THE ROBERT W. WHITAKER ARCHIVE

SO WHO IS THE CONSERVATIVE? | 2005-01-01

When a "liberal" says, "This is the year 2005," as justification for something, he is being profoundly, DEFINITIONALLY conservative. He is saying, "This is the way things are and they cannot change."

I remember a popular British history book in the 1950's that said some old philosopher's ideas were "as topical today as the welfare state, as modern as Marx."

To 1950s writers, the left was modernism; the Soviet Union was modernism. That's just the way things ARE, and whether you like it or not, you can't change it. This is a profoundly conservative outlook.

It is also a profoundly foolish outlook.