As the old year ends and the new year arrives, The Imaginative Conservative looks back at some of its finest essays of 2020. —Editors In the late 1950s, as Russell Kirk considered what needed to be conserved in the Western tradition as well as what needed to be discarded, he lamented that much of what [...]
The philosophy and way of conservatism arose sometime in the 1880s or 1890s. This is not to suggest that conservative acts had not occurred previously in Western civilization. Indeed, some of the finest and most important moments in Western civilization occurred upon and with the act of conserving something good. From Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, and [...]
Several things define the conservatives of America, whether they be those of 1898 or 1924 or 1953 or 1964 or 1989 or 2021. First, conservatism by its very nature is reactionary and reactive. Rather than being a positive force for change, it is a restraining force. As such, conservatives almost everywhere make the best critics. [...]
In a victory for transgender rights, the Supreme Court recently rejected a case brought by parents against an Oregon high school that allowed transgender students to use the bathroom of their choice based on the gender with which they identify. The “conservative” justices on the bench have failed to distinguish sexual orientation or gender confusion [...]
The project of the Stonehenge tunnel is a financially irresponsible state goal endeavour during a time of fiscal crisis and contraction, ignoring the reverence of heritage and undermining the social contract. From the bulldozing of Victorian buildings to the sacrilegious tunnelling, England’s Conservative Party is not acting conservative. The greatest obstacle facing Boris Johnson is [...]
As an anthropologist and folklorist, Andrew Lang believed that fairy tales and folklore serve as records of the past in the cultural realm, much like the tradition of common law in the legal realm. Through the study of cultural norms and folkways, one can understand the mores of the present. Some men should never have [...]
In response to liberalism, it is necessary to work for the restoration of the concrete circumstances of justice. But the concrete law that I have been advocating is very unlike anything that either a socialist or a liberal would approve. It preserves inequalities, it confers privileges, it justifies power. That, however, is also its strength. [...]
In “The Reactionary Imperative,” Mel Bradford calls for a return to the roots of American order. Sadly, a return to a revised form of the Articles of Confederation is all but impossible. Hope, however, lies in a revivification of the principles of the Old Republicans of Thomas Jefferson’s day. Mel Bradford published a collection of [...]
There are some conservatives who believe that Donald Trump is taking conservatism in the wrong direction. They would like to get back to the model of conservatism for which Ronald Reagan stood. Is conservatism shaped differently by the realities of 2020, or should we as conservatives be embracing something similar to Reagan’s 1980 platform? Adam [...]
The fusionism of the past has been outmoded not due to some notion of progressive change but because the libertarian perspective it promotes is fundamentally flawed. Acknowledging the failure of fusionism is the first step to ensuring that conservatism may long endure. I recently had a rather extended debate with a libertarian-minded friend who expressed [...]
Though less poetic than Russell Kirk, Robert Nisbet has as much right to be considered a “father of post-war conservatism” as does his Michiganian ally—especially given the timing of his eleven tenets of conservatism. Indeed, his ideas about society and the social relations of man are thoughtful and inspiring. Though conservatism arose as a reaction [...]
Today, conservatism finds itself in danger of losing its way. In an attempt to win what feels like an all-out war, young conservatives take on the common tactics of the day. When conservatives surrender their civility to the abrasiveness, they sacrifice a part of the tradition that makes them conservative. Young conservatives are faced with [...]
When our hopes for the coming time seem disturbed or doubtful, and peace chaotic, let us remember that it is really our disappointment that is an illusion. It is our rescue that is a reality. A vast amount of nonsense is talked against negative and destructive things. The silliest sort of progressive complains of negative [...]
In “How to Think Seriously about the Planet,” Roger Scruton seeks in part to re-establish, or to remind us of, the close relationship between conservatism and concern for the environment. He also argues that the only really sound and successful environmentalism is a conservative environmentalism. How to Think Seriously about the Planet: The Case for [...]