This is exactly the type of political work I’ve been waiting for but never got in my undergrad Political Economy studies. You’ve been very helpful in expanding my views on political theory and philosophy.
Brilliant! I look forward to seeing more of your book. Personally, I think that in contemporary political thought, classical conservatism can perhaps be found in variations of political realism and communitarianism. On the other hand, mainstream right wing's political pratice has been dominated by the variations of libertarianism (right wing liberals) and nationalist populism (contemporary reactionaries).
I’d say it’s dominated by a corrupt version of neoliberalism, and pretends to uphold it, and it’s much more neoconservatism, goal post moving to populism and positivism when called for being big business corporatism instead of bottom up support of low flat taxes and entrepreneurship, and the fact conservative spending also requires Keynesian interest rate manipulation and massive debt too. Then when called to get really into a Edmund Burke, Roger Scruton mentality they go full economics and liberty, freedom etc. There’s a big schism and infighting between libertarians and conservatives, and a good deal of ways the libertarians and better conservatives are kept at the margins. That also leads to a good deal of problems in the libertarian bubble really never having their feet held to the fire in public and long form, partly because the two main parties don’t want them talking. That exacerbates the philosophical bereft ness of libertarians because they take that legitimate fact as a way to act like they have the entire master key to all human endeavor and never own up to problems with Cartesian materialism, a lack of ontology, and isolated individualism. Though economics shouldn’t be at the top of the pyramid, they do however have some legit economic facts and points about both parties that stack up and are true.
Yes, they "act like they have the entire master key to all human endeavor." That way of thinking is inherently dangerous because it treats human beings programmatically, ignoring differences and blaming those who don't fit the program as failures.
Panagiotis Kondylis, a very important greek historian of ideas in his great book named "Sintiritismos" (conservativism in greek language) supports the opinion that classical conservativism is the defense of "societas civilis" and its political and religious ideals. I think that this channel is amazing,a precious "jewel" inside all this RU-vid content. Continue great work Dr. Johnson!
I love the part about the ups and downs of rights movements (16:18). I have argued exactly that for some time after being alerted to it by the writing of none other than Ted Kaczynski. He suggests similar things in Industrial Society and Its Future and writes explicitly and at length about it in the essay The System's Neatest Trick. I think it also coheres with Ellul in the sense that it serves as an example of how small "fixes" to individual problems can seem rational and moral when viewed in isolation but can reinforce accumulating problems on a structural level (so is basically a problem of ellulian technique in politics).
As a researcher of political philosophy and history of ideas,I have a great academic passion about conservativism and generally about right-wing theories. It would be a great idea to create a video about "conservative revolution", the well-known ideological movement of anti-liberal and antimarxist German intellectuals of Weimar period, like Spengler,Junger and Schmitt. Do you think that we can categorise this political and philosophical movement in general conservative tradition?
Yes--the pessimism and acceptance of an unending struggle to manage the worst of human nature, to understand conflict and find a way to channel it, definitely.
I'm glad you'll be getting it--I'm motivated to get it done in a little over a year, and I'll let people know my progress from time to time along the way.
Far worse than having a monarchy in Britain, is the public school system, that is the private fee-paying system that buys the better-off continuing privilege and wealth for their offspring.
You cannot blame parents for wanting the best for their children. Those who do make it to the top, know exactly how to get there. Their children are placed in programs that are specifically designed to put them in the 1%, and keep them there. When I was 16, I was taught such things like "papertrading" (learning the stock market), economics, psychology of investment, psychology of business management, moral responsibility/duty, ethics and so on. In public school, 16 year old's are being taught about undefined equity, pronouns, and prioritize conversations about identity politics... over real-world curriculum. The public school system is currently building generations of failures. You cannot blame parents that have means, for placing their children in a situation that is beneficial for them. If you want to help the underclass, then restructure the public school system. Half of children under 20 in America currently have a favorable view of socialism. They're not even being equipped to succeed.