finishing up a run through Pournelle’s Falkenberg Legion series.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[Science fiction writers foresee the inevitable, and although problems and catastrophes may be inevitable, solutions are not. -- Isaac Asimov]
It went away with the last of the Westerns. Guess I’ll have to dust off my old writing crap and try again.
Or maybe finally get another band together and do that punk/metal/military march fusion I’ve been playing with.
Jim M. wrote “This is almost funny.” and “You need a coherent rational philosophy.” He’s right. We have nothing coherent and rational like the unadulterated hatred for Bush that is the driving force of the left. What’s not funny is that Bush hatred is the left’s “rational philosophy.” Well, I guess we’ll see if war crime tribunals are enough to hold it all together.
Conservative artists usually make money, and don’t have to rely on funding.
From the ones I’ve met, they share my mindset that art is also a business. In anthropology art classes in college, I was told that there was no need for professional artists, as every man is an artist in his own way, and as it’s an emotional response to the world, artists should not be paid.
I went through college on my own dough, I don’t get paid, the high minded profs didn’t get paid, and I certainly don’t see those guys working for free.
I am an artist and I make money. I am a capitalist.
“James: George Bush: the most hilarious, emotionally-jarring, caricature the Republicans have had the tenacity to put on the world stage. ”
You know, if you’re going to talk down about GWB, presumably mocking his intelligence, you might want to look up the word “tenacity.” In the words of Inigo Montoya, “I do not think that word means what you think it means.”
Miklos Hollender wrote, “From here in Europe it seems that the American Conservative movement became a hostage of it’s Evangelical wing.”
That’s because your media are painting it that way.
I agreed with most of Ayn Rand’s premises in Atlas Shrugged, which I recently reread after many decades, and the ideas behind State of Fear. But I found both these works poorly written from a literary standpoint.
I seldom go to the movies but find the reviews of James Bowman useful when buying DVDs.
http://www.jamesbowman.net/reviews.asp
One thing that I highly recommend is canceling cable, newspapers and magazines. Why support these people with your money and open yourself up to their brainwashing? Sever your relationship with the “push” media. The internet allows you to be a client of the “pull” media where you go out and pull towards you the ideas and entertainment that will enrich your life.
Road to Serfdom- Friedrich Hayek
The Closing of the American Mind- Allan Bloom
The Wealth of Nations- Adam Smith
Capitalism and Freedom- Milton Friedman
Anything by Ayn Rand, (eg):
-Fountainhead
-Atlas Shrugged
-Anthem
-We the Living
F. Paul Wilson. Some of his early future sci-fi stuff is pretty heavy-handed (“Wheels Within Wheels” especially), but the Repairman Jack books are more subtle (and just plain fun into the bargain).
Jim M., your ignorance of the fact that the term is ‘know-nothing’ at least provided some amusement, though it didn’t exactly help your cause.
Jim C., no, that’s because self-described social conservatives are painting American conservatism as Christian anti-scientific obscurantism (comments #16, #70, and #89 in this thread), or else are not standing up to demand an alternative “painting” (#18, #22, #43, #69, #79, #101, #104, #118).
Get like-minded people together and put your tax dollars to work by forming your own charter schools. These schools are public schools and funded by your tax dollars. This is a good and viable alternative to home schooling.
My wife and I currently teach at a charter school that emphasizes conservative values. We don’t necessarily agree with the teaching methodology they advocate for the lower grades (too much emphasis on rote learning in our opinion) but we wholeheartedly agree with the school’s overall philosophy.
It is a pleasure to work at that school. It is union free and the pay is much better than the regular public school system. Parents have to choose to bring their children to this school and are more committed and supportive. For example, we call parents when homework isn’t completed and actually get results.
I’m a former principal and teacher from the regular public school system that vowed to dig ditches rather than continue working in that environment. My first experience at this school was as a sub teacher. I went in with my usual “war face” expecting the regular treatment of subs common in most public schools. I was initially suspicious that the kids (middle & high schoolers) were mocking me as I continually heard “Thank you, may I, and please” throughout the day. Nope, normal everyday behavior. Kids will be kids, but when a solid foundation of civil behavior and academic rigor is the norm kids will rise to meet those expectations.
The school isn’t perfect but it beats any regular public school I ever taught at. Plus, the school regularly outperforms all the other charter schools and regular public schools in the annual achievement tests.
Great recommendations above. In pop culture, anything from Pixar (notably The Incredibles). At first brush, Wall-E might seem an exception to those weary of green excess — but to the contrary it’s centered in a conservative outlook. (http://www.amconmag.com/blog/2008/06/30/wall-es-conservative-critics/)
Classic Hollywood produced lots of conservative entertainment. We were fortunate to have a good ideological mix in our films in those days. If you want some conservative films, you can look at the wonderful Ninotchka, which lambasts Communism, Comrade X(the same), It’s a Wonderful Life(family and religion), etc.
In particular, the work of John Wayne is loaded with Conservatism, both in the stories they tell and the themes they explore and, especially in his later films, explicitly spelled out in dialogue. Wayne made a ton of B-movies in the 30′s before he became a star with Stagecoach in 1939, and because those films are mostly public domain, there are loads of “John Wayne collection” or “John Wayne 20 pack!” box sets and on and on that feature these old B-films instead of the really good John Wayne films that came later. Unfortunately, I think people who want to give John Wayne a look often run into these films and are soured from then on.
Good places to start with John Wayne:
1. The Cowboys(not necessarily his best, but a great introduction to Wayne for modern audiences)
2. The Searchers
3. Red River
4. Stagecoach
5. Rio Bravo
6. The Man Who Shot LIberty Valance
7. Sands of Iwo Jima
8. The Alamo
9. They Were Expendable
10. The Shootist
11. Back to Bataan
12. Hondo
13. The Quiet Man
14. The High and the Mighty
15. True Grit
These are just the beginning. Most movies he made with John Ford are good, too(some are on that list). Anyway, it’s too bad we don’t have films with a Conservative bent being made today – maybe enterprising young filmmakers will look at the example of Wayne and learn something – after all, the guy has been dead since 1979 but he is still ranked as one of America’s top movie stars in polls to this day. No other actor has had nearly so much longevity.
Conservative values WORK in entertainment when given a chance.
Science Fiction is indeed a good place to fill out an education. Being old, I remember John W. Campbell. He was the editor of Analog Magazine since the late 40′s. There is a collection of his editorials selected by Harry Harrison. These are not all Campbell’s editorials, but enough to get the measure of the man and his thinking.
Also, for a more general “liberal”, (classical definition), education I’d suggest: Voice of the People – Readings in Public Opinion and Propaganda, 1962. There is a second printing, but the first is best. (It has Plato’s Allegory of the Cave).
However, I think it’s too late for any of this.
Jim C.,
I’ve learned to disregard our media a long time ago, at about that time when they dubbed Pim Fortuyn a Fascist… so I always go to primary sources. I read NRO, Townhall etc. And all I see is Iraq, taxes and babies. Don’t get me wrong – these are important.
But what about the rest? 20 or 30 years ago Bill Buckley or Irving Kristol could write about aesthetics, philosophy and culture in a really admirable way and I just don’t really see that happening anymore.
The City Journal and New Criterion are good, really good – but they don’t really seem to have momentum, they don’t seem to really influence f.e. the blogosphere.
A lot of important things seem to go right under the radar. The sort-of cultural counter-revolution in South Park. Evolutionary psychology and sociobiology, which tend to lean right. Ron Paul. Crunchy Cons.
Or, for example, sci-fi. Does anyone remember the excellent sci-fi novels of Jerry Pournelle (Falkenberg-Legion), which radiated a sense of gentlemanship, honour and noble duty? All I see these days in sci-fi is Commie utopias like Iain M. Banks and suchlike.
Would you consider linking to my blog? We have similar interests.
The New Republican at http://newrepublican.wordpress.com/
Thanks.
Conservative culture?
I think that the problem is with the word “culture.” “Culture” is that lofty thing to aspire to, and to feel superior about appreciating!
Rather than authentic expression, “culture” is that mask one puts on, appreciating the things that signal that one is enlightened or upper-class or at the very least, not like those uneducated, stupid, hicks.
So in that respect, yes, conservatism is anti-culture.
Entertainment now… a person ought to respect entertainment but many of those in the industry have no respect for it at all, so they need something *important* to do… which tends to be all those brainless liberal causes that celebrities take up to show that they are serious and intelligent people.
Entertainment has real value and it ought to be respected as having value. Escapism has value. We ought to appreciate what our entertainment does for us, even if what it does is take us away from our troubles for an evening.
An example… I was looking at romances in a box at a yard sale and the lady, embarrassed, explained that after her husband died she had a terrible time at night, thinking, and reading romances distracted her so she could get to sleep. We might scoff at the lowly romance novel, but isn’t that a truly *worthy* contribution?
We ought to appreciate entertainment and understand it has value all by itself.
And there is a lot in entertainment that is very conservative. I’d go so far as to say that *most* books and movies are at least neutral… if one avoids the “message” movies and books. Good wins over evil. Love is expected to last forever. People work hard and expect to have what they earn.
I don’t know how many liberal SF writers I’ve heard express that if they took the politics of their futures and tried to apply it to the here and now they’d be very uncomfortable with the conclusions.
Dude……..Culture 11
http://culture11.com/
As a composer / songwriter living in Los Angeles, CA, I find myself increasingly frustrated with the liberal entertainment complex. In the 1950s, movies and music affirmed our belief in America, in our troops and the missions they carry out, and overall, didn’t shame us for our pride.
Then we saw a drastic change- an era in which dissent was allowed not only to state it’s case, but to prove profitable. Not only did this offer a validation of shame, the effort to hold failures as a value, it endorsed a seemingly inseparable relationship between art in it’s many forms and the drug culture. To fit into modern culture, one’s patriotism was not permitted. Nobody seemed to notice how unAmerican they were acting, believing in war movies from the 80s filled with anti-American sentiment or ideas like John Lennon’s “Imagine”, which he was too whacked out on heroin to realize he was writing about Communism. None of his fans, even to this day, seem to notice either.
Popular media became an enemy of the state. At this point, the anatomy of politics seemed to shift; liberals became the less tolerant, the bigger haters. Even now, we see undeniable evidence of this everywhere we look.
My advice is stay out of this blue state and, if you’re here already, start packing. That’s what I’m doing- going to Nashville where sober people actually make money at this.
It is kind of pulpy but for satire and fun you can’t beat the Remo Williams Destroyer novels
Having read all these *mostly* excellent solutions, the only real answer is for conservatives to stop hiding their true beliefs. How many of you have been at a party and just not commented when someone states a leftish-leaning falsehood as if it’s a fact? How many of you–when your mother-in-law sees the President on TV hugging a sobbing child after Katrina and says, “I can’t stand that fake!”–say nothing? How many of you, go to college and sit through hours of classes on post-modernism and feminism and lesbianisn and deconstructionism and say nothing about how much CRAP it is? I’ve done it.
