tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4251777016037497783.post8823997513732995133..comments2023-12-14T20:02:51.470-06:00Comments on The Heavy Anglophile Orthodox: What comes afterward?Matthew Franklin Cooperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15233216128641267240noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4251777016037497783.post-36467439614744945972016-06-05T16:57:00.945-05:002016-06-05T16:57:00.945-05:00Hello, Vara! Welcome to the blog!
I actually agre...Hello, Vara! Welcome to the blog!<br /><br />I actually agree with your misgivings about Burke. I am more a fan of the Canadian ‘red Tory’ tradition which draws on Burke’s rival Johnson, as well as Swift, Ruskin and Morris (who, as I have learned lately, was an early advocate for, and sympathiser with, the Slavic Christians languishing under Ottoman rule), and, yes, Diefenbaker. (I don’t know enough, sadly, about Stolypin to make a judgement.)<br /><br />Two other things: first, I haven’t yet been published on <i>The American Conservative</i> (not for lack of trying). Second, though I know you may not believe me on this, I am NOT a neoliberal or a ‘liberal conservative’, and am not likely to become one anytime soon.<br /><br />Cheers,<br />MatthewMatthew Franklin Cooperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15233216128641267240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4251777016037497783.post-76621829355394544382016-06-05T10:28:36.938-05:002016-06-05T10:28:36.938-05:00Void... yes... as in Rod Dreher... an opportunist ...Void... yes... as in Rod Dreher... an opportunist par excellence... as in Taki... a rootless hanger-on of the rich... as in Pat Buchanan... an apologist for Holocaust Denial. I'd say that the "American Conservative" is an oxymoron... it's simply the rightwing reverse of the debased neoliberal coin. Bite the coin before accepting it.., there be counterfeits like Dreher in circulation (a newbie Orthodox posturing as an "elder"). Both "conservatism" and "liberalism" are simply two facets of Liberalism. Any group that lionises Burke is NOT Conservative... not in the sense of Bismarck or Stolypin or Dief. In short, your submission on the "American Conservative" is crank and without foundation... that's what my 62 yrs tell me, any road.Varahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17433700879385973493noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4251777016037497783.post-5388060752664722202016-04-12T14:01:38.761-05:002016-04-12T14:01:38.761-05:00I think I would probably have been a 'wet.'...I think I would probably have been a 'wet.' However, if you're a British Tory, it's hard not to love Thatcher, even if you have some doubts about her economic choices.Matthew Celestinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02874430461346560520noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4251777016037497783.post-4319331946145036832016-04-11T18:42:12.574-05:002016-04-11T18:42:12.574-05:00Steve - thank you for the comment! It's great ...Steve - thank you for the comment! It's great to see you back here again!<br /><br />I agree, of all the mainstream candidates currently on offer, Sanders strikes me as the most sensible by leaps and bounds. And not just for his economic policies but also for his foreign policy restraint. I don't like his stance on life issues, but I honestly don't see any of the presidential candidates being good on life issues.<br /><br />And you're absolutely right, of course, not to expect so much of politicians. I'd still appreciate seeing politicians grapple with some of these cultural questions, even if they don't expect to do anything about it. If you'll pardon a first-time voter his folly, that actually was one of the things that excited me most about Senator Obama in 2008.Matthew Franklin Cooperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15233216128641267240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4251777016037497783.post-23650829921511580522016-04-11T18:36:43.717-05:002016-04-11T18:36:43.717-05:00Matthew - well, it's not his policies I dislik...Matthew - well, it's not his policies I dislike so much as that he's the wrong messenger for them. Absolutely we need to rethink our trade, foreign and immigration policies, and believe it or not, but I've actually read things from Trump in <i>USA Today</i> which sound sensible. It's Trump himself - his persona, his ego, whatever you want to call it - that I can't stand.<br /><br />As for the British Conservatives, well... let's just say I'm more a 'wet' fan of Macmillan than Thatcher. I approve and value what the Tories used to stand for, and I'd like to see them go in that direction again.Matthew Franklin Cooperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15233216128641267240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4251777016037497783.post-49420223704295035642016-04-10T21:33:29.666-05:002016-04-10T21:33:29.666-05:00Speaking from far away, and thus a different persp...Speaking from far away, and thus a different perspective, Bernie Sanders appears the least rebarbative of the candidates on offer because he seems the one least likely to start yet another war. <br /><br />As for the rest, as someone once said, what is wrong with us that can be solved by politics is not all that is wrong with us, and to expect politicians to solve deep cultural problems is asking a bit too much. That's where the Church is supposed to be doing its leaven thing, starting with its own members. Steve Hayeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11283123400540587033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4251777016037497783.post-71180661853941339172016-04-10T03:31:12.166-05:002016-04-10T03:31:12.166-05:00Trump is such a awful person with absolutely no se...Trump is such a awful person with absolutely no sensible policies. If I was American and he got the nomination, I would vote for Clinton, or maybe Sanders if he got the nomination.<br /><br />On the other hand, if the British Conservative Party ever chose somebody like him for leader, I suppose I would still vote Conservative, being a party loyalist.Matthew Celestinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02874430461346560520noreply@blogger.com