I am accused by Alan Jacobs of “absolutizing fright,” of sounding an “undefined alarm and an undefined response to that alarm,” in my essay “Why Conservatism Failed.”
Jacobs is not the first person to criticize the lack of specifics in that essay (which was largely an editorial decision - what Compact published was half of the length of the original draft). And so let me not mince words here.
There are largely two points of disagreement. The first is the question of what the boundaries of “conserving” a tradition are. The second is the question of why technology renders traditions void.
There are largely two points of disagreement. The first is the question of what the boundaries of “conserving” a tradition are. The second is the question of why technology renders traditions void.
In answering this point of disagreement, I hope to convey in sufficiently concrete and specific terms why American conservatives must remove their heads from the sand (or another hole) and move beyond the repertoire of conservation to recover, discover, forge, and otherwise take a stand on what must be abandoned and what must be built anew.
