It seems obvious to me that most human beings want to feel like the 'belong' to something - a group, a tradition - which is beyond their immediate, personal interests.  They want to feel that there is somewhere they can be comfortable and accepted, as well as that they are contributing to something which is 'greater' than themselves.  Most people ( Read more... )

Rolling Stone's #1079 (May 28, 2009) contained an article called 'The GOP's Jihad', in which they discussed the flight of moderates from the Republican party, allegedly due to the, "GOP's far-right radicalization".  Apparently the source of this radicalization is the party's 'embittered dregs'.  Now I don't wish to deny that the Republican party ( Read more... )

As a liberal pluralist hippy, I rarely have anything good to say for much of what passes under the name 'conservatism'.  But John Kekes has summarized a kind of conservative pluralism which I find attractive.  Though I do not agree entirely with his rejection of liberalism, nor his pessimism, I do find myself having similar thoughts on many ( Read more... )

John Kekes, advocate of 'conservative pluralism' and a fine political philosopher, wrote the article "Why Robespierre Chose Terror".
While I don't agree with Kekes on everything (I am not a conservative, for one) I nonetheless think that he sees one of the dangerous darksides of Rationalist-Absolutist Republican-Liberalism that came out of the ( Read more... )