“The Conservative Mind” by Russell Kirk
The actual title of this book is The Conservative mind: From Burke to Eliot.
This is no easy book to read, as it spans 501 pages and covers the concepts and precepts of Conservatism through history, through Russell Kirk’s own vast vocabulary and highly refined style of written expression.
Even well-educated readers will need to use a good dictionary should they wish to grasp much of his own writings and those of the great personages of history upon whom he elucidates and very frequently quotes. These quotations are frequently written in a formal style and in the prose of centuries past.
Never the less, diligence will be rewarded with important insights into the origins of both conservative and liberal/progressive ideals. More importantly, the reader will see why conservative societies generally succeed (at least for a time) and why liberal/progressive societies (into which conservative societies tend to decline) generally fail.
America is now at enormous risk because it has abandoned is social and political conservatism and is rapidly evolving in the direction of the well-known socialistic/progressive ideals that generally spell disaster.
I have provided a significant number of short articles examining and critiquing the social/political philosophies of Conservatism, Libertarianism, Socialism and Progressivism.
At this time of steep American cultural decline, it is imperative that the voting public understand the main features of these engines of social change, as well as their typical evolutionary trajectories.
The fact that a great percentage of America’s (let alone the world’s) population will be unable to grasp the complexities of these philosophies and their deferred consequences to societies embodies a fearful revelation:
Relatively “free societies”, democracies and unbalanced representative republics (such as our own) normally devolve into rank socialism, and worse, when an increasingly indolent and dependent electorate learns to vote itself into the shackles of governmental largess.
I hope you will spend some time reviewing my articles that bear directly upon these concerns and the looming fate of your own society.
Please separately enter the words conservatism, libertarianism, socialism and progressivism in my search box on the upper right side of my main blog page. Think about these matters and then vote accordingly in all upcoming elections.
I will soon provide you with a series of commentary and important quotes from Russel Kirk’s, The Conservative Mind.
V. Thomas Mawhinney, 12/19/15
Cultural Survival Skills 