Tea at Trianon: A Driftless Conservative

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, July 4, 2016

A Driftless Conservative

From Chronicles:

Each of these folk schools is flavored by the community in which it sits, but they all tend to share certain traits. The people are not saints, but they are remarkably friendly and respectful. They are good storytellers. They love traditional folk music, grow their own vegetables, and eat what’s in season. The art they teach bleeds into other arts and reflects a deeper philosophy of life that aspires to work with creation instead of against it. They are kind and patient, but don’t have much regard for jerks. They cannot imagine practicing their craft without passing it along to others, especially the young. They combine diligent study and work on an individual level with a frank realization that life is impossible apart from a community. They make money at what they do, but they don’t do it for the money. For them, efficiency is a means and not an end—a means bound by an end that derives from something other than pure utility, rationality, fashion, or popular consensus.

And here’s the darnedest thing: They’re not all Republicans. For that matter, I’m fairly certain that many of them would bristle at the label conservative. Some of them are self-consciously liberal. I’m pretty sure that the typical folk-school type listens to NPR. (Read more.)