I’ve been too shy or embarrassed or peer-pressured into staying silent.
There are others out there. The only way to embolden them is to step forward. Speak out.
Zimriel @ 112:
Christianity, also, is doomed. If you don’t believe in the literal truth of the whole Bible, you’re not a Christian.
So, what you are saying is that – to pick a well-known and large sect – Catholics are not Christian.
No one is taking you up on your vision because you are obviously clueless about religion. If you want to despise and denigrate something, at least know what you are talking about. Bitterness usually says more about the subject than the object.
On topic: Aristotle and Federalist Papers – both are interesting to see what has held up over time and what has not. (Hamilton was wrong, wrong, wrong about the statist danger.)
“Christian anti-scientific obscurantism.” REEEAlllly now. I forget how many alien races I’ve created, and for FTL there’s Stutter Warp, Bubble Drive, Jumpgates, Hyperspace I’ve used…don’t think I’ve created anything with a Folding Space Drive but I could have.
I’ve designed stuff that would have fit in with the Blue Men of Venus and stuff that was inspired by Singulatarianism and pretty much everything in between.
My favorite magic system was based on a metaphor of the Phoenix and Schumpeterian creative destruction but another magic system in the same setting was based on some of the ideas in Two Cheers for Capitalism by Irving Kristol. And there was an evil bueracratic inspired magic system as well…okay, not evil, more futile.
I know we’re all dogs on the internet, but really such ignorant prejudgice is not cool. The facts are that your side (Global Warming, Evos, and all the other pseudo-sciences) have not made the case in my opinion. The evidence is lacking in my opinion.
So feel free to accuse someone who’s probably forgotten more SF than you’ve ever learned of being anti-science.
And yes, I’ve read most of the Falkenberg stuff, and it was pretty good although I think I like Mercenaries and Lucifer’s Hammer and The Mote in God’s Eye better. Dream Park was very good too, but the sequel not so much, although not bad. I will have to say that the Ringworld stuff in general was not that great what I read of it, although the scene where the Pak Protector fires a rifle bullet out of the back of a sub-light spaceship to impact into a neutron star they were slingshotting around in order to provoke a solar flare against a pursuing spaceship was very, very cool indeed.
SF has a libertarian streak: check out, among others, H. Beam Piper and Marc Stiegler (especially the latter’s _David’s Sling_ and _Earthweb_).
#135 – David – you hit, perhaps from another direction on the point that I am exploring in my own books. Not neccessarily Western movies, or even John Wayne movies, but that the frontier is what made us, in a way that isn’t quite the way that people had been in the communities in the ‘old world’ or ‘back east’ – and that it was a more complicated experience than it has been painted. Communities of people – mostly self-selected – came together and acted thoughtfully and lawfully in their own best interests, against all sorts of dangers and threats. In my “To Truckee’s Trail” a disparate group of emigrants forms their own ‘tribe’, as one of their leaders comes to realize, banded together against the wilderness. In one of the pivotal scenes in “The Adelsverein Trilogy”, a group of German-American settlers in Civil War Texas band together to protect one of their own from a Confederate lynch-gang – in spite of the fact that some of them are pro-Confederate themselves, and some of them are Unionists. What matters is their rights as citizens and the rule of law.
There’s where our common culture has its roots.
Sgt Mom (Who writes novels as ‘Celia Hayes’)
Hahahahaha ! I haven’t laughed so hard for so long in years – hahahaha – Conservative Culture – now there’s an oxymoron to be proud of !
We had a conservative culture once. It was called the Dark Ages.
Tom CLancy writes for people in their 70s. Please–if you can’t do any better, don’t even try.The Left owns the internet and pop culture, because you–the right–jump on anyone who doesn’t pass every single litmus test. Knocked Up? Juno? Do those movies ring a bell? No, no one got married in a big white dress in a church, and people got all upset.
Buffy and Harry Potter fight evil, and people were afraid of “witchcraft”. How can anyone satisfy the hide-bound right?
(John Wayne might have been great but you’ll never sell him to 16 year olds.)
Just to add–300–movie and graphic novel is precisely the pop culture event that conservatives should have supported.
As some commenters have pointed out already, a distinction has to be made between a conservative cultural output and cultural output produced by conservatives (or libertarians or anti-totalitarians), of which there is a lot more than the former, though it tends to be less explicitly or implicitly political than cultural output of liberals and leftists.
There is actually a not insignificant number of people broadly on the right working in cultural pursuits: people like Robert Ferrigno, Andrew Klavan, Jerry Purnelle, Tom Wolfe, Geoffrey Archer in writing, Jerry Bruckheimer, Adam Sandler, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jon Voight, Kelsey Grammer in the movies and on TV, numerous country stars, and any one from Alice Cooper and Johnyy Ramone (yes, that Johnny Ramone) to Kid Rock and Avenged Sevenfold in music. All these people tend to be far less conservative in their output, partly because conservatives are generally less inclined to jump on their soapboxes than the left, and partly because culture being such a left-doiminated industry, being a vocal conservative can be a career-limiting position.
Do you want a raging conservative superstar madman ? Read Ted Nugent’s “Ted, White, and Blue – The Nugent Manifesto”. Loved his music, concerts when I was younger, and really love his outlook on life now. Totally intense and patriotic. What a great read. Wish I could see him run for office.
While I like science fiction and pop culture as much as the next nerd, conservatism is best looked at as a respect for the past and continuity of time-tested, great ideas. A Dutch poster said it best, about classical roots and common values conservatives believed in, in most eras, and how the present-day conservatism of the Republican Base would be unrecognizable to the great conservative thinkers of the past:
Miklos Hollender:
From here in Europe it seems that the American Conservative movement became a hostage of it’s Evangelical wing. I don’t say religion isn’t important or the Ev’s should have a say but it’s a bit weird when a large Culture War is focused down onto two or three, strictly religious issues (gays, babies, abstinence).
There should be much, MUCH more to Conservatism, especially in culture: common sense, masculinity, honesty, courage, tradition, anti-utopianism, patriotism, classical culture, classical philosophy, aesthetics, and so on.
Real conservatism is NOT:
1. Religious dogma about ensoulment, life at conception. The 6,000 year-old Earth and being anti-science and evolution. (conservatives have always had a healthy regard for science). The idea of religious litmus tests against “heretic” Mormons, “deluded Papist” hispanics, and “godless” conservative atheists and gays. Noted conservatives wrote frequently and well of how they detested theocracy.
2. Worship of CEOs, “free markets”, globalism, Hayek, Ayn Rand’s cancerous efforts at capitalist Stalinism, laissez fair, of the financiers of London and Wall Street having control over the futures of working people. Conservatism never seeks the concentration of wealth in the hands of the few, but seeking a broader prosperity that permits conservatism to flourish and a juster conservative society enabled. Peasant revolts, populism, revanchist “silent majorities” can be deeply conservative in nature.
3. The American Christian Zionism of the Base, placing Israel the foreign political entity first, would be considered absolutely bizarre by past conservative thinkers.
4. To Edmund Burke and other thinkers that societies had no right to mess in others backyards if their own was an untidy mess, the Republican Neocon movement – of present and proposed additional aggressive military invasions to “save the locals”, described as “noble democracy-hungry freedom-lovers” – would be a jaw-dropper.
5. The “Base” is very different than traditional conservatism in America and elsewhere in that they ally with liberals and reject free will and tolerance and believe that “Nanny” government is needed to better inculcate and “keep people safe” – for every nutty “zero tolerance” law liberals invent, the Nannys of the base have their own law.
6. Conservatism has always valued intellectualism more than being proudly anti-intellectual….WFB..was badly misunderstood with his Boston phone book quote.
7. In popular culture, Conservatism is not Rush preaching and entertaining, or Coulter throwing molotovs or spitting venom. It is The Cosby Show, Warren Buffet (democrat he is), kids helping clean up a park because they WANT to. It’s living the lifestyle without anger towards others.
Oddly, I think a lot of action/adventure computer games are slanted more right than left. For all the attention about the violence they contain, there are often clear directives and missions, and clear good vs. bad. The directives are, of course, for the good to destroy the bad. It sounds child-like, but kids understand and enjoy it.
Then there are games like the Sims, where the activities are getting a job, paying bills, saving money to buy stuff, studying and making friends to advance in your chosen career, switching careers, keeping the house clean and keeping everyone fed. Kids need to get good grades or they get sent to military school (and they disappear from the family.) Babies need to be tended. If a Sim sat and whined and waited for someone to do for them, they’d end up surrounded by trash and roaches, have no friends, have their things repossessed, and then die. (They could live on as a ghost.)
Even casual computer games, with the popular time-management genre, say a lot about entrepreneurship and hard work. These principles don’t have to be explained! People just play the games, and figure “yes, if I get a better machine and better help and serve more customers, I’ll make money and move up.”
As far as art, I liked Mike’s remark about “counter culture”. Subversive, yes, because many liberal ideas are tired and fuddy-duddy. But as far as contemporary art is concerned, lefties have it. No soul, but lovely. (If you’re fixated on “Piss Christ” and the like, you have a point, but that kind of stuff is, imo, kind of rare.) Anyway, what does the right have to show? Precious Moments statuettes? (Am I being too cruel?)
re; #11, Miklos, Sounds like you’re talking about the Catholic Church.Check out their network, EWTN. Read any of the Doctors of the Church,or Scott Hahn, Pope John Paul II, G.K. Chesterton.
re#39, Wacky Hermit, to save the next generation, reverse ROE v WADE.
#122, Matteo, Most people don’t realize the Catholic Church started the University system of education.
Of course John Wayne! A classic.
I was overjoyed to see this article as it’s something that’s been on my mind as of late and I couldn’t seem to find any kind of meaningful discussion on the subject. It’s a shame, because it’s possibly the most important issue facing the future of America.
By that, I mean: the hijack of our young minds by the left and the bang-up job they are doing in brainwashing them with values which are almost the polar opposite of the values which America was founded upon.
The result is an inconsistency in the mindset of today’s youth, the exposure of which will serve to guide us toward the solution.
The inconsistency is this:
Teenagers and young adults have a natural urge to assert their individualism. It’s something they feel very strongly about and which can be summed up by the phrase “I am a name, not a number.” When I was a teenager we’d express anger that the state wanted to compartmentalize us, to turn us into docile automatons programmed for the role of working in factories and buying mass produced crap. How important it is, we thought, that we say “no” to conformism and stay true to our individual selves.
However – and here’s the paradox – teenagers also have a great fear of being singled out as “different.” Peer pressure plays an enormous role in their lives and the need to run with a crowd more often than not overrides their claim to individualism. Furthermore, it’s apparent that teens and young adults are quite easily indoctrinated by the collectivist ideas of socialism. This is most definitely because they don’t understand the full implications of such an ideology.
