tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776899.post115912520039639682..comments2024-03-06T03:15:58.539-05:00Comments on <b>THE NEW REFORM CLUB</b>: The Evolution Of A Conservative: Strongholds And SalientsHunter Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14961831404331998743noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776899.post-1159218344546278462006-09-25T17:05:00.000-04:002006-09-25T17:05:00.000-04:00Oh, I hope not. In fact, it is the attempt to mak...Oh, I hope not. In fact, it is the attempt to make conscience conform to law rather than the other way around that is at the heart of the modernist project.<BR/><BR/>Abandoning the "salients" cannot help but result in us becoming Western Europe, albeit perhaps with slightly lower taxes.<BR/><BR/>It is a question of whether we are a society first and a political system second, or vice-versa. What I see in Europe is the vice-versa, a fine house with nobody home.Tom Van Dykehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07121072404143877596noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776899.post-1159174393026537512006-09-25T04:53:00.000-04:002006-09-25T04:53:00.000-04:00Wrong slant, Tom. First, the Judeo-Christian tradi...Wrong slant, Tom. First, the Judeo-Christian tradition is much broader than the now-unenforceable vice laws. Second, as I believe I mentioned above, saying that a moral constraint is not politically enforceable is not the same as saying it's wrong or valueless. Third, the Redeemer Himself forbade the use of force in addressing such things (John 7:53 - 8:11 <I>et seq</I>).<BR/><BR/>Social conservatism still has its place and its value. We simply have to learn to argue for it without drawing our guns. There are exceptions, of course, but there's a very high principle to be respected: that to insist on laws that cannot be enforced undermines the law as an institution, by weakening respect for all law. And the maintenance of respect for the law is perhaps the highest conservative value of all.Francis W. Porrettohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05862584203772592282noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776899.post-1159159446650679452006-09-25T00:44:00.000-04:002006-09-25T00:44:00.000-04:00After we shed that inconvenient facet of conservat...After we shed that inconvenient facet of conservativism, Fran, which you seem to be saying is the Judeo-Christian tradition, all that we're left with is modern Western Europe.<BR/><BR/>Which apparently, no one will raise a finger to defend. <BR/><BR/>As a social conservative, I do not doubt that it appears I'm on the wrong side of history. So be it: nobody ever said this would be easy; quite the contrary. I shall still park myself athwart it yelling stop. A man's gotta do what he must.Tom Van Dykehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07121072404143877596noreply@blogger.com