For centuries Western nations have prized a social structure which places heavy emphasis on harmony of interest. High levels of social concord have given way to de-centralization of power structures and increased personal liberty.
Man, being now in a fallen state, is at enmity with this natural order of things and seeks to suppress the glory of God. In his rebellious state man seeks unnatural means to an unnatural end. But since this world belongs to God, He alone may determine the terms of its right and proper use.
The concept of “freedom” to many ostensible Conservatives today has nothing to do with virtue or the wisdom of tradition, but everything to do with soft, self-perpetuating libertinism.
Edmund Burke, the first conservative, was a practical politician and supremely conservative thinker, and as such he viewed society as a partnership between the living and the dead.
Patriotism is loyalty to one’s nation. It is the love of a place, fellow countrymen, and local practices. Nationalism, on the other hand, can be understood as a belligerent and perverted form of patriotism.
Our present situation urgently requires thinking men, to produce a thinking conservatism, not a reactionary one. And reflective conservatism, indeed, can be produced - as shown by men like Russell Kirk, Abraham Kuyper, Richard Weaver, and Edmund Burke.
The Revolution is essentially an epistemic rebellion against the authority and will of God. This epistemic rebellion was rightly identified by our conservative fathers as the soul of the Revolution underlying all its socio-political manifestations.
On earth, the only truest wealth is life; a quiver of life. What price can be put on the joy of familial ties, paternal affection, or loyal and proud legacies?
There is a developing renaissance of historic conservatism, in part due to many recent translations, among which is the nineteenth century German legal theorist Friedrich J. Stahl.
We cannot say that what is good for the individual or the community is devoid of moral content. And moral content is determined by God’s decree, be it a direct command from God, or an eternal decree regarding the purpose of man, which is to glorify God and enjoy Him for eternity.