The reason why they don’t understand – and why we have a situation in which kids who profess to be individuals nonetheless align themselves quickly to collectivist ideology – is because socialists have perfected the art of ensnaring young minds. They know how to sell socialism to young minds and in what terms to couch it.
Socialism is sold as “fairness” and “justice.” Such ideas are attractive to kids who identify with the “unfairness” and “injustice” bestowed upon them by their oppressive parents. Having spent their teen years stomping their feet and saying “it’s not fair,” now they see an ideology which seems to understand their view of life. Fairness and equality are very important to the young. Socialism is thus sold on this ticket – and it’s antithesis, capitalism, is demonized as the ideology of mean, nasty, oppressive adults who want to tell them what to do.
Capitalism is derided as slavery. With capitalism, you’re a “slave to the machine.” You’re a “slave to consumerism.” You’re part of the “rat race.” Whereas socialism is sold as a means of “breaking free of the chains which enslave us.” It’s seen as a “return to a more natural way of living.” It’s “what was intended for us in life.”
Of course, such snake-oil is the polar opposite of reality. It is capitalism which represents individual freedom and the end of slavery; socialism (and all other forms of collectivism) are in reality no more than state slavery, or at the very least slavery to an ideology and a “common purpose.” Try telling kids that a “common purpose” means they are no longer individuals and they just blank you out.
Once socialists have captured the imagination of a youth mesmerized by “fairness,” they set to work tightening the screws. Other issues which inspire emotion within kids are used to attract them to the fold. The most emotive issue is “racism.” Thus socialism is seen as the solution to racism, wheras captialism is demonized as a package deal of meanness, greed, unfairness, inequality, racism and sexism.
This is why socialist groups attempt to seize control of any protest march which has to do with race or gender. Having lived for a good number of years in New York City I have noticed that every anti-racism or anti-police protest march I have witnessed seems to be “sponsored” by some local socialist or communist group or other. Their logos adorn protest signs and the connection is made: “End racist police brutality – embrace communism” is one such sign I witnessed not so long ago. Again, the intent lies in expressing the polar opposite of reality: socialist and communist regimes are in every case more oppressive and brutal than capitalist democracies.
So it seems clear that although young people have a very strong innate belief in the importance of individual freedom, their fear of being singled out makes them unlikely to express it fully. When everyone else around them thinks that capitalism is for mean, greedy people who “don’t care,” rare is the young person who speaks out against the tide. I can remember even as a young kid having a very strong feeling that I owned my own life and that nobody had the right to tell me how to live it. It just seemed like the most fundamental premise to me. Of course like most others, I quickly forgot about the importance of this when everyone around me was getting into left wing politics. It was only a few years later upon reading Ayn Rand’s “The Virtue of Selfishness” that I realized just how right my initial instincts were. For the first time, that strong innate feeling was described to me in rational, moral terms.
The left knows how to ensnare young minds – and the right doesn’t seem interested in doing anything about it. Leftism is seen as a rite of passage – “if you’re not a liberal at 20 you have no heart, if you’re not a conservative by 40 you have no brain,” goes the old saying. Leftism is a phase of life which is, in theory, quickly extinguished as soon as you venture into the real world, have a family, start your own business, understand human nature. Unfortunately, the dominance of leftist value in the mainstream media and in popular culture means that many *are* reaching the age of 40 without having seen sense. They’re just not getting exposed to the ideas of conservatism or libertarianism. They’re not hearing the arguments, they don’t know what is wrong with leftist ideology. They’re not encouraged to think about it beyond a shallow surface which claims “fairness, justice and equality.” They don’t know why socialism is none of those things. They aren’t exposed to the most basic premises of economic theory. They don’t know a thing about the origins of America or what it stands for. They aren’t taught that America is very much the torch-bearer of the Enlightenment, a philosophy which gave birth to the primacy of reason and the moral idea that man is an individual who belongs to nobody but himself. These ideas are the cornerstones of Western culture and are responsible for everything that is good in our lives. Kids aren’t being taught about the consequences of losing such a philosophy and why capitalism is its guardian. Instead, they’re being taught that Western culture is inherently wrong and that individualism, greed and selfishness are to blame. They’re taught that America is rotten to the core and that only the left can save it. It stinks and we must do something about it.
I agree, more should be done to promote conservative culture. By “conservative” I mean a libertarian ideology grounded in law and order, which after all is essential to freedom. Nobody is free if they’re at the mercy of criminals. I do not think that religion should be any part of such a promotion. Religion has a place in that the freedom to practice it without persecution should be protected. But if anyone here thinks that we’re going to win over young hearts and minds with God, they have another thing coming. Religion is a private matter and any attempt to ground conservatism in faith to the young is going to fail long term. We need to promote a rational ideology within which one can appeal to reason at all times.
But I think overall, we have to start doing everything we can to put straight the fallacies, lies and irrationalism being fed to kids. The internet is one of the best places to do this. I have a theory that internet forums and comment threads attract those in society who are the most opinionated and outspoken. These people are probably the most influential within their sphere. They’re beacons of opinion – doing more than anyone else to change the minds of their peers. They’re also likely to be the most adept in constructing the word flow needed to convince others. For this reason, I think that engaging young minds in internet forums is an excellent start. Find forums in which young people discuss politics or even general issues – and do everything you can to set them straight. Forum threads are a great idea to promote the arguments of such thinkers as Ayn Rand, Henry Hazlitt, Frederich Hayek and Ludwig von Mises. Let’s face it, you’re never going to have much luck persuading kids to read “The Road to Serfdom” but you sure as hell can propogate his reasoning in simple, friendly terms to kids in internet forums.
I spend an hour or two every night defending individualism, capitalism and reason on various discussion mediums from Craigslist to YouTube. I get a lot of abuse and witness a lot of stupidity and ignorance, but it is very possible to change minds. I’ve lost count of the number of emails I’ve had from kids telling me that I’ve changed their mind about something or another and asking me for more information. I usually send them a list of books to read. The solution needs to take the form of persuading the minds of kids at a time when individualism is important to them and when they are open to new ideas. This is usually when the socialists capture them – and it’s here that I propose we take the fight. We may not be able to do anything about the dominance of leftism in the mainstream media and in popular culture. But we can give kids the intellectual tools to resist such indoctrination. It is then that we’ll start to see a shift in the cultural balance and not before. Youth is everything.
Ms. Cohen:
“The Left owns the internet…”
The internet brought me here, and will take me to all of the suggested links I’ve added to my bookmarks folder today. I thank you all.
The earlier comment about pull rather than passive push technology is relevant.
Paul S.
I’ve always been grateful to my parents for letting me read voraciously when I was young, even persuading the public librarian to let me check out more books than the daily limit
What conservative beliefs I have started with what I read, and were cemented by the facts of life as I grew older.
Authors
The Master, Heinlein
Norma Lorre Goodrich
Capt W E Johns – the ‘Biggles’ books
Jules Verne
James Fenimore Cooper
Nicholas Monsarrat
Ronald Welch – the Carey series, across the ages from the Crusades – WW1
Duncan MacNeil – the Regimental series, set on the Northwest frontier
John Wayne
Louis L’Amour
Rudyard Kipling
Gene Wolfe
Larry Niven
Jerry Pournelle
David Drake
Steve Stirling
Orson Scott Card
John Ringo
Robert B Parker
Frank Miller
Myths:
The Iliad
The Odyssey
Tristan and Isolde
The Ballad of Roncesvalles
Gilgamesh
(no better way, in my opinion, for a boy to learn how a man should treat his first loves and then the love of his life when he finds her, than to emulate the gentlemen of myth and legend)
Movies:
“Sgt York”
“The Devil’s Brigade”
“MacKenna’s Gold”
“Major Dundee”
“The War Wagon”
“African Queen”
“Band Of Brothers”
“Casablanca”
“The Longest Day”
“The Professionals”
“Valdez Is Coming”
“High Noon”
“Murphy’s War”
“The Guns Of Navarone”
“Braveheart”
“300″
There are of course many more…
Don’t forget The Incredibles!
“151. Rachel Cohen:
Just to add–300–movie and graphic novel is precisely the pop culture event that conservatives should have supported.”
300 was quite good as a film and as a graphic novel, but as a conservative pop-culture event? I don’t think so. The Spartans were admirable in combat, honor, and all of that – much like our own military. But when we learn that the Spartans examined newborns to weed out any “defectives” from their warrior population, and threw them into a cliff to be left to die and be eaten by vultures…
Oh no! Not when Little Trig Palin is the new symbol of the pro-life cause.
“A nation’s culture is the sum of the intellectual achievements of individual men, which their fellow-citizens have accepted in whole or in part, and which have influenced the nations’ way of life. Since a culture is a complex battleground of different ideas and influences, to speak of a ‘culture’ is to speak only of the *dominant* ideas, always allowing for the existence of dissenters and exceptions.” -”Don’t Let It Go” in Philosophy: Who Needs It by Ayn Rand
The dominant ideas of the Enlightenment and the Founders were reason and individual rights – not faith and statism.
Conservatism has never been an influence in the culture because it has never had any new ideas to offer. Today, more conservatives are rejecting reason in favor of its centuries-old barbaric antipode – faith. The left abdicated reason decades ago in favor of collectivist whims and force.
It’s time for new leadership of the Republican Party which is able to do something never done before: advocate a moral defense of individual rights and the profit motive. Ayn Rand’s revolutionary philosophic system provides the full and consistent basis of such a defense, and nothing less will ever reverse the course of our culture’s statism and depravity – as decades of conservative impotence proves.
In the meantime, as Rand noted, “those who fight for the future live in it today.”
Jason S. @#157
I really like your post, except for the part where you kind of subtlely put down religion. That’s understandable, since the objectivist tradition is hostile towards it, seeing it as a constraining rather than a liberating force.
The moral human being is master of himself. I can honestly state that I owe what amount of moral maturity I have to my Catholic Christian education and upbringing. Does that mean I see no conflicts and issues with my Church? Of course not. It just means that I’ve been oriented correctly, so that I can live not as a slave to baser instincts and the wrong kind of selfishness.
As a veteran of the academic Marxist movement in this country, I can say that our opponents utterly lack this kind of grounding. I was personally mocked by fellow Leftists because I tried to be both a Marxist and a Christian. It mean that I was not totally free to live the ethics of expediency they practice and believe in. That was just one of many moments of cognizant dissonance, all piling up in a mental inbox to be dealt with at a later date.
Let’s be clear: both the Marxists and the objectivists can be subject to being un-moored from strong ethical grounding. But between the two, I will chose the objectivists as having a clearer grasp of reality and human nature. Utopian thought’s telos is fatally flawed at the outset, as it rests on a belief about humanity and history that just are not true. Not epistemologically and certainly not scientifically, since it became clear to me – from my investigations into human developmental psychology, genetics, and neuroscience – that evil has an organic basis. We’ll never be rid of it, and as such it explodes the telos of socialism.
