Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Got a spare couple of hours?

I've been listening to lectures at work while I sit at my computer; anything to keep the brain occupied.  I've posted a couple of Jordan Peterson videos before.  Here he lays out 12 Principles for 21st Century Conservatism.



I've got to chew on these.  As usual, there are a couple I look at and say "Well duh!"  But there's some that require me to ponder them a bit.

Tenets of a viable 21st century conservatism
1. The fundamental assumptions of Western civilization are valid. 
2. Peaceful social being is preferable to isolation and to war. In consequence, it justly and rightly demands some sacrifice of individual impulse and idiosyncrasy. 
3. Hierarchies of competence are desirable and should be promoted. 
4. Borders are reasonable. Likewise, limits on immigration are reasonable. Furthermore, it should not be assumed that citizens of societies that have not evolved functional individual-rights predicated polities will hold values in keeping with such polities.
5. People should be paid so that they are able and willing to perform socially useful and desirable duties. 
6. Citizens have the inalienable right to benefit from the result of their own honest labor.
7. It is more noble to teach young people about responsibilities than about rights. 
8. It is better to do what everyone has always done, unless you have some extraordinarily valid reason to do otherwise.
9. Radical change should be viewed with suspicion, particularly in a time of radical change.
10. The government, local and distal, should leave people to their own devices as much as possible.
11. Intact heterosexual two-parent families constitute the necessary bedrock for a stable polity. 
12. We should judge our political system in comparison to other actual political systems and not to hypothetical utopias. 

2 comments:

Deserttrek said...

the points are valid
I do not believe the vast majority of conservatives are that, they are right wing with a government agenda, the finest example is newt gingrich who never met a government program or preferential tax he didn't like or want to modify to fit his agenda.

what I see here, didn't watch the video yet, are rational positions, that do not benefit by being labeled, but by logic and a knowledge of history. #6 and #10 are certainly NOT modern conservative views as spewed on talk radio and similar venues, look at the tax code and the subsidization of professional sports as a start

Ragin' Dave said...

It's quite a bit to chew on. I can't come up with a summary right off the top of my head.