Fractad
1810
“Conservatism starts from a sentiment that all mature people can readily share: the sentiment that good things are easily destroyed, but not easily created. This is especially true of the good things that come to us as collective assets: peace, freedom, law, civility, public spirit, the security of property and family life, in all of which we depend on the cooperation of others while having no means singlehandedly to obtain it. In respect of such things, the work of destruction is quick, easy and exhilarating; the work of creation slow, laborious and dull. That is one of the lessons of the twentieth century. It is also one reason why conservatives suffer such a disadvantage when it comes to public opinion. Their position is true but boring, that of their opponents exciting but false.”
-Roger Scruton
I miss Roger Scruton. There’s not much I can add to this, except to note that we seem to be destroying our collective assets at an alarming rate. In recent news, President Biden is “forgiving” the student loans of 23 million borrowers. Set aside the dollar amount and its effect on the economy – does no one in his administration consider the moral hazard this creates?
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Tags: QOTD, Quote of the Day, Roger Scruton, student-loan forgiveness
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Arahant @Arahant
10:01 AM EDT ⋅ Apr 9, 2024
Fractad: In respect of such things, the work of destruction is quick, easy and exhilarating; the work of creation slow, laborious and dull. That is one of the lessons of the twentieth century.
That’s every century, Roger. Sometimes one needs to look around a bit, but it’s throughout history every where and every when.
Member
Arahant @Arahant
10:02 AM EDT ⋅ Apr 9, 2024
Fractad: Set aside the dollar amount and its effect on the economy – does no one in his administration consider the moral hazard this creates?
This administration consider? No. They do not think at all. They do what feels good or what they see will give them a temporary advantage.
Member
The Reticulator @TheReticulator
11:33 AM EDT ⋅ Apr 9, 2024
Fractad: Set aside the dollar amount and its effect on the economy – does no one in his administration consider the moral hazard this creates?
For them it’s a feature, not a bug. They wouldn’t do it if there was no corruption of the citizenry to be gained from it.
Member
Mark Camp @MarkCamp
12:23 PM EDT ⋅ Apr 9, 2024
Arahant(View Comment):
Fractad: In respect of such things, the work of destruction is quick, easy and exhilarating; the work of creation slow, laborious and dull. That is one of the lessons of the twentieth century.
That’s every century, Roger. Sometimes one needs to look around a bit, but it’s throughout history every where and every when.
Perhaps so.
But a historian educated in modern economic science (the antidote to the later mainstream pseudo-scientific economics that now infects our minds) could make a strong argument that
1. the 19th century was for Britain and the US a time of slow, laborious, and dull creationespecially of the good things that come to us as collective assets: collective material wealth, and those that Scruton names (“peace, freedom, law, civility, public spirit, the security of property and family life, in all of which we depend on the cooperation of others while having no means singlehandedly to obtain it.”) This creation encompassed both Bastiat’sThat Which is Seen (absolute creation) and That Which is Unseen (differential creation)
2. The 20th was a century of rapid net differential destruction of those assets, absent net creation. Our intellectual incapacity to identify real economic phenomena that are of the category That Which is Unseen has permitted us to become a society that lustily participates in its own enslavement and impoverishment. Highly intelligent citizens defending the existence of the FDA, or the need for something like it, for example.
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Arahant @Arahant
12:34 PM EDT ⋅ Apr 9, 2024
Marx was a Nineteenth Century writer supported by the wealth of Engels and his factory. And not everywhere was as peaceful as the US and Britain. Look at South America and Mexico. Also, what about that unpleasantness in 1861-1865 in the US? Or the Napoleonic Wars for the first 15% of the Nineteenth Century? Oh, and the War of 1812? The Nineteenth Century saw a lot of growth and progress, but that does not mean it was not destructive.
The Twentieth Century certainly had what we now call WWi and WWII, but it also had scientific advances and growth unlike any other century. Yes, we made mistakes in the 20th C., but it was the best century until this one.
Thatcher
Percival @Percival
12:35 PM EDT ⋅ Apr 9, 2024
If I am to foot the bill for “higher education,” then I should get a say on the curricula.
Aggrieved Group Studies Hardest Hit.
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Mark Camp @MarkCamp
5:10 PM EDT ⋅ Apr 9, 2024
Arahant(View Comment):
Marx was a Nineteenth Century writer supported by the wealth of Engels and his factory.
That is true, but it’s a non sequitur.
Coolidge
Lilly B @LillyB
5:38 PM EDT ⋅ Apr 9, 2024
I’d love to know what this quote is taken from. I’m assuming Scruton is writing about the 20th century for a particular reason and not because he lacks knowledge about other examples in history.
