Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Comments

  1. i’d love to see Peter debate live in real time.  any reports?  Peter, care to bring us the highlights?

    • …the Cape Lyceum series attracted over 50 people at $10 a head!  NOBODY was more surprised than me.  Program ran from 7 pm to @ 9:30.

      <

      p>
      We each gave a 15 min +/- exposition of the basis of conservative/liberal thought (I leaned on Russell Kirk and Barry Goldwater, and he leaned on Zoroaster – really!)

      <

      p>
      We then asked each other the folliwng questions in turn –

      <

      p>
      What do you want liberals/conservatives like me to know about conservatives/liberals like you?  and

      <

      p>
      What scares liberals/conservatives like you about conservatives/liberals like me?

      <

      p>
      Then audience questions.  No coffee or cookies, only water.

      <

      p>
      I’m posting Kirk’s Ten Principles, as some of you may read them

      <

      p>

      Russell Kirk – Ten Guiding Principles of Conservative Thought

      (1) Men and nations are governed by moral laws; and those laws have their origin in a wisdom that is more than human-in divine justice.

      (2) Variety and diversity are the characteristics of a high civilization.

      (3) Justice means that every man and every woman have the right to what is their own-to the things best suited to their own nature, to the rewards of their ability and integrity, to their property and their personality.

      (4) Property and freedom are inseparably connected; economic leveling is not economic progress.

      (5) Power is full of danger; therefore the good state is one in which power is checked and balanced, restricted by sound constitutions and customs

      (6) The past is a great storehouse of wisdom; as Burke said, “the individual is foolish, but the species is wise.”

      (7) Modern society urgently needs true community: and true community is a world away from collectivism.

      (8) In the affairs of nations, the American conservative feels that his country ought to set an example to the world, but ought not to try to remake the world in its image.

      (9) Men and women are not perfectible, conservatives know; and neither are political institutions.

      (10) Change and reform, conservatives are convinced, are not identical: moral and political innovation can be destructive as well as beneficial; and if innovation is undertaken in a spirit of presumption and enthusiasm, probably it will be disastrous.

Archives