If you have not yet read this, please do. It is long but important. Then, read this (a follow up based on reaction to the first), from whence the pull quote below, was…um, pulled. Also important, in my opinion.
The former referred to go-along, get-along conservative intellectuals, who could do with a double dose of thymos. Several writers on the Left obligingly made the point. Good conservatism adheres to the parameters we set for you. You may say this, but not this. If you do and say what we tell you to, your reward will be that we will call you racist Nazis a little less. Also, what we allow as “good conservatism” will drift ever leftward, so that something we permitted a year or two ago is subject to revocation without notice and you better get on board immediately or the deal is off. Conservatism has accepted this “bargain”—hence its lack of thymos—yet amazingly thinks of itself as standing firm for eternal principle. But when I write in praise of virtue, morality, religious faith, stability, character, education, social norms and public order, initiative, enterprise, industry and thrift, and prudent statesmanship; when I warn against paternalistic Big Government, the decay of our educational system, and the cannibalization of civil society and religious institutions—time-honored conservative themes all—the Left responds with “insane,” “deranged,” “chilling,” and “poison.” And the same conservatives who cite adherence to conservative principle as their reason for opposing Trump side with…the Left.
Note that in this context the use of the word conservative(s) refers to the intellectual conservative/political class, and more specifically those committed to #NeverTrump.
As for my two-cents, I believe Hillary has to be stopped at all cost. The nation, even in its current miserable state, will not survive even four years of the same crap we’ve had for the past eight. And no matter how important you may think it is to vote third party as a matter of conscience–and I’m not trying to stop you–if you even amuse yourself idly with the notion that this choice is an intellectual decision, then you know neither the Libertarian nor Green Party candidate can or will win enough electoral votes (if they win any at all) to save the nation from Hillary Clinton.