The words conservative and creative are mutually exclusive. Art is inherently progressive, always looking to expand. Conservativism seeks to maintain the status quo. That’s not always a bad thing, but in the case of art, it is. Conservative art = bland, boring art.
300 glorifies the ultra-conservative Spartan state, which was culturally superior to the more liberal Athens. That’s why Sparta eventually became the capital of Greece and was renowned throughout the ancient world for its great architecture, sculpture, painting, and especially literature…
/sarcasm
Terry Goodkind is author to a fantasy series called the Sword of Truth, which I would definitely recommend for any libertarian/conservatives or fantasy/sci fi fans. The philosophy that drives the series is largely inspired by the Objectivist theory of Ayn Rand.
In book one, “Wizard’s First Rule,” the protagonist takes on a collectivist, totalitarian state and dictator. He must prevail over the state’s Orwellian propaganda of promised equality, and save the world from an evil magic at the same time.
Later in the series, the book “Naked Empire” is an intelligent interpretation and commentary on the US anti-war movement that took place early in the second Iraq war.
So, think Atlas Shrugged, but with more dragons, magic, violence, wizards, and awesomeness.
LAURA INGALLS WILDER, MAN.
#164 Someone75 says:
<<>>
This is just silly. First of all, your rigid “dictionary” definitions for Conservative and liberal are not really applicable to what we’re talking about with what we mean when we say “conservative” and “liberal” in today’s political context.
Conservatives are not for “maintaining the status quo”. Not even close. Conservatives are generally for things like:
1. Privatizing public schools, or at least allowing competition with private schools through the use of vouchers.
2. Jettisoning the ancient tax code and going to a flat tax or a “Fair Tax” system, or something along those lines.
3. Overturning Roe Vs. Wade and allowing the states to individually decide their abortion laws.
4. End any state-based racial discrimination by overturning affirmative action programs.
5. Completely overhaul an ancient social security system to keep it solvent(they’ve been stopped from this “progressive” attempt at change by Democrats every inch of the way)
And on and on and on. In fact, most of the conservative agenda seeks to completely change the “status quo” as it is now, with liberals fighting to maintain the way things are(the tax code, social security, Roe vs. Wade, etc.) I could come up with many more example than this – this is just the tip of the iceberg.
The conservatives are the actual “progressives” if you apply your definition, and liberals are the “conservatives”.
Check out City Journal, New Criterion, Libertas, Commentary — it’s a start.
cedarford writes at #154, “Conservatism never seeks the concentration of wealth in the hands of the few.”
Wealth “concentration” is a Marxist straw man that equivocates between economic and political power to create unnatural conflict between rich and poor for the benefit of statist leaders and dictators.
Economic power is the power to produce and offer one’s output to others in free, un-coerced, voluntary trade to mutual advantage. Political power is the power of the governments’ guns held to your head. This distinction was discovered by Ayn Rand in her moral defense of capitalism.
The “concentration” of wealth per se is irrelevant. I would be far better off living in a totally free capitalist society where one trillionaire happened to own a majority of the wealth than in today’s mixed economy where an unstable mixture of freedom and controls throttles everyone.
Only in a society where individual rights are protected, is a Henry Ford or Bill Gates even possible. And without men like Ford and Gates, all the laborers in the world barely subsist – as in India or China for the centuries before elements of freedom and capitalism were injected.
Ardsgaine: To nitpick, Sparta did manage to beat Athens…
But then Sparta had to deal with Athens’s empire, and it swiftly collapsed. At any rate Spartan “conservatism” was, in practice, national-socialist. I’m not the one arguing for 300 as a conservative model.
Rome was also a conservative culture, and it lasted a lot longer as such. A better subject for a 300-type conservative movie would be the conflict against Hannibal. Conservatives might also identify with Lucius Vorenus in the Rome series; and there’s also Gladiator.
I meant to put a link to Terry Goodkind’s personal philosophical statement:
http://www.prophets-inc.com/the_author/philosophy.html
“Conservative music? I dunno. I love American music. This classic for example:”
Whoops. Unfortunately, the video you linked to is a video of Ten Years After…a British band.
On the subject of authors of fiction, my favorite right-leaning author is the late Poul Anderson. He wrote great science fiction, with a libertarian twist. Heinlein was great too, but I prefer Poul.
Ayn Rand is possibly the worst writer of fiction I’ve ever read. though I agree with a lot of her political ideas.
“300 glorifies the ultra-conservative Spartan state”
“300″ glorifies the ultimate leftist totalitarian state: Sparta. I’d just as soon live under communism than under the system Sparta had.
fred: “Let’s be clear: both the Marxists and the objectivists can be subject to being un-moored from strong ethical grounding.”
Thank God that never happens to Christians!!
Honestly, did it hurt to write that? Didn’t you feel at least some sort of twinge or muscle spasm? Or do you live in an alternate universe where Christians never murdered people in the name of God, never burnt anyone for being a witch, never separated Jews from their lives or property for “murdering Jesus?” Do you live in a world where no Christian ever cheated on his wife, abused his children, stole, murdered, or committed a thousand other crimes?
No, if you want to debate ethics, you need to focus on the content. We all know people can fail to live up to their ideals. It’s the nature of the ideals that should be at issue. If you think you can win the debate by holding Christians up as paragons of moral virtue, well, let’s just say you need to take a wider stance, or you’re going to get bowled over.
Act conservative first. Be self sufficient. Homeschool your kids. Keep your money in your mattress. Live beneath your means. Grow a victory garden. Drive the same car as long as you can. Avoid the MSM. Don’t hire anyone under 30.
Well what about the classics. Religious! Philosophical! What about Austen, Waugh, G.K. Chesterson, and C.S. Lewis. Many a conservative ideal can be found in the trendy Kierkegaard or Doestevsky. In modern times their have been the irreverent comedies of South Park and B.S. by Penn and Teller. I personally dislike Rand. Some conservatives would say that political music is both propagandistic and not very good. I could find a million conservative ideals out of Dylan(even more liberal ones). The song brick by Ben Folds shows the unpolitical and less exploitative and humanistic side of the abortion issue. Art should move the soul and conservatives are conservative because they try to steer away from soul moving stuff to get their point across. I mean a political speech could move the soul Bush’s did for me but it shouldn’t be the aim that is the liberals game. We don’t hero worship like them and we have little faith in human ability and much art could be pulled from those ideals. But if you need me to lay it out: Belle and Sebastian are a great scottish band that have a great reserved message they are cute and very sixties inspired. The Smiths although irreverent are still by me considered conservative they remind me of Jane Austen in humor and Acton when they do get political. The Smiths are great for literary buffs. Leonard Cohen, Dylan, Low, and Nick Cave very much so. To me the new Batman laid out a very neocon message. Ace of Spades H.Q. is great for a getaway from the serious attitude of politics. The new show Kings is a re-adaptation of the story of King David and will subtlety show the necessity of personal responsibility. But I again reiterate conservatives are not liberals and propaganda should never be our method of action. Pick up a bible.
163. fred:
I’m not in any way religious at all, but I don’t think I was really putting down religion. I have great respect for Judeo-Christian values and their contribution to Western society. I just don’t believe that it’s necessary or advisable to derive a moral system from faith – not in the context of promoting an ideology or running a country.
The reason is this. Spiritualism is not provable. If morals are expressed in terms of spiritualism, it is not possible to appeal to reason should any dispute arise. If you say that *your* faith dictates moral X, then there is nothing to stop someone else saying that *their* faith dictates moral Y. Where does the argument go from there? There is no way to resolve such a dispute since neither version of spirituality is provable and neither is based on anything objective or concrete.
In contrast, a moral system derived rationally from objective reality has the advantage that one can always appeal to reason. While I would not describe myself as a card-carrying Objectivist I will say that Ayn Rand set down such a rational moral system. If you accept that life is the standard of value and that every individual has the inalienable right to dispose of their own life as they please so long as they don’t initiate the use of force against another, then you have a rational moral system as far as I’m concerned. The right to life is the basis of all other rights, including the right to property. Rand’s chapter on the nature of individual rights in “The Virtue of Selfishness” (which also appears as an appendix in “Capitalism”) is perhaps the best explanation of rights I have ever read in my life. She then goes on to demolish the idea of “collective rights,” which of course is an idea grounded in mysticism.
Secular Marxism resulted in so many deaths not because of the absence of religion but because collectivism is not a rational ideology and fails to isolate the primary importance of the individual. There is no such thing as a “common purpose” since every individual has their own hopes, dreams, aspirations and priorities. Any attempt to force individuals to sacrifice their life to the collective is slavery and will always result in oppression and mass slaughter.
Evil – that which is detrimental to life – may well have an organic basis but that is why we need a state to enforce the rule of law and protect individuals from the physical coercion of others.
I agree with Rand when she expresses her contempt for today’s conservatives (or even the conservatives of her time) – who should be the ones to defend capitalism and the rights of the individual but instead who say nothing as the primary values of America are stomped upon by the collectivist left; indeed who have partaken in that atrocity themselves on many occasions. I can think of very few conservatives who defend capitalism properly these days – they may make a few gurgling noises in defense of free markets on occasion, but rather than defend economic freedom from a rational and moral stance, they behave as apologists for a system they concede is “flawed” but which they snivel, “it’s the best we have so far.”
How many conservatives tell the truth? Which is that we have never had true economic freedom, that the “capitalism” which they refer to is in fact a mixed market which is poked and prodded by corrupt bureaucrats, who abuse their power and distribute economic favors to businessmen prepared to hand over a few dollars and perks to any politicians who will give them an advantage at the expense of their competitors?
If anything the conservatives are worse than the socialists. At least the socialists are consistent in their attacks on capitalism. As Rand said, when two groups accept what are basically the same ideas, the most consistent side wins. Which is why McCain deserved to lose against Obama. He paid lip service to the free market and to the idea that people should be able to keep as much of their wealth as possible – but all the while, he talked about the need to curtail “Wall St greed” and proposed the bailing out of people’s mortgages and chose a running mate who stung big oil in her own state in order to redistribute legitimate profits to those who didn’t earn them. Obama wasn’t exactly consistent with the ideas of socialism and he too pays lip service to the idea of economic freedom, but far less so. He just came right out and said it: “we’re going to spread the wealth”….and he won. Neither side was consistent in their promotion of socialistic views, but Obama was the most consistent.
Back to religion – I will defend anyone’s right to practice their own faith where and when they like, just so long as they don’t force it upon others. So, I think a kid has the right to say a prayer when accepting an award in front of the school for instance, and I despise the leftist mindset which sees this as a “crime.” I just don’t think, given the diversity of thought and belief in today’s society, that you can seriously expect to base a successful political movement or ideology on religion. This is why the religious right annoys me so much. In their belief that a state can and should have religious basis, they alienate the millions of us who either don’t have such beliefs or who don’t share the same religion. For this reason, unless the Republican Party does something about the tendency of its religious segment force their faith down the throats of those who want nothing to do with it, I think as a party it’s finished.
