The Monarchist 1.0
Defending the British Crown Commonwealth and the English-Speaking Peoples
[+] HONOURING OUR PATRON, SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL, VICTOR OF THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING PEOPLES
[+] HONOURING OUR QUEEN, ELIZABETH THE SECOND, ON THE 80TH YEAR OF HER BIRTH (1926 - 2006)
[+] HONOURING OUR KING, SAINT EDWARD THE CONFESSOR, ON THE 1000TH YEAR OF HIS BIRTH (1005 - 2005)
[+] HONOURING OUR HERO, LORD NELSON, ON THE BICENTENNIAL OF THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR (1805 - 2005)
[+] HONOURING OUR SONS, THE QUEEN'S COMMONWEALTH SOLDIERS KILLED IN THE 'WAR ON TERROR'
Chief Warrant Officer Robert Girouard, 46, Royal Canadian Regiment, Nov 27, 2006 (Afstan)
Staff Sergeant Sharron Elliott, 34, Intelligence Corps, Nov 12, 2006 (Iraq)
Private Jacob B. Kovco, 25, Royal Australian Regiment, April 21, 2006
[+] HONOURING OUR VETS ON THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE VICTORIA CROSS (1856 - 2006)
Thursday, May 04, 2006
The Iron Man
In my rush to debunk Squire Gwyn’s conflicting assertion (see post below) that Harper is both a “conservative Conservative”, and potentially the most radical Prime Minister Canada has ever had, I did not give the issue the fullness of response it deserved. Obviously when the closest thing to a Thatcherite (Harper, the Iron Man) bursts on the Canadian scene with a political vengeance, it is rational for “Trudeaupians” to feel threatened and to react with words like “radical” and “extreme” and “right-wing” and “ideologue”. But it is equally obvious that this is nothing more than a fear-mongering reaction, and not a proper reflection of who Harper truly is or what he truly represents.
Let me state it again: it is impossible to be both conservative and radical. The traditional enemy of conservatism is not liberalism or socialism, but radicalism. True conservatism is not an ideology, nor is it right or left wing – it is older than democracy. It came about consciously as a reaction to the radical supporters of the French Revolution, who were forcefully opposed by Edmund Burke. Burke, the Father of Conservatism, defined the philosophy as “a disposition to preserve, and an ability to improve”. It was Burke, the Old Whig and new Tory, who stood against the Whig elites of 1789, the radicals who favoured uprooting the established order and embracing the Age of Reason.
Unfortunately everyone has a different stock in reason, which makes it a false anchor. There is something deeply abnormal about today's rationalists who emphasize a society based on abstractions like “equality”, “diversity” and “tolerance”, rather than the more rooted and universal concepts of duty, sacrifice and responsibility. The former is a utopian fantasy (i.e., Trudeaupia) with a political ideology (i.e., multiculturalism); the latter is not a political doctrine at all, but “a habit of mind, a mode of feeling, a way of living”- RJ White. In a word, conservatism.
And that’s what Harper represents: the desire to return us to our senses, to get the federal government out of our daily lives, to take our responsibilities seriously and restore the country back to its once great, original condition. That means not pursuing “national dreams” or collectivist social projects; not moralizing as an international do-gooder while making no tangible contribution globally; not insisting on peacekeeping when there is no peace to keep; not banning handguns when they are already banned; not signing onto Kyoto with no idea of how to realistically implement it – on every issue the Trudeaupians seemed to exist on some imaginary planet, unable to come to grips with basic reality, accountability and responsibility.
Trudeau himself was not always like this. He could be firmly anchored on occasion, and was when it came to the terrorist FLQ or the national unity issue (Mulroney, on the other hand, was in some grandiose Never Never Land on Meech and Charlottetown), but an Iron Man can be dangerous (read: NEP) when he is not properly rooted in the natural order of things - when he is not a true conservative. (Hitler and Stalin were of course downright evil, and the furthest thing possible from the normal state). Much better to have a weak, vacillating ditherer like Martin at the helm, than an ethically challenged second world strong man like Chretien, or an arrogantly resolved idealist like Trudeau.
But a man firmly grounded in conservative principles is an Iron Man we can trust. And the reason for this is quite obvious; a real conservative by definition is someone who is moderate and cautious and believes in incremental change (unless the State is overdue for a political correction); who exhibits the manly virtues of restraint and prudence and humility in the face of the unknowable, versus the elitist assumptions inherent in “Canadian values” or the undefined superiority of “progressive politics”, both of which are completely vague and ungrounded.
