Sir Roger Scruton RIP

Forums:

One of the great philosophers of our age and surely one of the great conservative thinkers of all time.

"Conservatism starts from a sentiment that all mature people can readily share: the sentiment that good things are easily destroyed, but not easily created. This is especially true of the good things that come to us as collective assets: peace, freedom, law, civility, public spirit, the security of property and family life, in all of which we depend on the cooperation of others while having no means singlehandedly to obtain it. In respect of such things, the work of destruction is quick, easy and exhilarating; the work of creation is slow, laborious and dull. That is one of the lessons of the twentieth century. It is also one reason why conservatives suffer such a disadvantage when it comes to public opinion. Their position is true but boring, that of their opponents exciting but false."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Scruton

https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2020/01/sir-roger-scruton-in-memo...

 

Here is an article from conservative thinkers also:

"How often do we hear conservatives denounce the folly of socialism and corporatism—but only when promoted by liberals? President Trump has given more bailout cash to farmers than Obama gave to car manufacturers. Some of the sleaziest influence peddlers—Corey Lewandowski comes to mind—talk endlessly about “the swamp” while getting rich off of it. Joe Biden is guilty of doing what Democrats say Trump did —and that’s outrageous, some conservatives say daily. But ask them, “What if Trump did what conservatives are accusing Biden of? Would that be outrageous?” Shut up, they explain. Trump is a hero for wanting to get out of endless wars, and he’s a hero for being willing to get us into another one."

 

https://thedispatch.com/p/the-rights-bullsht-problem?utm_campaign=post&u...

 

Thom, what are your thoughts on that?

 

Looks like he's some type of shill who wrote propaganda for the tobacco industry.

https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/23/arts/think-tank-advocating-tobacco-on...

 

 

 

To his list of "the good things that come to us as collective assets" I'd add the environment.

Also, while it's obvious destruction is easier, it's pretty sad that he can only see "...the work of creation is slow, laborious and dull."  

 Civility?

trump be no conservative 

My thoughts are that Trump is not, and has never been, a conservative.  While some of his policies might occasionally coincide with conservative principles his temperament and world view have very little in common with traditional conservatism as espoused by Edmund Burke and Roger Scruton.  And that's the only kind of conservatism that I'm interested in.

That being said, Trump, despite his manifold and undeniable faults, is still preferable to any of the candidates on the left.

 

Remembering Roger Scruton, Defender of Reason in a World of Postmodern Jackals

"But he was a thinker and writer I admired extravagantly, and he was a beacon of reason in an age that is dominated by irrationality. It does seem to me that a bright star in my personal firmament has been extinguished."

https://quillette.com/2020/01/14/remembering-roger-scruton-defender-of-r...

It's more than clear that Trump is no conservative. What's less clear to me is the strategy of defending everything he does and every move he makes even when those moves are at the heart of what conservatism is actually opposed to. 

At the end of the day, people make excuses why they support him, thought in practice he's really no different than the leftists conservatives oppose, which makes no sense.

Trump is the dictionary opposite of a conservative. By saying his “policies might occasionally coincide”, translated into English this means conservatives support him because he still gives them nice things, and huge tax breaks, and missile strikes on shitholes, and America #1 rallyes, and brown people in little cages.

 

 

Mostly anti-abortion judges.

so its ok for the frat boys to still plow daddy's caddy into the lake as long as the hippies aren't the ones doing it?