The 2008 CPAC Conference: These Kids Are Alright
By Rep. Thaddeus McCotter Posted in Congress | Congressional Contributors — Comments (9) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
While appearing as a panelist at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), I was heartened to see so many young conservatives in attendance.
I was not swept with nostalgic sentiment for my youth as a nascent Reaganite, though those days were filled with excitement and exploits – a few of which can be recounted in polite company. What struck me was the prescience of modern conservatism’s intellectual founder, Russell Kirk. Today, as this generation of young conservatives embarks upon their service to America, I hope they will be inspired and guided by Kirk’s caution to my Generation X conservatives, many of whom did not heed his wisdom:
“…all ideologies work mischief. I am fortified by a letter from an influential and seasoned conservative publicist, who applauds my excoriation of young ideologues fancying themselves to be conservatives, and of young conservatives fondly hoping to convert themselves into ideologues. This latter correspondent agrees with me that ideology is founded merely upon ‘ideas’ – that is, upon abstractions, fancies, for the most part unrelated to personal and social reality; while conservative views are founded upon custom, convention, the long experience of the human species. He finds himself confronted, from time to time, by young people, calling themselves conservative, who have no notion of prudence, temperance, compromise, the traditions of civility, or cultural patrimony.”
Again, he is talking about my Generation X conservatives.
Read on . . .
“‘The woods are full of these creatures,’ this gentleman writes. ‘The conservative ‘movement’ seems to have reared up a new generation of rigid ideologists. It distresses me to find them as numerous and in so many institutions. Of course, many are libertarians, not conservatives. Whatever they call themselves, they are bad for the country and our civilization. Theirs is a cold-blooded, brutal view of life.’
“Amen to that…
“The triumph of ideology would be what Edmund Burke called ‘the antagonist world’ – the world of disorder; while what the conservative seeks to conserve is the world of order that we have inherited, if in a damaged condition, from our ancestors. The conservative mind and the ideological mind stand at opposite poles. And the contest between those two mentalities may be no less strenuous in the twenty-first century than it has been during the twentieth. Possibly [these words] may be of help to those of the rising generation who have the courage to oppose ideological zealots.”
Unlike so many of my own generation, I trust the inspiring youths of this rising generation of conservatives will take Kirk’s advice to heart; fulfill their noble role in our troubled world; and redeem our tortured times. For while daunting, I know they will embrace and transcend the challenge in the virtuous spirit of Rupert Brooke’s verse:
Now, God be thanked,
Who has matched us with His hour,
And caught our youth,
And wakened us from sleeping….
To learn more about Russell Kirk read The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot or visit www.kirkcenter.org
- Rep. Thaddeus G. McCotter (MI) is chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee.
And it's great to hear his name spoken in the hallways and beer joints of CPAC. First Principles, grass roots, scholarship, independent and skeptical thinking.
And yes, the rejection of ideology in favor of principles. Ah... this crap-fest of a primary season may yet yield good.
Thank you for this note, Congressman. You're one of the good guys in DC. Must feel fairly Quixotic, pretty much all the time.
Kill the terrorists
Protect the borders
Punch the hippies -- Frank J
A government big enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything you have. Thomas Jefferson
Huckabee did a great job last year, Mar 2nd 2007, and I look forward to his speech tomorrow.
I support Governor Mike Huckabee for President.
This is exceptional, noting the reaction of "Conservatives" to the likely nomination of Sen. McCain as the Republican Nominee for President. It seems that many "Conservatives" believe that anyone who wants to claim that title must adhere to their own litmus test of conservatism. While I do not agree with all that Sen. McCain has done, the body of his work places him in the "Conservative" ranks.
Those conservatives that would declare another apostate simply because they did not agree on every issue are just as foolish as the "Liberals" who declare their members apostate for not adhering to all the ideologies of Moveon.org.
Skippy
I realize that everyone who is conservative is not a "mind numbed robot" who follow the same exact orthodoxy. The truth is that we are all conservative to a degree, & my total view of conservatism is not the same as yours or yours. I would surmise it's something each of us must delineate - at what point is bending one's own ideology pass the point to breaking? That point is different for us all, & it's something we each should define.
"This latter correspondent agrees with me that ideology is founded merely upon ‘ideas’ – that is, upon abstractions, fancies, for the most part unrelated to personal and social reality; while conservative views are founded upon custom, convention, the long experience of the human species."
I haven't studied political science but I did try to read something about Kirk as recommended by Rep. Thaddeus G. McCotter. From what I've read so far, Huckabee (and McCain?) sound to me more like a conservatives than ideologues.
It seems like the ideologue fits more the description of Rush, Hannity, etc. They can sit in their broadcasting booths and the bloggers can sit at their keyboards and talk all day long serving the purpose of teaching conservative ideology. I'm grateful for them, I have learned much from them.
However, Huckabee actually governed a state for ten and half years. He had to move beyond ideological abstractions to the personal and social reality of life in Arkansas. Such as schools that were at the bottom of the academic rung and roads among the worst in the country and being inundated with illegal immigrants. He went a long way toward solving those problems, even if he wasn't a ideologically pure what-we-now-call conservative.
If the people of Arkansas were unhappy with the results, why would they have re-elected him twice? If he was so liberal (some even say socialist) why did he leave Arkansas in so much better shape than when he arrived.
You want to see a liberal mess? Look at New Orleans post-Katrina. From what I understand, Huckabee did a fantastic job of helping refugees escape that mess.
The one ideology that Huckabee will not budge on is the moral one. Especially the Right to Life issue. That seems to reflect this point from Kirk's book:
The Conservative assumes that the design of the world is not by accident, but by transcendental purpose. Metaphysical, permanent standards of Right and Wrong exist: moral standards are not relative.
This is why he wants a Right to Life amendment, because he believes moral standards are not relative. If it is wrong, it is wrong, in all of the United States. To borrow Lincoln's words (he was talking about slavery), "If abortion is not wrong, nothing is wrong."
This business of Huckabee wanting to impose a theocracy is ridiculous. It is simply a matter of fighting to regain the right of life from those it was taken away from. Our soul as a nation rests on acknowledging again the metaphysical, permanent standards of Right and Wrong that our founders so eloquently stated:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Mike Huckabee, Conservative.
If more of these young conservatives would spend their time reading Kirk instead of machinating to rise to the top of their college clubs through full display of the belief that real politics is backstabbing, lying, and blind ambition -- all the while believing themselves to be the Next Karl Rove -- then we'd have one heckuva stellar next generation on the way up.