Conservatism

Best Books on American Conservatism

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This is the list.

Best in what way? For what, and for whom?

If the question is, name the top five classic, canonical work of American Conservatism, my list would overlap with this list:

Frederick Hayek, The Road to Serfdom
Milton Friedman, Free to Choose
Barry Goldwater, The Conscience of a Conservative
Whittaker Chambers, Witness
George H. Nash, The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America

These are very mainstream picks. Four of the books are written for a popular audience, and Nash is the best historian of the movement, but he ends before Reagan. They are genuine classics that everyone should read. But they are all old, and don’t directly address the world of today.

The peak moment for American Conservatism was Reagan’s election in 1980.

My list, and the list at the link, inadvertently show that American Conservatism is currently under-theorized.

There have been lots of good books since Reagan. But a synthesizing and overarching book is needed. If it exists, I don’t know it. Do you?

What does it mean to be an American conservative? What are we conserving? Why are we conserving it?

Stand By For Right Network

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Right Network goes live September 8, 2010.

This is going to be cool.

Sounding The Depths

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Cheryl Rofer was kind enough to post an essay where she discusses her attempts to understand the mindset behind the supporters of Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, and the Tea Party movement.

That essay has invited a fair number of comments, some of them less than kind. When I noted that Ms. Rofer was trying to reach Tea Party satori by mulling over the life of Tchaikovsky, and the writings of authors who hail from Spain and Great Britain, I am afraid that I became guilty of writing something negative myself….

“You conflate a Russian composer and a British novelist with an American grass roots movement that is devoted to shrinking the size of government? I think it is pretty obvious why you are confused!”

That was both unkind and uncalled for, and I apologize to Ms. Rofer unreservedly.

As a gesture to show that I take her seriously, I would like to try and smooth the way for her a little bit. But to do that, I will have to bore you all to tears by explaining my own background. My only defense for this terrible waste of your time is that I believe it will lead to a better meeting of minds.

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Others’ Shoes

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[I first posted this at my home blog, Phronesisaical. It’s a response to Lexington Green’s now famous Glenn Beck post. I’m reposting it here at Lex’s request. And forgive me if I seem slow to respond to comments; mine are frequently rejected by this system.]

Perhaps I’m taking on too much at once. I’m listening to Tchaikovsky’s symphonies and reading some Russian history to get a feeling for before the Revolution. I’m re-reading Daniel Martin to get a better feeling for what La Vida Es Sueño is about. The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum today sent me an invitation to visualize O’Keeffe’s creative process.

And I’d really, really like to understand what is going on with the admirers of Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin, the Tea Partiers.

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The Deeper Meaning of the CBz Beck-O-Lanche

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[This was an update to a previous post, but I decided it should stand on its own. There are some inspiring lessons here.]

Great thanks to Glenn Beck for the mighty call-out on his TV show. He quotes this post here starting at 12:10, and continuing here. The transcript of the show is here.

This has been an interesting couple of days.

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