Who Are Conservatism's Greatest?
What thinker or leader has influenced you? And why? Is there an author, or a book, that led you to Conservatism? This year I will be writing a series for The College Conservative where I profile Conservatism's greatest, and explore what they have to teach us as we rebuild a broken and defeated party.
I have a core group of thinkers in mind to start with, but I'm curious to hear suggestions from others. My political "conversion," so to speak, came from reading C.S. Lewis' The Abolition of Man. Others followed, namely Chesterton, De Tocqueville, and Burke.
The wonderful thing about Conservatism's status as an anti-ideology is that our thinkers are permitted to be eclectic and approach problems from a variety of viewpoints, all the while remaining remarkably consistent. So send me the names of any eclectic dissidents you admire, and why. I'd love to get to know them.
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Comments:
Re: Who Are Conservatism's Greatest?
Anything by Montesquieu and Locke, and Thomas Paine's Common Sense is a must read.
Re: Who Are Conservatism's Greatest?
You might also want to check out the reading lists st The Heritage Foundation. They have some great resources.
Nov '11
Re: Who Are Conservatism's Greatest?
Thomas Sowell
Dec '11
Re: Who Are Conservatism's Greatest?
1. John Locke
2. Thomas Sowell
3. William F. Buckley
4. Mitt Romney
Philosopher, economist, political analyst, capitalist extraordinaire.
Aug '12
Re: Who Are Conservatism's Greatest?
Buckley, de Tocqueville, Sowell, Reagan's speeches, etc. (The usual Suspects and standard bearers!) and "The Ethics of Redistribution" by Bertrand de Jouvenel..... All good, but my personal favorite is Frederic Bastiat's "The Law."
Nov '11
Re: Who Are Conservatism's Greatest?
For wisdom for a movement that finds itself in the minority today, I'd vote for Burke and De Tocqueville.
I'd give an extra vote for Burke, but maybe that's just because of the way he tends to resonate with my own thinking.
Edited on January 31, 2013 at 4:39amMar '11
Re: Who Are Conservatism's Greatest?
Reagan. He was the leader of the free world and I was just a kid but I never had any trouble understanding where he was coming from.
May '10
Re: Who Are Conservatism's Greatest?
I was, and continue to be, most influenced by a man, now dead, who was one of the most intellectually incisive, logical, caring people I have ever known. He first loved his God,then his wife, then his children, then his friends. He demonstrated what it meant to be a conservative in all senses of the word: theological, political, personal, financial, and relational (in no particular order.). Everyone who knew him well held him in the highest regard. A healthcare professional, his patients sang his praises. Civic minded, his retirement was honored by declaring a commemorative day in his honor. A patriot, he served his country in WWII in Europe. During the time I knew him he served his Lord by serving his church in every capacity a layman can. He and his wife took especial pride in doing pre-marital counseling -- they enjoyed 65 years of loving, faithful marriage -- and their care included over 125 young couples. He were also active in giving of himself to such diverse activities as Scouting, Rotary, international students, and many others. I learned conservatism by observation. He was my father. Dr. Richard J. Lindholtz.
Jan '11
Re: Who Are Conservatism's Greatest?
Michael Novak - The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism
Not really in the spirit of the question, but I'd say Marx, Adorno and Marcuse (if you can wade through them), too - "know thine enemy".
Oct '10
Re: Who Are Conservatism's Greatest?
Tom; You speak for many of us. Your father was father to many of us. We did not read deeply, looking for arguments. We looked for examples of how to live life honorably. How to exhibit a Godliness and consistency that draws us to Truth.
Thank you for your father, Dr. Richard J. Lindholtz. He has drawn us to the Truth, although we never met him.
Feb '12
Re: Who Are Conservatism's Greatest?
I downloaded "Reagan: In His Own Words" from Itunes. It is a collection of his two minute radio commentaries from 1976-1980. I find them clear, concise , and surprisingly contemporary. Well worth a listen.
Edited on January 31, 2013 at 4:52amApr '12
Re: Who Are Conservatism's Greatest?
H. Beam Piper - Many of his works are available for free through Project Gutenberg.
Edited on January 31, 2013 at 5:06amNov '11
Re: Who Are Conservatism's Greatest?
To Dr. Lindholtz, husband, father, and conservative.
Apr '11
Re: Who Are Conservatism's Greatest?
Bastiat.
Jul '12
Re: Who Are Conservatism's Greatest?
Russell Kirk.
Dec '12
Re: Who Are Conservatism's Greatest?
Sowell
Hayek
Reagan
Dec '11
Re: Who Are Conservatism's Greatest?
FYI, free audio books can be found at www.librivox.org.
Arahant: H. Beam Piper - Many of his works are available for free through Project Gutenberg. ยท 30 minutes ago
Edited 26 minutes ago
Dec '11
Re: Who Are Conservatism's Greatest?
Abraham Lincoln.
Calvin Coolidge.
Sep '10
Re: Who Are Conservatism's Greatest?
James Schall, SJ and the greatest essay ever written on the price to be paid by philosophers called The Death of Plato, a meditation on Eric Voegelin.
On Locke, Ricochet's own Paul Rahe's essay on Locke called John Locke's Philosophical Partisanship and Ed Feser's book Locke are essential reading to bring Aristotle back to the fore.
I'd have written more but my skeet shooting is taking up soooo much of my time lately.
And honorable mention to Schall's very sly defense of capitalism called Confessions of a Practicing Socialist. And of course, Raymond Aron's The Opium of the Intellectuals though its all to effusive praise of technology should immediately be followed by Christopher Dawson's Critique of Liberalism and then a final quote from John Henry Newman:
Edited on January 31, 2013 at 6:13amMay '10
Re: Who Are Conservatism's Greatest?
I second all the good picks here, especially Dr. Sowell, and add Whittaker Chambers and Witness.
Honorable mention: Alexander Solzhenitsyn, One Day in the Life of Ivan Desinovich, Natan Sharansky, The Case for Democracy, Barry Goldwater, The Conscience of a Conservative, Jonah Goldberg, Liberal Fascism.
Edited on January 31, 2013 at 6:18am