Another good column. Would disagree or change perspective on one point. re:"Which is not to say that we do not need good government and effective philanthropy — we certainly do. But we should appreciate how powerful is the urge to build monuments to oneself and to create high-class sinecures for one’s family and allies.” - Business will do the same, and easier- robber barons etc.- takes the power of a government to hold in check the excesses of business and the power of business to hold in check the power of government.
Bob, I don't disagree with you. I do think your initial point about labels is the really important thing: "The word “conservative” in our current culture is essentially meaningless." But you use other words in your essay that used to have power and meaning in our world have also lost their mojo, and are essentially meaningless now. "Right" and "Left" referred to the position of those sitting in the French National Assembly as either royalists or revolutionaries. "Liberal" originally referred to a belief in free-market economics.
I know you honestly believe that you see the world "as it is" - yet you speak of "the left" and "MSM" as if they were one monolithic and centrally controlled entity. Using those terms in that way suggests that your thinking is, perhaps, more infected with knee-jerk reactionism than you would like to believe.
It has seemed clear to me for more than two decades that the words we use to describe our political and philosophical positions are outmoded. Many of those advocating the "big lie" argue for radical change, which is not a "conservative" position. And the response of many who support the status quo democracy, such as Ezra Klein, make reactionary arguments, which cannot be seen as "liberal".
I think you are right that the old labels are so broken that continuing to use them is part of the problem, not part of the solution. We need new and better (i.e. more accurate) labels - and the world being far larger than it was in the 18th and 19th centuries, we will likely need more labels to accurately describe many more than simply two opposing philosophies.
But one word seems to me to retain much of its power: the center. We seem to be in a time when the center cannot hold - yet it is both mathematically AND politically true that the center is the point that is required to understand ALL other directions, left, right, up, down, N/S/E/W, et al.
Where is the political center now? IMHO it is at the core of each of us who are still willing to listen to reasonable voices with whom we may not always agree. As a "left"-leaning moderate with a Christian background, I don't always agree with you - but neither do I categorically reject "the right". Perhaps it is time to turn the other cheek just a bit, and focus on rebuilding the core of a better world.
Everything you write is wrong. But it is well written.
Another good column. Would disagree or change perspective on one point. re:"Which is not to say that we do not need good government and effective philanthropy — we certainly do. But we should appreciate how powerful is the urge to build monuments to oneself and to create high-class sinecures for one’s family and allies.” - Business will do the same, and easier- robber barons etc.- takes the power of a government to hold in check the excesses of business and the power of business to hold in check the power of government.
Bob, I don't disagree with you. I do think your initial point about labels is the really important thing: "The word “conservative” in our current culture is essentially meaningless." But you use other words in your essay that used to have power and meaning in our world have also lost their mojo, and are essentially meaningless now. "Right" and "Left" referred to the position of those sitting in the French National Assembly as either royalists or revolutionaries. "Liberal" originally referred to a belief in free-market economics.
I know you honestly believe that you see the world "as it is" - yet you speak of "the left" and "MSM" as if they were one monolithic and centrally controlled entity. Using those terms in that way suggests that your thinking is, perhaps, more infected with knee-jerk reactionism than you would like to believe.
It has seemed clear to me for more than two decades that the words we use to describe our political and philosophical positions are outmoded. Many of those advocating the "big lie" argue for radical change, which is not a "conservative" position. And the response of many who support the status quo democracy, such as Ezra Klein, make reactionary arguments, which cannot be seen as "liberal".
I think you are right that the old labels are so broken that continuing to use them is part of the problem, not part of the solution. We need new and better (i.e. more accurate) labels - and the world being far larger than it was in the 18th and 19th centuries, we will likely need more labels to accurately describe many more than simply two opposing philosophies.
But one word seems to me to retain much of its power: the center. We seem to be in a time when the center cannot hold - yet it is both mathematically AND politically true that the center is the point that is required to understand ALL other directions, left, right, up, down, N/S/E/W, et al.
Where is the political center now? IMHO it is at the core of each of us who are still willing to listen to reasonable voices with whom we may not always agree. As a "left"-leaning moderate with a Christian background, I don't always agree with you - but neither do I categorically reject "the right". Perhaps it is time to turn the other cheek just a bit, and focus on rebuilding the core of a better world.