A rational conservatism based on a combination of libertarianism with a strong emphasis on the rule of law and national defense is the only viable future for conservatism in my opinion. As long as it both refrains from forcing religion down the throats of the secular AND protects the inalienable right of the religious to practice their faith freely, it offers something for everyone.
Compare the Daily Show and Colbert Report to Fox News Half Hour News Hour.
I think Jon Stewart is an insufferable ******-bag, and really wanted to like the Half Hour News Hour. But Fox’s answer to Comedy Central wasn’t just bad, it was embarrassing to watch.
Stewart and Colbert are comedians who happen to be liberal, while HHNH were conservatives trying to be comedians (Dennis Miller excepted). That, and Comedy Central can put topical shows on almost every day, while HHNH was a once-a-week show that recycled old jokes about liberals.
It’s no wonder that TDS and TCR continue to be influential, while HHNH will be a minor footnote in TV trivia.
Fred at #163 provides a thoughtful post, but readers here may want to consider reading or re-reading Peikoff’s “Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand” to correct some of Fred’s errors:
1. Objectivism is not “hostile to religion” in the sense of the former’s advocacy of pure capitalism where everyone is free to worship as they please (short of violating other’s rights). This is in marked contrast to the unjust persecution by religious sects, theocrats, communists and other atheists throughout the centuries.
2. Metaphysically and epistemologically, Objectivism agrees with Aristotle that a) nothing can exist outside the universe, and b) valid knowledge requires sensory evidence — so on the question of God, Objectivism finds the burden of proof is not met: it’s an arbitrary assertion and invalid concept. God can only be taken on faith and Objectivism rejects faith as inimical to knowledge and to man’s life.
3. Objectivism provides the first objective moral code – grounded in man’s nature as the animal who must choose to think and act long range in order to live – as against the religious codes of intrinsic moral commandments to live for others, or the subjective codes of hedonism and Nietzsche.
4. Ethically, Fred’s view that evil has “an organic basis” – biological determinism – is wrong because if the content of man’s mind is not chosen, then his knowledge cannot be checked or relied upon, and truth is not possible. For example, Galileo says heliocentrism and Ptolemy says geocentrism, but if knowledge is determined, neither man can be fully responsible for the content of his mind (nor can we in evaluating their claims), and there is no way to resolve the contradiction. If any form of determinism were operative, it would be impossible to arrive at objective truth.
These are only the briefest indications! Peikoff’s book presents Rand’s entire philosophic system – metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, politics, esthetics – and argues exactly how and why it’s the first and only philosophy that’s fully integrated without contradiction. Put it to the test by your own most demanding reason and see the basis for the second renaissance!
Zimriel,
Only in the short term. The ultimate victory belongs to Athens. Athens was an idea that could not be quashed by one military defeat. Its cultural prestige was such that it outlasted many conquerers, and the idea itself is still very much alive.
As for the Romans, politically, they were, along with Athens, part of the liberal* movement towards representative government that occurred around the Mediterranean. (Even Sparta had a representative government, though it was far more restrictive. One of the worst things about 300 was its portrayal of Sparta’s elected officials as leprous monsters.) Political liberalism led to cultural liberalism that reached its pinnacle in Athens, but wasn’t completely absent in Rome.
Compared to Athens, Rome may seem conservative but in the context of the times they were not. Romans had a voracious appetite for the new. Although they originated very little, culturally, they absorbed an enormous amount from the people whose lands they conquered. That’s especially true of the Greeks, and Athens in particular. As they became less politically liberal, their culture began to degenerate, and lose its vitality. When they reached the point where they were simply trying to conserve their gains, it was just a matter of time until the end.
*In case it isn’t clear, I am using ‘liberalism’ in its classic meaning, not as a synonym for socialism. There’s nothing less liberal than a socialist state. Conservatives like to claim that part of what they are trying to conserve is our tradition of freedom, but they have confused ‘Americanism’ with a bunch of other stuff that is contradictory of freedom. Conservative philosophy, like a conservative thought process, is inherently unfree, and nothing can flow, culturally, from hostility to liberalism.
Jason S.,
Fair enough. I too support freedom of religion and no coercion of faith on others. Always have and always will. My faith anchors me to a support of capitalism and property rights because, first of all, I too believe that the individual has a right to his own life and to pursue happiness in this life. I intend to get up to speed in Rand’s arguments. I’m more anchored in the Aristotelian tradition and Thomism, which also provides a rational basis for human rights and liberty. Unfortunately, sometimes in the Church’s history the Scholastics butchered Aquinas in order to force his thinking into their own templates.
I hew more to an enlightened self-interest, that tells me that pursuing business aims and to become well off are good things – along the way the wealth I help to create also benefits others. Not everyone is gifted with inspiration, pluck, or the brains to come up with a business idea or product that will succeed, but more likely can make a decent living working for someone else. Ideally, people should find their niche in life. The less of our income the state takes, the more prosperous society is for everyone, since opportunity thrives.
Obama may be “consistent” in his socialist logic, but his way will be the ruin of the nation.
Unfortunately, we have some large demographic groups in this country who find Obama’s policy prescriptions a perfect fit for their parasitism.
Jason S., if you have a blog, or write regularly for anything, sign me up to read it. You just succinctly and accurately described the rational moral imperative of capitalism. Something all too lost from mainstream, conservative punditry.
This whole election, it has seemed like much of the rhetoric Republican’s depended, and obsessed on was based on character attacks of Obama and attempts to associate him with radical leftists… be it Ayers, Wright, etc. That doesn’t mean Democrats (and the media) didn’t use cheap political tactics themselves, hell they invented the game. And I am not saying that these things about Obama are untrue, or unimportant. But, taking the discussion back to the philosophical and rational roots of the ideals of individualism is SO IMPORTANT, and it works! I know that my discoveries of John Locke, John Stuart Mill, Milton Friedman, Ayn Rand, and company are what led to my unholy conversion from liberalism to conservatism. The one-up we individualists and conservatives have on liberals and socialists is that our philosophy, to paraphrase Friedman, is based on an abstract set of rational principles. Compare that to the left, whose entire worldview is based on an emotional premise of utopian equality.
In the arena of ideas, individualism will always trump collectivism. We need to remember this, and stop playing by the rules the Democrats have set.
182. fred:
Even though you’re religious you’ll find a lot of value in Rand’s writings. I guess you’ll just have to ignore the parts where she dismisses faith. I don’t think you’ll find it such a big deal – I can quite happily read the likes of Ann Coulter and enjoy her opinions even when she denounces the “Godless.”
Ayn Rand’s probably one of the most misquoted and misrepresented writers in history. It’s fashionable to denounce her as a “mean old biddy” whose ideology forbids kindness or charity of any kind – in fact nothing could be further from the truth. The whole point of her ethical system was that it’s immoral to sacrifice a greater value for a lesser one. In other words, self-sacrifice is immoral. There is something inherently wrong with giving someone $20 if you value that money more than you value giving it to another, for example. But the reverse is also true – if you value giving it more than keeping it, then by all means give it.
Her use of the word “selfish” also raises heckles unnecessarily. For a lot of her detractors, all they need to know is that she wrote a book and called it “The Virtue of Selfishness” and they’re falling over themselves to denounce her. But Rand clears this up on the first page:
“In popular usage, the word ‘selfishness’ is a synonym of evil; the image it conjures is of a murderous brute who tramples over piles of corpses to achieve his own ends, who cares for no living being and pursues nothing but the gratification of the mindless whims of any immediate moment.
Yet the exact meaning and dictionary definition of the word ‘selfishness’ is: concern with one’s own interests.”
She then goes on to explain why the concern with one’s own interests is a perfectly moral pursuit. One reason is obvious and should be a cornerstone of conservatism: that in looking after one’s own self interests, a person thus relives others of his burden and expects no one to enslave themselves to his needs. Surely a society of people who are primarily selfish – concerned first and foremost with looking after themselves – is more desirable than a society formed in the image of the values of the left: a society of producers and parasites.
The ethics of self-sacrifice are nonsensical. If a person lives to help others, then how much help are they going to be to others if they don’t exist? Even if a person wishes to devote their lives to working for the well being of their fellow humans, it is still imperative that they look after themselves first and foremost, since their health is directly linked to their ability to help others.
Obama won because many people voted for a short term gain at the expense of the rich. They liked the idea that he promised to sting big business for higher taxes which he would then redistribute to non taxpayers and to finance tax cuts for middle class taxpayers. Yet when big business is paying more in taxes, they’ll just pass the extra onto the consumer in the form of higher prices. When the price of fuel rose recently, so did the price of groceries. Simple cause and effect. The poor will be affected the most by higher prices. Confiscating capital from producers in the form of higher taxes also limits the capacity to supply and thus drives prices higher as more dollars (redistributed by Obama) chase the same number of goods. His economic plans are stupid enough as it is; to enact them during an economic crisis is just suicidal. Ah well, I guess that maybe every democracy will flirt with the left every 30 years or so. Maybe we need this periodic idiocy to remind us just how bad socialistic economics is. The Brits flirted with socialism in the latter half of the 70′s – by 79 when Thatcher was elected, the country was almost bankrupt. They’ve managed to keep socialism at bay every since, but unfortunately they’ve had inflicted upon them an unelected socialist Prime Minister who is now, among other things, planning to confiscate a percentage of all bank accounts which haven’t had sufficient activity for a while. Socialists are thieves, criminals and thugs. They have an innate yearning for the unearned. I despise them.
It’s great to see this conversation here!
We created a blog 9 months ago to try to get dialogue going among FANS of pop culture who don’t bow to Lefty assumptions.
We have felt that part of the problem is that there’s little confidence among younger “culture consumers” who lean toward conservative or libertarian ideas. They’re swallowed up and meant to feel like freaks amid the campus speech codes and Obama-worship at the concerts they attend.
So we are trying to start a dialogue among folks who aren’t down with Lefty ideas, but who still love modern pop culture. There are conservative groups out there that act like “cultural watchdogs” or guides for families trying to stay away from sex and violence. (That’s fine, but we kind of LIKE sex and violence.) At the same time, I’m sympathetic to the ideas of a lot of Reason folks, but wish they didn’t get such pleasure out of cheap shots at unhip conservatives, just like the Left.
There’s gotta be a middle ground — where we can enjoy pop culture because it’s good; take mild offense when us conservatives/liberatrians are stereotyped but laugh it off without making a fuss; but then point out the really idiotic Lefty assumptions that pervade so many of our TVs and movies. Right?
Visit our site over here: http://www.yeahrightblog.com, take a look around, and discover the ways you can get involved.
Matteo,
Read up on http://wikicompany.org/wiki/911:Vatican_&_Jesuits
>There is plenty of conservative culture to be found
>here, and at least in Catholicism, at as high a level
>of intellectual caliber as you could want.
Good article. Great thread.
One can see from the comments a definite divide between the libertarian and religious conservatives. Having been on both sides of the conservative street, I think that there is one area where, in culture-worldview, not only do we have something very powerful in common with each other, but we do with all humanity. Something very powerful.
