Skull Loc: California

Ten Conservative Principles (1993)

First, the conservative believes that there exists an enduring moral order.
Second, the conservative adheres to custom, convention, and continuity.
Third, conservatives believe in what may be called the principle of prescription.
Fourth, conservatives are guided by their principle of prudence.
Fifth, conservatives pay attention to the principle of variety.
Sixth, conservatives are chastened by their principle of imperfectability.
Seventh, conservatives are persuaded that freedom and property are closely linked.
Eighth, conservatives uphold voluntary community, quite as they oppose involuntary collectivism.
Ninth, the conservative perceives the need for prudent restraints upon power and upon human passions.
Tenth, the thinking conservative understands that permanence and change must be recognized and reconciled in a vigorous society.

Evolution of Kirk's Thought on Conservative Principles

In 1953, with the publication of The Conservative Mind, Russell Kirk set out six “canons” that he considered a reasonable summary or outline of the significant themes common among conservative thinkers. In his 1982 introduction to the Portable Conservative Reader, Kirk offered a variation on those canons, and in a chapter in the 1993 Politics of Prudence, his last book, he expanded the canons to ten principles.

Skull Loc: California

There exists no Model Conservative, and conservatism is the negation of ideology: it is a state of mind, a type of character, a way of looking at the civil social order.

The attitude we call conservatism is sustained by a body of sentiments, rather than by a system of ideological dogmata. It is almost true that a conservative may be defined as a person who thinks himself such. The conservative movement or body of opinion can accommodate a considerable diversity of views on a good many subjects, there being no Test Act or Thirty-Nine Articles of the conservative creed.

Skull Loc: California

Kirk comments on his Ten Principles:

http://www.kirkcenter.org/index.php/detail/ten-conservative-principles/

fiatlux

First, the conservative believes that there exists an enduring moral order": whose moral order?

"Second, the conservative adheres to custom, convention, and continuity." Like slavery or suppression of Native Americans or the denial of women's rights, which was the "custom, convention, and continuity" for centuries in this country?

"Third, conservatives believe in what may be called the principle of prescription."
As explained by Kirk, "Therefore conservatives very often emphasize the importance of prescription—that is, of things established by immemorial usage, so that the mind of man runneth not to the contrary. There exist rights of which the chief sanction is their antiquity." Again, "immemorial usage" as slavery and suppression of the indigenous people for profit.

"Fourth, conservatives are guided by their principle of prudence." What does that mean? Prudence in what area? Flint, Michigan perhaps? SNAP? Unemployment benefits in a seriously depressed economy? Obamacare covering millions that were previously un-insured?

"Fifth, conservatives pay attention to the principle of variety." What does that mean? "For the preservation of a healthy diversity in any civilization, there must survive orders and classes, differences in material condition, and many sorts of inequality. The only true forms of equality are equality at the Last Judgment and equality before a just court of law; all other attempts at levelling must lead, at best, to social stagnation."
Such as equal rights for women: out of order. Blacks and the poor survive as a lower class, enduring "many sorts of inequality" in order to sustain the rule of Conservatives.

"Sixth, conservatives are chastened by their principle of imperfectability." Kirk says: "To seek for utopia is to end in disaster, the conservative says: we are not made for perfect things. All that we reasonably can expect is a tolerably ordered, just, and free society, in which some evils, maladjustments, and suffering will continue to lurk. By proper attention to prudent reform, we may preserve and improve this tolerable order."
Are evils, maladjustments, and suffering, most tolerable to Conservatives, what you expect or want? Is such a pessimistic view as fundamental to life conducive to a better life for all? If the thought is that evil, maladjustments, and suffering is to be expected and a naturally intrinsic part of governing, what can a citizen expect?

"Seventh, conservatives are persuaded that freedom and property are closely linked."
How very, very sick is that thought? And they can't see it! What property do you own? None? Are you still free? Only property owners, and white ones, could vote in our early Republic: is that what feels like a democracy?

