We get letters. And one from a regular listener baited us with the proposition that since FDR’s New Deal—decried here on a recent episode—is now nearly 90 years old, the duty of Burkean conservatives is now to preserve the New Deal rather than pine romantically for the good old days of Calvin Coolidge. To which Steve responded, well, I guess we should do a seminar-style episode about Edmund Burke, the putative founder of modern conservatism.

And guess what “Lucretia” thinks of Burke? “Not much” would be an understatement. But Steve thinks there’s a lot of commendable things to Burke, and that he’s worth reading. The ensuing argument bids to turn this episode into the “Three Whisky Grumpy Hour,” as it maps neatly on the long-running divide between peaty and sweet single malt whiskies.

If this had been an actual fight in the ring, the referee might have stopped the fight after about the fifth round. Lucretia isn’t buying Steve’s contention that Burke was sound on natural law, and that his view that practical wisdom (or the prudence of the statesman) is superior to theoretical wisdom didn’t pass Lucretia’s exacting standards, despite a cleverly-planned ambush early in the episode.

But Steve gets his revenge at the every end, by selecting exit music certain to make Lucretia mad—a contemporary “progressive” rock tune with a Burkean message. It can hardly get any worse than that!

 

Subscribe to Power Line in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.

There are 7 comments.

Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.
  1. Boney Cole Member
    Boney Cole
    @BoneyCole

    Need to start a go-fund-me, Lucretia needs hinges!

    • #1
  2. Steven Hayward Podcaster
    Steven Hayward
    @StevenHayward

    Boney Cole (View Comment):

    Need to start a go-fund-me, Lucretia needs hinges!

    She has great hinges! Oh, wait. . .

    • #2
  3. Steven Hayward Podcaster
    Steven Hayward
    @StevenHayward

    Meanwhile, I’ve learned that the whisky I struggled with is pronounced “Tor-VAGUE.” That sounds right; in retrospect I should have puzzled that out.

    • #3
  4. Richard Easton Coolidge
    Richard Easton
    @RichardEaston

    We listened to this in the car. It was the first time my wife heard this podcast and Lucretia has a new fan. Steve, Burke is boring! j/k

    • #4
  5. colleenb Member
    colleenb
    @colleenb

    I had Notes on the French Revolution on my (never to be completed) reading list but now I’m wondering. Some of the excerpts Steve has had on Powerline have been quite good but, ahem, they are a little hard to read.

    • #5
  6. Mark Alexander Inactive
    Mark Alexander
    @MarkAlexander

    Great Wimbledon-level match. But at the end, I have to give it to Lecretia, 40-Love. Looking forward to round 2.

    • #6
  7. Taras Coolidge
    Taras
    @Taras

    colleenb (View Comment):

    I had Notes on the French Revolution on my (never to be completed) reading list but now I’m wondering. Some of the excerpts Steve has had on Powerline have been quite good but, ahem, they are a little hard to read.

    Burke is a giant of political science, not political philosophy:  not how governments should be, but how they actually are.

    He got the American Revolution right, and then he got the French Revolution right, though he didn’t live long enough to see a general grab control, exactly as he had predicted.

    Finding out how he got the two revolutions right is why we study him.

     

    • #7
Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.