As a child of the 60′s-70′s, while America was self-destructing I found refuge in my preteen years from the insanity by watching Bill Buckley’s Firing Line. As most of you know, it was not only about politics, but language, culture, and thinking. My bunker from the meltdown outside were books by CS Lewis, Allen Drury, Heinlein, Dostoevsky, and Ayn Rand. (Have to say I liked Mad Magazine too.) Rand led me into atheism, objectivism, and philosophy in general. While I listened to popular music, I discovered classical music. In my mid-twenties however I was confronted by something beyond myself, and very reluctantly, very miserably, yet inexorably, I became a Christian.
One thing both sides have in common, one that humanity desperately desires, is the belief in absolutes. Eternal, immovable values and principles is the very definition of conservatism. One article all should be familiar with is the essay by one of America’s greatest playwrights, David Mamet, who described (in The Village Voice of all places,) his transition from Leftism to Conservatism. He describes the influences that are notable in his transformation -especially British historian Paul Johnson and the watershed work by Alan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind.
But even more notable was the main reason he found that Leftism was no longer tenable – it simply did not correspond to reality. Evil, for example, really exists. People, are really bad sometimes. He termed his new view, “the old pessimistic view” or what Alan Bloom more precisely called “the Biblical view.” Embedded in this view in the intuitive, common sense understanding of the world and humanity that humanity craves to be reafirmed. Also in this view are the seed kernals of hope, real hope, not contrived politicians’ utopian hope. It allows the possibility of redemption and resoration. And therein lies the great possibility of a Rennaissance of Conservative culture.
Even if their own surface convictions may not be conservative, writers, producers ETC. intuitively know this culture because it sells. Stories about the struggle between right and wrong, evil and good, people struggling to confront and deal with their own depravity and finding hope and redemption, stories of romance and love conquering all, stories of great adventures and triumph over impossible odds – these all are what the world craves which is why it sells. It sells because it corresponds to reality, to the powerful eternal values and truths that is found in the heart of every man. And it gives hope.
Now let’s get to it.
OBAMA STARTS LIKE A ROOKIE
Team Obama has a long way to go in just over 70 days. Time to fasten our seat belts as noted here:
http://greensrealworld.blogspot.com/2008/11/obama-starts-like-rookie.html
183. Luke:
I don’t have a blog and don’t write for anyone, but there are many blogs and sites that you could visit, for example mises.org – on there you will find many excellent articles about the Austrian school of economics and also the moral/philosophical side of capitalism. They have a wealth of classic individualist and capitalist texts to download from the likes of Mises and Hayek. They have entire books in pdf format for free, like Mises’ classic refutation of socialism. You could spend all day every day for a year on that site and never stop learning.
I’m also a big fan of George Reisman – he has an excellent blog at http://georgereisman.com/blog/ – Reisman is descended from the Ayn Rand/Mises school of thought and mixes classical and Austrian economics with his own take. He has an epic tome available called “Capitalism” which is perhaps the best and most complete defense of the system available. It defends capitalism from a moral, philosophical and economic viewpoint and does it brilliantly. I just bought the book online which is not cheap at $90 or so but it’s huge and probably over a year’s worth of reading. You can download it in pdf format at his site for free, however – http://www.capitalism.net/
I would visit Reisman’s blog and click on some of the links to other blogs and take it from there – you will find a wealth of individualist and pro-capitalist writing online. There aren’t enough hours in the day, basically. You might also check out Ayn Rand’s “Capitalism – the Unknown Ideal” if you haven’t already read it; it’s a fine moral defense of capitalism and contains essays by a certain Mr. Alan Greenspan before he lost his mind and became chairman of the Fed and therefore renounced laissez-faire (that son of a b*tch screwed our economy at the Fed and now he’s blaming deregulation to weasel his way out of it…grrr)
Other classics include Henry Hazlitt’s “Economics in One Lesson” and Hayek’s “The Road to Serfdom.”
I might take this opportunity to introduce you to the writing of Andrew Bernstein: he wrote an excellent book called “The Capitalist Manifesto” which again is very much inspired by Ayn Rand and defends and promotes capitalism from all angles. I note that he now has another book out, this time about Objectivism – check out his website: http://www.andrewbernstein.net/
All too often I hear what conservaties are against: aborition, taxes, porn etc.
But what are we for? Henlien, Ryan etc. attacked socialism but thier answers have not really sparked debate.
What do we stand for. The reason the left got away with nov 4th is that the economy tanked and they said “we are for a bailout” Their stand against bush did not work but being for easy money sold.
What are we for? What kind of world do we want Christians, I love you guys but not every American is a chirstian. What about other faiths? Other ethnic groups (people who say race alot sound like D&D rejects)?
We need to be fore something and show the world that we stand for something better than the left.
TO: Chockblock
RE: Sparking Debate
Odd….
the 2006-7 high school debate Cross-X topic was all about Heinlein’s Starship Troopers philosophy, albeit most of the teams I judged hadn’t read the book, let alone developed args to support such a plan.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
P.S. I blame the vaunted American public education system for their lack of education….
Boy, do Evangelical Christians get a bum rap in this country and on this blog, though not particularly in this article or this thread.
Somehow, most of dumb America has been brainwashed to think there’s 60MM Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell disciples representative of the Evangelical movement. Nothing could be further from the truth and it is our fault that we’ve let the secular media, the left, and even that moderate middle define us as such and play their game of semantics.
Trust me, most of us who admire Billy Graham, Rick Warren, David Jeremiah or Chuck Swindoll, or John Paul II, or Benedict XVI (yes, there are Evangelical Catholics too) are just as normal, just as sinful, and just as pragmatic as someone calling themselves moderate or Libertarian. And though I disagree with the theology of the Mormon Church, I generally have a great admiration for the way they lead their lives and raise their children.
The fact that Evangelicals have a major concern with 50MM legalized abortions, or will state excessive gambling and drinking a problem, who are appalled we can’t watch network television with our mother or children in the room, find the thought of gay marriage abhorrent, and think more money for public education pretty much throwing money down a rat hole, somehow makes us strange, unwanted and unelectable? Surely, some of folks on Pajamas Media jest?
I think what you would find if you were really seeking the truth is that for the most part, we provide an inordinate number of those kids who are mannerly, love their country, do well in school, and willingly serve with their parent’s blessing.
If that makes us a problem, I think these fiscally conservative but socially liberal types which seem to dominate much of the content on PJM need to admit as much so that we can begin to go our separate ways politically. And unlike the left in America, we can all act like adults while doing so.
re: 151. Rachel Cohen, et al
———-
The irony of the liberal posts on here is that they regurgitate stereotypes straight from the lefty media.
ROFL…sheep.
Let’s roll.
Reading Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” for the first time right now.
First 50 pages were chilling in light of the recent election….haven’t been able to put it down.
“Equalization of Opportunity Bill” …. whoa….something straight out of the Dhimm wits.
David:
Sorry – I didn’t realize we were doing the circular non-reasoning thing here. In that case, your argument makes a lot of non-sense and I concede.
Most of the great poets of the last century were conservatives: William Butler Yeats, T. S. Eliot, Guillaume Apollinaire, Karl Kraus, Paul Claudel, Boris Pasternak, Miguel de Unamuno, Hugo von Hoffmansthal, Stefan George, Rainer Maria Rilke, Saint-John-Perse, George Trakl, Konstantinos Kavaphis, Robert Penn Warren, Jorge Luís Borges, Giuseppe Ungaretti, Jules Supervielle, Eugenio Montale, Fernando Pessoa and Manuel Bandeira, among others.
“What do we stand for. The reason the left got away with nov 4th is that the economy tanked and they said “we are for a bailout” Their stand against bush did not work but being for easy money sold.”
Exactly my point – who do we stand for? My answer is, our communities, our families and our friends – and acknowledging that those people in those close circles may have philosophical, religious and political differences – which we can respect. Or we ought to respect. Life, liberty, pursuit of happiness – all that stuff. The other side of that is that sometimes the decisions that people make are not the ones we would have made, given the same circumstances. We have to buckle down and concede that they have the right to make those decisions.
I might not agree with what you say – but your right to say it, and defend it is non-negotiable. That is where we came from, and what we must hold on to.
For some light TV conservative culture, try watching “King of the Hill”.
The character, Hank Hill, is frequently battling nonsense dished out by other controlling, misdirected or just plain selfish characters. Despite Hank’s usual disadvantage of lower authority or “intellectual” stature, he always prevails thanks to his strong core values and common sense.
Um, if you were really conservative or libertarian, you’d be advocating the death of public education altogether. No one has a ‘right to education.’ And, public schools were an invention by secular crazies to expand the wealth of knowledge and interpretation that religious zealots had an at-time monopoly on.
Also, Ayn Rand hated conservatives and libertarians. So, displaying Atlas Shrugged, her crowing achievement in novels, is more than ironic considering the values system you’re advocating.
I’ll echo everyone else and point out that the New Criterion is the best literary magazine in the world. Yes, it doesn’t “influence the blogosphere” -so what? Most people are cretins.
Another good one, and how I found out about the New Criterion is Art and Letters Daily: http://www.aldaily.com
It isn’t supposed to have a political slant, and it publishes interesting leftist articles too, but I detect a classical soft libertarian bent to the types of things that are on there.
Check out Bryan Larsen’s art, which I first discovered via an ad on Instapundit many years ago.
http://www.cordair.com/larsen/
Since that time, I have studied on my own: Drawing from live models to learn the human form, studying proper painting techniques from any source I could find ample reason to trust, and developing a philosophy of Art based on reason, and life on earth.
“My goal is to portray the heroic and romantic in human nature and human achievement in a realistic style and a modern setting. I place particular emphasis on composition, technique, realistic detail, proper craftsmanship and consistency of style.”"
“Also, Ayn Rand hated conservatives and libertarians…”
That’s cool. Ayn Rand was a pretentious ass on many levels, and had an ego the size of planet Jupiter, but she still had some good ideas about politics.
If the Objectivist can never learn to overlook the Christian’s altruism and the Christian never learns to overlook the Objectivist’s egoism, they will never learn to work together for our individual freedom.
As a Christian, altruism has become part of my nature; but not blindly. In fact my belief that my altruism should not foster another’s laziness or greed, I find few places in which to practice my beliefs.
I also do not condemn those who choose egoism. I see the objectivist as a brother in arms in the fight to regain our freedom from the moochers and looters. I don’t care if you reject my faith in God since at the same time you do not wish to subject me to your belief system.
I have heard many objectivists and other atheists misrepresent the bible claiming it demands the Christian be some flavor of communist, but my study of it has not supported that hypothesis. I do not care to defend those beliefs in this forum; however, if those of you who are Objectivists cannot get over that one thing, and learn to work with those of us who share a common goal, all the books, movies and web sites listed here will be of no use. As Aesop said, “United we stand, divided we fall.”
