The Philosophy of a True Conservative, Today

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Adak

Coke is a product that is VERY easy to imitate. Do you for one second believe you could compete with them, with your little start up soda brand?

I bet not!

Bad, you pivoted to the complete opposite of the example I gave.

Seriously, liberals are naive and simple. They think people are always going to do the right things, act in the best way, etc.

Not really, but I understand why you think that.

Conservative thinkers like the economist Thomas Sowell and the Times columnist David Brooks have noted that the political right has a Tragic Vision of human nature, in which people are permanently limited in morality, knowledge and reason. Human beings are perennially tempted by aggression, which can be prevented only by the deterrence of a strong military, of citizens resolved to defend themselves and of the prospect of harsh criminal punishment. No central planner is wise or knowledgeable enough to manage an entire economy, which is better left to the invisible hand of the market, in which intelligence is distributed across a network of hundreds of millions of individuals implicitly transmitting information about scarcity and abundance through the prices they negotiate. Humanity is always in danger of backsliding into barbarism, so we should respect customs in sexuality, religion and public propriety, even if no one can articulate their rationale, because they are time-tested workarounds for our innate shortcomings. The left, in contrast, has a Utopian Vision, which emphasizes the malleability of human nature, puts customs under the microscope, articulates rational plans for a better society and seeks to implement them through public institutions.

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