THERE'S A REASON THE SAME FOLKS OPPOSE IMMIGRATION:

Conservatives & the Democracy Agenda (Michael Gerson, 10/10/07, Real Clear Politics)

In the backlash against President Bush's democracy agenda, conservatives are increasingly taking the lead. It is inherently difficult for liberals to argue against the expansion of social and political liberalism in oppressive parts of the world -- though, in a fever of Bush hatred, they try their best. It is easier for traditional conservatives to be skeptical of this grand project, given their history of opposing all grand projects of radical change. [...]

The unavoidable problem is this: Without moral absolutes, there is no way to determine which traditions are worth preserving and which should be overturned. Conservatism assumes and depends on an objective measure of right and wrong that skepticism cannot provide. Without a firm moral conviction that independence is superior to servitude, that freedom is superior to slavery, that the weak deserve special care and protection, the habit of conservatism is radically incomplete. In the absence of elevating ideals, it can become pessimistic and unambitious -- a morally indifferent preference for the status quo.

History does teach that reform is easier to start than finish well. But history also teaches that some organic social arrangements are rotten and wormy; that it is not utopian to rescue a human life from oppression, it is justice; that events without reference to universal ideals of freedom and human rights can become a hell of permanent, unchallenged slavery. It is not a coincidence that the great movements of conscience have generally come, not from skeptical traditionalists, but from men and women of faith and conviction who taught that loving your neighbor is inconsistent with enslaving them; who rescued children from the nightmare factories of the industrial revolution; who asserted that the long tradition of racial segregation created 10,000 petty tyrants; and who believed that the Declaration of Independence is actually true, for us and for all.

Traditionalism can save moralists from a foolish utopianism. But a moral vision is equally necessary to save traditional conservatism from its worst instincts.

It's fascinating to listen to "traditional conservatives" try to differentiate their own "grand project of radical change"--the Cold War--from the ones they oppose--chiefly Wilson's & W's. It hardly seems coincidental that the USSR oppressed white Europeans.

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 10, 2007 6:12 AM