Books to add to the reading list:
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
And nonfiction – None so Blind by Ian Colvin
And by the way, “We the Living” is one of my top ten favorite books.
Someone75 – #195
Ha! Well that’s certainly a way to avoid arguing the point I made in reference to your post! Just accuse me of “nonsense” and move right along… no rebuttal necessary.
You said conservatives and art didn’t mix. To back this up you used an old dictionary definition of “conservative” as meaning “somebody trying to preserve the status quo”. I pointed out that in today’s modern political arena, conservatives are the ones most often trying to OVERTURN the status quo, not preserve it(Fair Tax/Flat Tax, privatizing social security, vouchers in public schools to increase competition, etc.) Liberals are the ones trying to preserve the status quo in these and many other areas. There are exceptions, of course(gay marriage), but overall, it’s the conservatives who want big changes on many of the most important political issues of the day, not liberals.
So your idea about conservatives and art not mixing because conservatives want to “preserve the status quo” just doesn’t match the facts on the ground. I’ve given you specific examples as to why your argument doesn’t hold up. Argue that if you’d like, but pretending your original point is unassailable and my rebuttal doesn’t require any response is pretty unconvincing.
kochevnik @186,
You know jack s*** about the Jesuits, and that link to that feverish miasma of conspiratorial nonsense confirms for me what a lousy human being and a first rate second rate mind you are.
I’m an ex-Jesuit seminarian. I know the history of the Society of Jesus quite well, as it was required of us during our formation. Portraying the Society as some sort of evil cabal is laughable, since it bears absolutely no resemblance to the men and the organization I know.
I’ve had my run-ins with you on other threads here on PJM. Everyone, know this about this rascal from Russia. He is a prevaricator and a liar. A pest I should just ignore, but his attack on the Society of Jesus is something that boils my blood.
I’m glad “Matteo” ignored you. I should have, but it is not my nature to stand by and watch scoundrels attack someone else with impunity. That’s what you get with these Russians: people of low character who are used to living lies and liking them. Cowards all of them. Their entire history is one tragedy of violence and evil and the final chapter is not yet written on that sorry country. Instead of criticizing their own government for its malfeasance, reprobates like this man have to jump on the bandwagon and attack ours.
I have an uncle who is a missionary priest who spent a few years in the Far East of Siberia, trying to minister to a small community of Roman Catholics mainly of Korean extraction. He and they had to endure constant harassment and persecution from the Russian government. EVEN THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH COLLABORATED WITH THE PUTINIAN SWINE and their secret police.
To Bob at #203: Your call for collaboration among Objectivists and Christians in fighting for freedom is a noble one that indicates the kind of benevolence that will one day return when the protection of individual rights is restored and perfected.
Unfortunately, however, your dream is not a possible one. If tomorrow, you could “wave the magic wand” and return the US to it’s constitutionally limited republican form of government with full recognition of the Bill of Rights, what would prevent the last 120 year’s descent to statism from occurring all over again? The answer is nothing would prevent it. This is why the Libertarians, for example, who advocate political freedom as the primary, are ineffective.
Politics is the branch of philosophy that studies how men should live together in society. Issues of politics cannot be addressed, however, until we first have addressed the questions of how should man live qua man and what is the good. Those questions are the task of the branch of philosophy called ethics. And ethics in turn depends on epistemology (the nature of knowledge) and on metaphysics (the nature of the universe).
Only a new ethics of rational egoism is capable of grounding the Founding Fathers’ magnificent achievement of individual rights in politics. Until that new ethics takes hold in the culture, the politics of individual rights cannot defend itself against the altruists’ attacks. Those claiming that “You are your brother’s keeper” and that wealth must be “spread around” will retain the moral high ground, and Christians and conservatives will continue to concede the leftist’s root political premises because they share the leftists’ underlying ethics.
Put another way, as long as Mother Theresa remains the moral ideal, the profit motive and businessmen will continue to be tolerated only as necessary evils that require the regulation by “higher men” like the McBamas. And because no society can survive as half wealth and half loot, we’ll continue our precipitous decline into full statism until more people understand why each man’s (and woman’s) need to think and act and keep the fruits of his or her actions is a moral absolute by an objective standard – the natural requirements of man’s life as the conceptual, volitional being he is – whether alone on a desert island or among others in society.
So the battle is a philosophical one and must be waged primarily in the universities – to show young minds that there is a rational alternative to the mysticism/altruism/statism of the left and right, and to create generations of “new intellectuals” who will train future leaders who advocate reality/reason/egoism/rights in all fields. That battle is well underway and making significant advances. See http://www.aynrand.org
There is no conservative or liberal culture.
Ezra Pound: “Culture is what’s left over after you forgot what you tried to learn.”
In other words, culture is akin to instinct.
Another good conservative-ish book is the original Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Weiss.
You want self-reliance & common sense? That book has it in spades. Granted, they do get rescued and return to civilization but still.
May I humbly suggest my latest book, “The Kicker of St. John’s Wood,” which I am publishing in serial fashion on my website (www.awolcivilization.com). It is a futuristic novel that satirizes political correctness, multiculturalsim, and feminism.
Fred, there’s no such animal as an ex-Jesuit.
The following is a copy of the text of the Oath as it appeared in the 1913 Congressional Record: (Note: If anyone has any doubts that Jesuits aren’t trained to be the ultimate deceivers and chameleons, the following words should erase all doubts.)
(The Superior speaks:)
My son, heretofore you have been taught to act the dissembler: among Roman Catholics to be a Roman Catholic, and to be a spy even among your own brethren; to believe no man, to trust no man. Among the Reformers, to be a Reformer; among the Huguenots, to be a Huguenot; among the Calvinists, to be a Calvinist; among other Protestants, generally to be a Protestant; and obtaining their confidence, to seek even to preach from their pulpits, and to denounce with all the vehemence in your nature our Holy Religion and the Pope; and even to descend so low as to become a Jew among Jews, that you might be enabled to gather together all information for the benefit of your Order as a faithful soldier of the Pope. You have been taught to plant insidiously the seeds of jealousy and hatred between communities, provinces, states that were at peace, and to incite them to deeds of blood, involving them in war with each other, and to create revolutions and civil wars in countries that were independent and prosperous, cultivating the arts and the sciences and enjoying the blessings of peace; to take sides with the combatants and to act secretly with your brother Jesuit, who might be engaged on the other side, but openly opposed to that with which you might be connected, only that the Church might be the gainer in the end, in the conditions fixed in the treaties for peace and that the end justifies the means. You have been taught your duty as a spy, to gather all statistics, facts and information in your power from every source; to ingratiate yourself into the confidence of the family circle of Protestants and heretics of every class and character, as well as that of the merchant, the banker, the lawyer, among the schools and universities, in parliaments and legislatures, and the judiciaries and councils of state, and to be all things to all men, for the Pope’s sake, whose servants we are unto death. You have received all your instructions heretofore as a novice, a neophyte, and have served as co-adjurer, confessor and priest, but you have not yet been invested with all that is necessary to command in the Army of Loyola in the service of the Pope. You must serve the proper time as the instrument and executioner as directed by your superiors; for none can command here who has not consecrated his labours with the blood of the heretic; for “without the shedding of blood no man can be saved”. Therefore, to fit yourself for your work and make your own salvation sure, you will, in addition to your former oath of obedience to your order and allegiance to the Pope, repeat after me…
… I will spare neither age, sex nor condition, and that will hang, burn, waste, boil, flay, strangle, and bury alive these infamous heretics; rip up the stomachs and wombs of their women, and crush their infants’ heads against the walls in order to annihilate their execrable race. That when the same cannot be done openly I will secretly use the poisonous cup, the strangulation cord, the steel of the poniard, or the leaden bullet, regardless of the honor, rank, dignity or authority of the persons, whatever may be their condition in life, either public or private, as I at any time may be directed so to do by any agents of the Pope or Superior of the Brotherhood of the Holy Father of the Society of Jesus.
Pat #206: Apparently you did not take my hint in #187. David Mamet and Alan Bloom nails the real problem. It is the hidebound Objectivist (many of us consider ourselves as ‘Objectivist Christians’) who shares the same unchecked premise with the Leftists- it is the rejection of the one cornerstone that made the Founding Fathers establish republican government to begin with – the doctrine or original sin. Rand, along with the Leftists utopian statists share the same premise about man’s nature – that it is essentially good and harmless, and just needs the correct gobrenment to turn itself either into a “workers’ paradise’ or a “Galt’s Gulch.” Both, the Leftist and the Objectivist, are based on Rousseau’s erroneous assumption- that man is good. Society is bad.
Conservative Culture? Maybe “King of the Hill.” Or Toby Keith.
212. Pat J,
I’m pretty sure Toby Keith is a Democrat.
To BMoon #211:
1. I will definitely read Bloom – thank you for the suggestion.
2. Original sin *is* a thoroughly checked (and rejected) premise in Objectivism; for openers, see http://www.aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/originalsin.html
3. Man is born “tabula rasa” (blank slate) in the words of Aristotle. Objectivism agrees and holds that man has free will (the choice to focus his mind) and therefore is a being of self-made soul – with the capacity to be good, evil, or mixed. Objectivism rejects determinism and innate ideas for the reasons I previewed at #180.
4. What is your basis for arguing that original sin was “the one cornerstone that made the Founding Fathers establish republican government to begin with?” Nowhere in the Declaration nor the Constitution, nor in the Federalist Papers is this argument present. In The Federalist #47, Madison cites Montesquieu as “the oracle who is always consulted and cited” on the subject of the separation of powers and the need to prevent the accumulation of power by one branch of government.
Also, remember that the Founding Fathers were deists, not theists! Their recognition of man’s *capacity* for choosing evil in no way implies that they viewed man as inherently depraved as at #187 you imply man is.
Pat #206
Your use of terms such as “dream” and “magic” shows exactly why the Objectivist will only be able to stand next to the Christian in the fight for freedom (and vice-versa) – when they are able to understand a simple rule in times of war – the enemy of my enemy is my friend. There definitely are many Christians who have magical or dream like thinking – but the bible exhorts us to not think in this way; but to think according to a standard of doctrine (truth).
I our war against the looters, we will be fighting to make sure the weak of mind do not use guilt and misunderstanding of the bible to persuade others who are weak of mind into codifying (and therefore destroying) altruism – that is – making it mandatory (socialism). There will be no point in the future when we can say we have won the war against the looters for they will always be with us. To think we can one day reach some utopia free of looters is itself a dream.
Does the bible support the looters claims? Perhaps you have heard that the Apostle Paul said, “If anyone will not work, let him not eat.” (2 Thes 3:10). Certainly you can see that is not the statement of a socialist?
You mention volition – apparently it’s free, except if I want to use my money or time to help someone else.
Where do you draw the line? When I drive my disabled mother to the doctor, should I demand gas money from her? When I give my wife a gift, am I immoral?