The progressives are the radicals with the "hidden agenda", because we don’t know what they’ll do next. Is polygamy just around the corner? Are they going to dump the monarchy with a neat trick? We don't know - we can't trust them. A conservative, on the other hand, is tethered to the traditions of our society and so we know where he stands. What is new to our political experience is an Iron Man who is resolute in defending and restoring them. We've never had a Thatcher. We do now.
On a Related Topic: See Thatcher's 1976 Speech that caused the Soviets to dub her the "Iron Lady".
POSTED BY: The Monarchist AT 11:34 p.m. | LINKS |
In my rush to debunk Squire Gwyn’s conflicting assertion (see post below) that Harper is both a “conservative Conservative”, and potentially the most radical Prime Minister Canada has ever had, I did not give the issue the fullness of response it deserved. Obviously when the closest thing to a Thatcherite (Harper, the Iron Man) bursts on the Canadian scene with a political vengeance, it is rational for “Trudeaupians” to feel threatened and to react with words like “radical” and “extreme” and “right-wing” and “ideologue”. But it is equally obvious that this is nothing more than a fear-mongering reaction, and not a proper reflection of who Harper truly is or what he truly represents.Let me state it again: it is impossible to be both conservative and radical. The traditional enemy of conservatism is not liberalism or socialism, but radicalism. True conservatism is not an ideology, nor is it right or left wing – it is older than democracy. It came about consciously as a reaction to the radical supporters of the French Revolution, who were forcefully opposed by Edmund Burke. Burke, the Father of Conservatism, defined the philosophy as “a disposition to preserve, and an ability to improve”. It was Burke, the Old Whig and new Tory, who stood against the Whig elites of 1789, the radicals who favoured uprooting the established order and embracing the Age of Reason.
Unfortunately everyone has a different stock in reason, which makes it a false anchor. There is something deeply abnormal about today's rationalists who emphasize a society based on abstractions like “equality”, “diversity” and “tolerance”, rather than the more rooted and universal concepts of duty, sacrifice and responsibility. The former is a utopian fantasy (i.e., Trudeaupia) with a political ideology (i.e., multiculturalism); the latter is not a political doctrine at all, but “a habit of mind, a mode of feeling, a way of living”- RJ White. In a word, conservatism.
And that’s what Harper represents: the desire to return us to our senses, to get the federal government out of our daily lives, to take our responsibilities seriously and restore the country back to its once great, original condition. That means not pursuing “national dreams” or collectivist social projects; not moralizing as an international do-gooder while making no tangible contribution globally; not insisting on peacekeeping when there is no peace to keep; not banning handguns when they are already banned; not signing onto Kyoto with no idea of how to realistically implement it – on every issue the Trudeaupians seemed to exist on some imaginary planet, unable to come to grips with basic reality, accountability and responsibility.
Trudeau himself was not always like this. He could be firmly anchored on occasion, and was when it came to the terrorist FLQ or the national unity issue (Mulroney, on the other hand, was in some grandiose Never Never Land on Meech and Charlottetown), but an Iron Man can be dangerous (read: NEP) when he is not properly rooted in the natural order of things - when he is not a true conservative. (Hitler and Stalin were of course downright evil, and the furthest thing possible from the normal state). Much better to have a weak, vacillating ditherer like Martin at the helm, than an ethically challenged second world strong man like Chretien, or an arrogantly resolved idealist like Trudeau.
But a man firmly grounded in conservative principles is an Iron Man we can trust. And the reason for this is quite obvious; a real conservative by definition is someone who is moderate and cautious and believes in incremental change (unless the State is overdue for a political correction); who exhibits the manly virtues of restraint and prudence and humility in the face of the unknowable, versus the elitist assumptions inherent in “Canadian values” or the undefined superiority of “progressive politics”, both of which are completely vague and ungrounded.
The progressives are the radicals with the "hidden agenda", because we don’t know what they’ll do next. Is polygamy just around the corner? Are they going to dump the monarchy with a neat trick? We don't know - we can't trust them. A conservative, on the other hand, is tethered to the traditions of our society and so we know where he stands. What is new to our political experience is an Iron Man who is resolute in defending and restoring them. We've never had a Thatcher. We do now.
On a Related Topic: See Thatcher's 1976 Speech that caused the Soviets to dub her the "Iron Lady".
POSTED BY: The Monarchist AT 11:34 p.m. | LINKS |
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