Wednesday, June 11, 2008
The Conscience of a Conservative
The late Barry Goldwater published his Conscience of a Conservative in 1960. I can remember reading it in paperback while I was a student in the Honours School of History and Political Science at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, 1964-1965. I read it on my own outside class requirements in my rooming house on the outskirts of the city. Goldwater listed three books that capture Conservative verities: The Holy Bible, Aristotle's Politics, and the American Federalist Papers. The Holy Bible offers the Ten Commandments, which are the moral and ethical foundations of what is left of Western Judaeo-Christian Civilization. Aristotle's Politics argues for the "Middle Way" to design public policy and political outcomes. Aristotle is the ageless champion of a large middle class of property owners as the bulwark of robust, healthy social, economic, and political orders - and antidote to the extremes of mob or clique rule. The Federalist Papers, one of the achievements of Alexander Hamilton, argues for setting strong limits to the power of government to preserve decision-making systems in society that have existed historically outside governmental interference and preserve local control of our affairs. Today, courts outlaw reference to the Ten Commandments in the "public square." The middle class is dying around us to appease Wall Street greed. Top-down government regulation intrudes more and more into spheres once reserved for family, church, local control, tradition, etc. Meanwhile, Dancing with the Stars and American Idol preoccupy the popular mind in America. The dumbing down of education, moreover, means fewer and fewer people are literate enough to read and reflect on these three bedrock books of our civilization. Such ignorance does not result in bliss. It never has. It never will. This is why The Holy Bible, Aristotle's Politics, and the American Federalist Papers will never lose their value, for in them we find the "Permanent Things" we need for personal and social health.
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Goldwater's selection of Aristotle is not an accident. Unlike his teacher Plato, Aristotle opposed "Monism," the idea that there is one center of power and one way of doing things - a dictatorship in effect. Aristotle embraced "Pluralism," multiple centers of power that in effect checked and balanced each other. Here we can see the origin of the American concept of "balance of power" in government, which is morphing into Monism, centralized federal, state, and even county power. Plato in his "Republic" argued for a "Philosopher King" who would emerge from an elite class of "Guardians of the State." In effect, Plato argued for an "Enlightened Despot." His student Aristotle opposed this "Monism," a centralized one way. As our first "Scientist," Aristotle observed nature's way is variety, not uniformity. Modern genetics confirm his "Pluralism." Think of it this way. Hitler believed in a Master Race of blue-eyed, blond Nordic blood "Supermen." This is a latter-day example of Monism, one way. We know the results of this updated version of Plato. However, I think Plato did not have a Hitler in mind, to cut old Plato some slack. Goldwater selected Aristotle as one of the "Permanent Things" because he valued the old, now dying, American tradition and value of decentralization, local control, variety, multiple power centers and ways of making decisions - religious, political, economic, educational, etc. Yes, we need to know our Aristotle and Plato, if we want to avoid going into the "night" of an sinister updated "Monism" supported with the insights of modern science.
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