What If 95% of Christians are magical dreamers, do you also reject the other 5% who may share more with you ideologically than you can imagine?
We can stand together in the fight for freedom, both against the atheistic socialist and well as the religious socialist. Remember, the Christian also sees in you something in common with many socialists – atheism. Some of us Christians see your atheism as simply the natural end result of your rejection of what man has done to Theology and not on the basis of any facts. So while it may be argued that we both have faith based on supposition and theory, we have faith there is a God, and you have faith there is not.
Another thing you have in common with the socialist is the misuse of the term “brother’s keeper.” I don’t know who first decided to use this term in the sense it is presently used, but it originates in the book of Genesis. After Cain killed Able, God asked him where Able was. Cain replied, in recognition of the fact he was not his brother’s keeper, with a sarcastic, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” God did not respond, “yes you are.” However, God did respond that He knew exactly where Able was and He knew how he got there. So the next time some mixed up Christian (or someone claiming to be one) says that to you, let them know they are wrong. Jesus never said it, nor did any apostle, only a man who had just committed murder and wanted to cover it up.
I’ll give a vote for “King of the Hill.” It’s a beautiful show which always leaves me with a warm feeling when it ends. They frequently have the characters deriding Hank for being set in his ways, politically incorrect or conservative but he’s always proven right in the end, like when he didn’t want Bobby to take part in the fashion show for overweight kids.
Apart from anything else it constantly promotes good, decent values and a stable family life. Living in Manhattan it almost makes me long to live in a place like Arlen! One of the nicest shows ever shown on TV in my opinion. And definitely one of the funniest.
this is a pretty good place to start, if you are looking for right-leaning humor, and a little culture as well. Excuse me while I go out to spraypaint portraits of Ronald Reagan on parked Metro Buses and overpasses, Cheers.
TO: Sgt Mom
RE: The Question….
We know what we stand for. The problem is in several parts:
[1] We haven’t communicate it well.
[2] We haven’t proven it’s efficacy.
[3] And too many of us don’t live up to it, i.e., hypocrites, e.g., Senators Tim Stevens and John McCain.
Yes. I didn’t vote for Senator McCain. I voted for Governor Palin.
But those are issues for another thread.
What caught my attention was your question. And with it welled up the ‘discussions’ I participated in in the Republican Party’s county central committee meeting last Tuesday evening.
There were a lot of people there who wanted to indulge in two months of intensive navel gazing to try to figure out what they, as the local Republicans, stood for. It was pathetic. They know what they stand for. They’re just shell shocked and confused and the local leadership….such as it is, doesn’t have the gonads necessary to (1) slap them out of it and (2) do something constructive about what went wrong. Heck. They’re the reason it went wrong in the first place. Don’t expect THEM to fix the problem.
And guess who gets to decide who is on the committee to determine ‘what went wrong’? Three guesses….first two don’t count…..
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[A lack of leadership is no substitute for inaction.]
P.S. I think we’ve got BOTH!
I urge you to add:
Robert Jordan Wheel of Time
God Bless him, Robert Jordan (James Oliver Rigney Jr.) passed away before he could finish the series. The series is being completed (one last book) by Brandon Sanderson; so there is no excuse for not starting the series.
Terry Goodkind Sword of Truth
A special note, Goodkind has the best description of the fight for different value systems I have ever read. The triumph of one régime against one man or vice versa is classic conservative vs. liberal.
Russell Kirk The American Cause
This should be mandatory reading in every school (public, private, home)in the United States.
Repub culture? Like Roman gladiatorial games, reinvented as torture? Hanging Roman fasces behind the podium of the House, as did Hitler? Terrorizing the Senate and House with secret government interloquitors? Blacklisting citizens who then cannot fly, get jobs requiring a background check or ever again hire an attorney? Imposing upcoming exit visas on US Citizens? Mocking gays openly while engaging the same behind closed doors?
I’ve grappled with the idea of writing pop/rock songs with conservative messages or at least conservative backround assumptions. I find that the medium of pop song lyrics is so constrained by the need for brevity that the complexity of conservative concepts makes them a poor fit for this form. Leftist sound bites seem to fare much better in this arena. Songs lyrics are mostly about expressing emotions, not ideas, and that also benefits the left, as their “ideas” are more emotion-based and translate well into emotion-laden slogans.
The emotional components of conservatism (e.g. religion, family, patriotism) do work in the pop song form as long as it’s country pop. The intellectual basics of conservatism (limited government, free markets, individual freedom) are just intellectually too complex to boil down into an emotion-stirring chorus. I’m not saying it can’t be done, but I haven’t been able to do it with any success.
Anote about post #179 from anonymous:
Thanks for bringing up the Half Hour News Hour. I too was disappointed that this conservative comedy show did not jell. I love the humor on the Rush Limbaugh website. If you listen to the radio show on line there are parodies and other humor played during the commercials. Great! If HHNH comes back or another conservative humor show is planned they should get Limbaugh’s writers to do the skits.
“Expelled” is good culture? Give me a break! Ben Stein may know his economics, but he’s a complete idiot when it comes to science and rational thought. He rants about evolution not explaining the origin of the force of gravity, and for some reason even Brian Lamb on C-SPAN let that one pass without questioning. What a dumbass! (Ben Stein, that is, not Brian Lamb.)
Conservative reading – two suggestions:
1. The science fiction of Lois McMaster Bujold, published by Baen Books;
2. Rudyard Kipling, who can sometimes seem downright prophetic (try ‘The Mother Hive,’ for instance).
Anyone who successfully programs computers has a much better grasp of conservatism than most, and certainly most any Republican.
Programming computers or maths requires CONSISTENCY, a concept foreign to most repubs. Analyze any repub system and there’s always a point of magic, where a miracle happens to make all their inconsistency iron out. But that doesn’t happen outside of fantasy books, and makes the turmoil of their willful ignorance all the more poignant.
In reality, most repubs are authority worshipers or closet fascists [and closet gays]. No true conservative would identify with such cretins.
Con culture is best represented by right wing talk show cretins with their simple minded, anti intellectual rants and cheap insults. Or by the military themed stuff as the first poster mentioned. Either way, it doesn’t seem very promising, not that I am endorsing the alternative.
TO: kochevnik
RE: Authority Worship
There are a LOT of people who think like that, regardless of party affiliation. However, I think you’ve got the Repubs mis-identified about their majority.
As Harry S. Truman—the last GOOD Democrat president—put it…
So. Based on a greater wisdom than your own….politically speaking….I think you’re accusing the wrong group of being “authority worshipers”. As I think a former president of the United States of the Democratic persuasion would be a tad more aware of what he’s talking about than YOU are.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[From the time when the Berserkers ravaged all the coasts of western Europe and lay drunk in every conquered port it has been the same way: everywhere the nations that drink too much are observed to fight they fight rather well and not too righteously. -- Ambrose Bierce]
Sorry I didn’t have time to wade through all the 228 comments above to see if someone else mentioned it. Touchstone magazine http://www.touchstonemag.com/index.html is an excellent source of reading for conservative Christian thought. Billed as the “Journal of Mere Christianity” it is well written, and well worth the time for any followers of traditional, orthodox Christianity.
Newton–
But when we learn that the Spartans examined newborns to weed out any “defectives” from their warrior population, and threw them into a cliff to be left to die and be eaten by vultures…
Oh no! Not when Little Trig Palin is the new symbol of the pro-life cause.”
See what I mean about not passing every litmus test? I don’t think conservatives need to embrace Spartan child-rearing practices, but does that mean that the rest of the movie is worthless? Can’t win for losing.
Please listen to my song “American Prayer” at http://www.myspace.com/donnamilgatenmusic . This is a song I wrote in 1992, after a year-long study on the minor prophets (in Bible Study Fellowship), but only just recently finished recording. All I can say is that God’s timing is always perfect, because it really seems that it was meant for these times we are living in now. It struck me back then that, even though America is not God’s chosen nation in the way that Israel is, we are a nation that was founded upon Scriptural principles, and I saw a lot of similarities in the struggles Israel had with worshiping foreign gods, etc., and the way we have fallen away from our foundation. This song is a call for people to pray for the spiritual condition of our country, and for God’s mercy and grace to pour down, softening hearts to turn back to Him.
I find the Jeep/off-road community to be classically American, focused on teamwork, self-reliance, etc, which by todays standards would be considered “conservative.” The Harley community as well.
I really think the Conservative factions should get a grip. I have problems with both sides.
The Libertarians say they are for personal freedoms, but they don’t seem to recognize their rhetoric is the SAME as the Leftist atheist culture who ALSO prize individualism. The attack on the Religious infuriates those who would be your allies. To become a force, the Libertarians better stop talking like the Left if they want to help grow the Conservative garden. The talk of “selfishness is good” is what got us in the mess we are. It is what created the “what can the government do for ME” mentality that Obamamaniacs personify. Libertarians would have a stronger argument if they would include responsibility with the talk of self-reliance.
On the other hand, the Christian conservatives snub their noses at anyone who isn’t JUST LIKE THEM, even when they hold the same political beliefs. Case in point is the Mormons, and Catholics before that. This isn’t to mention the Jews and the Muslims who should be Republican considering what the liberal Democrats have done. Conservative religions of any kind is more about division than actual conservative politics. Fractionalism can only lead to failure.
Until these two groups can somehow come together, there is no hope for the future of American conservatism. I don’t know what the answer is at this time. However, both sides recognizing and dealing with the weakness of themselves is a start. It would also be nice if there was a show of Respect and Listening to the other.
Not to get to deep thinking… but there is a thing in modern thinking called the signifier and the signified. Sometimes a symbol or a name stays the same,but means a different thing as times change.
Public Conservatives used to be deep thinkers who could see all sides of a subject and with rationality and intelligence, present an argument or counterpoint to show their view against another. I think of WIlliam F. Buckley and George Will. Both were eloquent, both present their ideas in clear concise ways without fear mongering. And their definition of conservative was much different than what passes for conservatism today.
You can start there for great conservative creativity and therefore culture.
If you want to find great Conservative culture, look to the results of conservative legislation for it’s effect on the culture…
How did government deregulation work in different industries? How did that affect the culture and quality of life for the average American? ( Air quality, stock market, the shrinking middle class and growing poor)
How about conservative populist movements ? ( Book banning, censorship, the attempt to counter what is seen as liberal indoctrination). What culture or subculture did that produce? How are a generation of home-schooled children any different than their parents?
Look to quality of life issues! What effect will todays Conservative ideas have on :
the environmental and economic impact of unchecked population growth?
the dwindling and degredation of the American water supply?
How has conservative foreign policy affected the immigration issues?
We have fiscal conservative movements.
We have educational conservative movements.
We have Christian conservative movements.
All of these have been affecting culture for a long time. Look to the results of legislation and lobbying to see what conservative culture is today. Has it improved the quality of life and opportunity for all Americans? And if not for all, then what has it done for the people who have been affected by it. That’s a start.