[NOTE: Updated on 6-16-2009 to link to Reihan Salam's and Matt Lewis's June 15, 2009 debate about conservatism and the Republican Party on Lew Dobbs Tonight. Updated on 6-12-2009 to link to Matt Lewis's latest comments on this topic on BloggingheadsTV. Updated on 6-11-2009 to link to David Frum's latest BloggingheadsTV comment on this topic, and Matt Lewis's response. Updated on 6-9-08 to link to Crystal Wright's post on this matter and to refer to Matt Lewis's blog, and on 6-7-2009 to link to David Frum's post on this matter.]
In an earlier post I asked Matt Lewis, a conservative commentator on Bloggingheads.tv, to state his definition of “true conservative,” a term he frequently uses on his weekly program. Many thanks to Mr. Lewis for offering his definition of “true conservative” on the June 5, 2009 episode of “The Week in Blog.” Mr. Lewis actually appears to have offered three definitions:
(1) He defines “conservative” as “[t]he sort of traditional, what Ronald Reagan might have thought of as someone who, by and large, is for smaller government, strong national defense, lower taxes.”
(2) Mr. Lewis states that “Russell Kirk actually laid out what is a conservative . . . there are several bullet points.” Mr. Lewis then refers us to a section of the Wikipedia article on Dr. Kirk, which contains what appears to be a summary of Dr. Kirk’s views on conservatism, as expressed in Professor Gerald Russello’s article, Russell Kirk and Territorial Democracy, 34 PUBLIUS: J. FEDERALISM 109 (2004):
“ [a]. A belief in a transcendent order, which Kirk described variously as based in tradition, divine revelation, or natural law;
“[b]. An affection for the ‘variety and mystery’ of human existence;
“[c]. A conviction that society requires orders and classes that emphasize ‘natural’ distinctions;
“[d]. A belief that property and freedom are closely linked;
“[e]. A faith in custom, convention, and prescription, and
“[f]. A recognition that innovation must be tied to existing traditions and customs, which entails a respect for the political value of prudence.”
(3) Mr. Lewis defines “conservative” as: “It’s like pornography, you know it when you see it.”
Definitions (1) and (2) give us clear criteria to work with. (We’ll disregard definition (3), since it contains no objective criteria.)
In previous episodes of “The Week in Blog,” Mr. Lewis has stated that Ross Douthat, David Frum, and Reihan Salam are not “true conservatives.” Now that we know what Mr. Lewis means by “true conservative,” I would be most interested to hear from Mr. Lewis, and from others, respecting the ways in which they believe that Mr. Douthat, Mr. Frum, and Mr. Salam fail to satisfy definitions (1) and (2). In my view, Mr. Douthat, Mr. Frum, and Mr. Salam do satisfy those definitions, and so I find myself puzzled by Mr. Lewis’s characterization of their politics.
One way to approach this discussion is to consider the criteria in definitions (1) and (2) as conservative “principles,” shared by all conservatives, while individual conservatives of good will may differ on particular “policies” or “issues.”
David Frum has just commented on this topic on BloggingheadsTV, and has posted a comment on this matter, as has Crystal Wright, both on the New Majority blog.
Matt Lewis declined to respond directly to this post, but on June 12, 2009, he discussed this topic again on BloggingheadsTV, and on June 10, 2009, he wrote a new post on this topic. He also referred us generally to his blog at Town Hall, and particularly to this October 7, 2008 post.
Feel free to respond in the comments section of this post, or in the comments section at Bloggingheads.
Tags: "True Conservative", Conservatism, David Frum, Matt Lewis, Meaning of "true conservative", Reihan Salam, Ronald Reagan, Ross Douthat, Russell Kirk
July 10, 2009 at 2:25 pm |
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