******
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Coolidge
Fractad @TWert
Postauthor
5:52 PM EDT ⋅ Apr 9, 2024
Lilly B(View Comment):
I’d love to know what this quote is taken from. I’m assuming Scruton is writing about the 20th century for a particular reason and not because he lacks knowledge about other examples in history.Lilly, it’s from his 2014 book, How To Be a Conservative. I confess I haven’t read that book (I’ve read others of his), but I saw the quote in the WSJ years ago and saved it.
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Paul Stinchfield @PaulStinchfield
6:46 PM EDT ⋅ Apr 9, 2024
Lilly B(View Comment):
I’d love to know what this quote is taken from. I’m assuming Scruton is writing about the 20th century for a particular reason and not because he lacks knowledge about other examples in history.
******
Here’s the Quote of the Day Signup Sheet for anyone who would like to contribute a quote.
Scruton’s reasons boil down to a desire to defend Western civilization from a Left bent on its destruction, and to articulate why our civilization should be defended and in fact cherished. He has written that the triggering moment was when, in France, he witnessed the riots of May 1968, instigated by communists, trade unions, and spoiled students.
From that same book:
It is not unusual to be a conservative. But it is unusual to be an intellectual conservative. In both Britain and America some 70 per cent of academics identify themselves as ‘on the left’, while the surrounding culture is increasingly hostile to traditional values, or to any claim that might be made for the high achievements of Western civilization. Ordinary conservatives – and many, possibly most, people fall into this category – are constantly told that their ideas and sentiments are reactionary, prejudiced, sexist or racist. Just by being the thing they are they offend against the new norms of inclusiveness and non-discrimination. Their honest attempts to live by their lights, raising families, enjoying communities, worshipping their gods, and adopting a settled and affirmative culture – these attempts are scorned and ridiculed by the Guardian class. In intellectual circles conservatives therefore move quietly and discreetly, catching each other’s eyes across the room like the hom*osexuals in Proust, whom that great writer compared to Homer’s gods, known only to each other as they move in disguise around the world of mortals.
We, the supposed excluders, are therefore under pressure to hide what we are, for fear of being excluded. I have resisted that pressure, and as a result my life has been far more interesting than I ever intended it to be.
Coolidge
Fractad @TWert
Postauthor
6:49 PM EDT ⋅ Apr 9, 2024
Paul Stinchfield(View Comment):
From that same book:What a great quote. I’m going to have to put that book on my reading list!
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Paul Stinchfield @PaulStinchfield
6:54 PM EDT ⋅ Apr 9, 2024
Fractad(View Comment):
Paul Stinchfield (View Comment):
From that same book:What a great quote. I’m going to have to put that book on my reading list!
Many of his books are in print. And some of his columns are still available online in the periodicals he contributed to.
Coolidge
Ray Gunner @RayGunner
7:20 PM EDT ⋅ Apr 9, 2024
Fractad: In recent news, President Biden is “forgiving” the student loans of 23 million borrowers. Set aside the dollar amount and its effect on the economy – does no one in his administration consider the moral hazard this creates?
Moral hazard?!!? What’s a moral hazard to a bunch of careerist swamp-dwellers when there are votes to buy?
Thatcher
Percival @Percival
7:23 PM EDT ⋅ Apr 9, 2024
Paul Stinchfield(View Comment):
From that same book:
It is not unusual to be a conservative. But it is unusual to be an intellectual conservative. In both Britain and America some 70 per cent of academics identify themselves as ‘on the left’
That’s the fault of the academy, not conservatism. Conservatives have been systematically excluded from the ivory tower. After a while, fewer take that career path.
Member
Arahant @Arahant
7:27 PM EDT ⋅ Apr 9, 2024
Mark Camp(View Comment):
Arahant (View Comment):
Marx was a Nineteenth Century writer supported by the wealth of Engels and his factory.
That is true, but it’s a non sequitur.
Not really. His writings led to much of the destruction of the Twentieth Century.
Member
Barfly @Barfly
7:38 PM EDT ⋅ Apr 9, 2024
Fractad: does no one in his administration consider the moral hazard this creates?
YGBKM. There are no moral people in his administration. What we see as hazard, is their intent.
Member
Mark Camp @MarkCamp
8:47 PM EDT ⋅ Apr 9, 2024
Arahant(View Comment):
Mark Camp (View Comment):
Arahant (View Comment):
Marx was a Nineteenth Century writer supported by the wealth of Engels and his factory.
That is true, but it’s a non sequitur.
Not really. His writings led to much of the destruction of the Twentieth Century.
Aha! You’ve got me there.
Coolidge
God-Loving Woman @GodLovingWoman
2 Minutes Ago
I miss him too.
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