It may be inferred again that the present movement for women’s rights,
will certainly prevail from the history of its only opponent, Northern
conservatism. This is a party which never conserves anything. Its
history has been that it demurs to each aggression of the progressive
party, and aims to save its credit by a respectable amount of growling,
but always acquiesces at last in the innovation. What was the resisted
novelty of yesterday is today one of the accepted principles of
conservatism; it is now conservative only in affecting to resist the
next innovation, which will tomorrow be forced upon its timidity, and
will be succeeded by some third revolution, to be denounced and then
adopted in its turn. American conservatism is merely the shadow that follows Radicalism as it moves forward towards perdition. It
remains behind it, but never retards it, and always advances near its
leader. This pretended salt hath utterly lost its savor: wherewith shall
it he salted? Its impotency is not hard, indeed, to explain. It is
worthless because it is the conservatism of expediency only, and not of
sturdy principle. It intends to risk nothing serious, for the sake of
the truth, and has no idea of being guilty of the folly of martyrdom. It
always—when about to enter a protest—very blandly informs the wild
beast whose path it essays to stop, that its “bark is worse than its
bite,” and that it only means to save its manners by enacting its decent
rôle of resistance. The only practical purpose which it now subserves
in American politics is to give enough exercise to Radicalism to keep it
“in wind,” and to prevent its becoming pursy and lazy from having
nothing to whip. No doubt, after a few years, when women’s suffrage
shall have become an accomplished fact, conservatism will tacitly admit
it into its creed, and thenceforward plume itself upon its wise firmness
in opposing with similar weapons the extreme of baby suffrage; and when
that too shall have been won, it will be heard declaring that the
integrity of the American Constitution requires at least the refusal of
suffrage to asses. There it will assume, with great dignity, its final
position.”
-Rev. Robert L Danby (1820 – 1898)
HT: Bill Tighe
The 4th Century Science of St Macrina (I)
5 hours ago
3 comments:
"American conservatism is merely the shadow that follows Radicalism as it moves forward towards perdition"
Now that is a quote worth remembering.
Ideological conservatism has managed to conserve the practical, still-popular notion that government should not consume more than a third of the country's national income, and private ownership of firearms.
And that's about it.
BTW, instead of reading George Will or listening to Erick Erickson, people should be reading this:
https://bloodyshovel.wordpress.com/2019/01/21/tucker-carlsons-war-against-woke-capital-and-the-future-of-the-right/
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