"Eighth, conservatives uphold voluntary community, quite as they oppose involuntary collectivism."
This absurdity is difficult to confront. I agree wholeheartedly with the statement, yet it actually goes against all that is good about our Republic. It says, in effect, that there should be no ultimate authority to effect equality, justice, and peace in a nation: these should all be decided, like the Joe Crow laws in a number of states, by whatever they seem fit. Inter-racial marriage, for instance: should a "voluntary community" opposed to such a notion have precedence over the "involuntary collectivism" of a Central Government.

"Eighth, conservatives uphold voluntary community, quite as they oppose involuntary collectivism." Sounds reasonable and great, but what does it mean? Kirk explains.
But before that, eight conflicts directly with seven. Just saying. Read it yourself.

"Ninth, the conservative perceives the need for prudent restraints upon power and upon human passions."
All other eight points prior makes this statement the height of hypocrisy: "Politically speaking, power is the ability to do as one likes, regardless of the wills of one’s fellows. A state in which an individual or a small group are able to dominate the wills of their fellows without check is a despotism, whether it is called monarchical or aristocratic or democratic."
The continual self-contradictions, unobserved by Kirk himself or others, is dire testament to the blindness not just of man but specifically of Conservatives. Now onto Ten.

"Tenth, the thinking conservative understands that permanence and change must be recognized and reconciled in a vigorous society."
Almost every principle contradicts a previous principle or at least calls into question its validity. This is the most rigorously flawed document I have ever read.

As Kirk say, "He thinks that the liberal and the radical, blind to the just claims of Permanence, would endanger the heritage bequeathed to us, in an endeavor to hurry us into some dubious Terrestrial Paradise."
Presumptive and dismissive. Yes, no doubt there are the "liberal and radical" who are blind in his claim, but this statement goes far, far beyond that: in effect, he is saying that all those who are not Conservative think and act in this fashion.

In a nutshell, Kirk makes good and rotten sense.

Airdale Loc: Spartan Nation West Michigan

Russell Kirk grew up in my hometown of Plymouth, Mich. and attended the same high school I did. At the end of WWII he was a professor at Michigan State. My brother and a Navy friend of his in WWII finished out the final two years of college at MSU after receiving the first two years of college through the Navy's Reserve Officers Program (V-12). Since my brother had graduated in the same class at Plymouth High School with Russell Kirk's younger sister and she was attending MSU at the time, my brother introduced his friend to her. Long story short, they were married. About four years ago, my brother introduced me to his Navy friend and his wife (Russell's sister). The home that Russell Kirk grew up in is still there in Plymouth. The "Father of Conservative Thought" and good friend of Senator Barry Goldwater, Russell Kirk passed away several years ago. In addition to his political writings, Kirk wrote a few short novels including a murder mystery which took place in the small local hotel which used to stand across the street from his home in Plymouth called the Anderine Hotel. It is long out of print and hard to find. As all liberals tend to do, it seems they try to trivialize conservative thinking by looking for the worst in it and misinterpreting it to promote their own confused political and social agendas.

Dummy Boy Loc: Michigan

Hey, Airdale: I live in Ann Arbor, how are you?

Airdale Loc: Spartan Nation West Michigan

I'm doing great, DB. I moved to Florida in 2012 but return to Michigan occasionally to see family. Some of them live in A2 and my nephew there attended UM. I was born and raised in Plymouth and lived there all my life prior to moving south. Ann Arbor is a great town and I know my way around it almost a well as I do Plymouth. Thanks for your comment.

Dummy Boy Loc: Michigan

I would live in Plymouth, the taxes are crazy high. A buddy I work with straddles Plymouth but pays Canton taxes and still close to downtown. If you're in the area, we could go to Iron Wood downtown or the "Box", I haven't been to the "Box" in a long time.

Airdale Loc: Spartan Nation West Michigan

"Box" has been there a long time......back to the 1940s I think. Haven't tried Iron Wood yet. Irish Pub downtown is a good spot too. I grew up in the city, but lived in the township 47 years. Lower taxes.

Dummy Boy Loc: Michigan

Well, see you in May?

Airdale Loc: Spartan Nation West Michigan

Deal.