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On The Third Way or the Reply to Dave
#####################################
:date: 2017-09-08T17:03:00
:category: faith
:tags: politics, blogComment, conservatism
(Comment to `the article`_ by Dave Schmelzer on a Christian and
politics)
Hi, Dave,
let me add couple of comments from this side of The Pond.
First of all, of course, I blame completely confused American
terminology, especially in the political matters. Here Socialists
are not afraid to call themselves such, so they don't have to
misuse a label of Liberal, which doesn't belong to them. Liberals
here are mostly "let us alone" kind of people, mostly middle
class entrepreneurs; small government, small taxes, but strongly
anti-monopoly politics … that slogan is targeted both at
government and at the large supranational business giants. And
what you are saying is exactly what we would call Conservatism
here (represented now for example by the German CDU and Frau
Merkel or in the times when they are not wrecked by the lunacy of
Brexit by the British Conservatives).
Let me here quote my beloved Conservative thinker `Michael
Oakshott`_ (he was a professionally philosopher in Oxford, so
sometimes his writing is a bit heavy, but on the other hand he
was a don in Oxford so his writing is always perfect): “In
political activity men sail a boundless and bottomless sea; there
is neither harbor for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither
starting point nor appointed destination.” Which is to say, that
the most important part of Conservatism for me is that it is not
ideology, it doesn't have any Communism or any shining ideal for
which we need to sacrifice today. The biggest goal of politician
is to deal with the current problems, not to drag his/her nation
towards his ideal. (Also read “In Defense of Politics” by
`Bernard Crick`_)
In the same time, it seems to me that people who claim to be this
kind of original Conservatives, tend to share Christian (or even
more Reformed) scepticism towards human nature. Particularly from
the deep distrust of human goodness comes both distrust towards
government (which is in the end created by sinful humans) and
certainly towards the great businessmen (greed may be the best
organizing power of economics, but it is not something to be
celebrated too much). Of course, here I have to mention `Russel
Kirk`_ “The Conservative Mind”.
.. _`the article`:
http://www.blueoceanfaith.org/im-not-liberal-im-not-conservative-i-think-im-centered-set/
.. _`Michael Oakshott`:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Oakeshott
.. _`Bernard Crick`:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Crick
.. _`Russel Kirk`:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Kirk
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