Listing Conservative Brainiacs
By way of Twitter, this just in from Uncommon Knowledge viewer Travis Lindsay:
Peter, if you had to make a list of the top conservative intellectuals today who would make your list?
A lovely question. We’ve come a long way since Lionel Trilling’s 1950 declaration that “[i]n the United States at this time liberalism is not only the dominate but even the sole intellectual tradition.” Our side has brilliant scholars, think tanks, intellectual ferment. Of any number who belong on this long list, three who come immediately to mind:
1. Historian Paul Rahe. From the very beginning of the Obama administration, while lots of other conservatives were sunk in gloom, Paul remained persistently cheerful, arguing, as he put it, that “the Obama administration is a gift to the friends of liberty.” In predicting the emergence of a popular revolt—Paul foresaw the Tea Party before it existed—Paul didn’t merely have his finger to the political winds. He had his mind attuned to the deepest currents of American history. Drawing on his immense erudition—in particular his detailed knowledge of the political culture of the first half of the nineteenth century—Paul decided things were about to get better, not worse.
People like me wanted to believe him but couldn’t quite bring themselves to do so. But just look. Paul was right. An astonishing intellectual achievement.
2. Economist John Taylor, who, I’m proud to say, appears from time to time right here on Ricochet. During the first months of the financial crisis, the narrative that took shape in the academy and was then amplified in the mainstream press was simple: Markets had failed. Capitalism had been discredited. Big government needed to save us. Milton Friedman? To the ash heap. Long live John Maynard Keyes! John Taylor bravely stepped forward to say “Not so fast.”
Drawing on a detailed analysis of Fed policy and the housing markets, John demonstrated that big government had had a lot to do with causing the crisis in the first place. The Fed had expanded the money supply too fast, creating the housing bubble. Then Congress had pressured Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to increase low-income mortgages, and, eagerly complying, Freddie and Fannie had in effect created the subprime market. John transformed the way serious people look at the crisis—and at what still needs to be done to clean the mess up. Again, a remarkable intellectual achievement.
3. Classicist Victor Davis Hanson, who is, again, a Ricochet contributor. Victor’s achievements as a historian of the ancient world are simply massive. Warfare and Agriculture in Classical Greece. The Western Way of War: Infantry Battle in Classical Greece. A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War. Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power. In his analysis of—and, broadly speaking, support for—the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Victor has deployed his undoubted scholarship. All by himself, he has made it impossible to deride as yahoos or ignoranti those who believe that from time to time the United States must—skillfully and wisely, but unapologetically—make use of its military might.
Now, into the mosh pit.
Good people of Ricochet, you’ve seen my list. Who’s on yours?
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Comments :
Jul '10
Re: Listing Conservative Brainiacs
Being a free marketeer, I think that a lot of smart people are diverted away from conservative punditry because other more lucrative careers abound.
Jul '10
Re: Listing Conservative Brainiacs
I, too, am on board with Sowell, Styn, O'Rourke, VDH, Murray, Dalrymple, and many others.
I'll add Paul Johnson.
May '10
Re: Listing Conservative Brainiacs
Shelby Steele
May '10
Re: Listing Conservative Brainiacs
~Paules, I'm glad someone else noticed. All wonderful nominees, but near the top of any list must be George Will and Charles Krauthammer.
May '10
Re: Listing Conservative Brainiacs
If Intellectual ='s mental horsepower, then Mark Steyn, Paul Ryan, David Allen White and Michael Barone would surely be close to the top of the list. And let us not forget Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, and Claire Berlinski.
Edited on Sep 27, 2010 at 4:53pmSep '10
Re: Listing Conservative Brainiacs
I like Thomas Sowell, Victor Davis Hanson, and my favorite smart alec Mark Steyn.
To expand the list, I would add Harry V. Jaffa. I just recently read his two landmark books on Lincoln, written 40 years apart. As a result, I have began to appreciate natural law and the philosophical moorings it gave our founders.
Jun '10
Re: Listing Conservative Brainiacs
Thanks Jimmy Carter. I deserve a whipping for leaving out Paul Johnson. My trio should be renamed the British quartet. Krauthammer and Will should have been mentioned a lot earlier as well.
Bottom line: conservatives have a much more vibrant and disciplined intellectual tradition than anything the liberals can throw at us. Think of Will versus Chait: talk about a mismatch.
May '10
Re: Listing Conservative Brainiacs
While Steve Moore is smart, he's hopeless at blackjack. Odd in an economist, cause it's pretty basic math. Also leaves his notebooks lying around all over the place.
My favorite George Will comment to some lib at the roundtable: "Are you wearing jeans?"
Jul '10
Re: Listing Conservative Brainiacs
Victor Davis Hanson
Thomas Sowell
Mark Steyn
Dennis Prager
Mark Levin....I know he's a fire-breather, but his book "Liberty and Tyranny" remains my favorite conservative book that's come out in the past decade.
Jul '10
Re: Listing Conservative Brainiacs
Walter Williams. "Government officials, if given power to control us, soon become zealots." I love it when he refers to himself in third person to make a point.
Edited on Sep 27, 2010 at 8:19pmSep '10
Re: Listing Conservative Brainiacs
Jul '10
Re: Listing Conservative Brainiacs
In addition to the many excellent candidates already nominated, I would add Charles Kesler, Roger Kimball, and Norman Podhoretz. In the realm of legal theory, Robert Bork, Antonin Scalia, and, of course, Richard Epstein must not go unmentioned.
Jun '10
Re: Listing Conservative Brainiacs
definitely Sowell, and I'd add Robert P. George