Customer Reviews

The Politics of Prudence

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Russell Kirk (1918-1994) was a dominant figure in the post-World War II revival of Conservative thought. Toward the end of his life, he gave a series of lectures at the Heritage Foundation which form the basis of THE POLITICS OF PRUDENCE. Like everything Dr. Kirk wrote, the POLITICS OF PRUDENCE is insightful and also a pleasure to read.

The book is in a sense a summing up of Dr. Kirk's though and also a primer on Conservatism. Kirk describes 10 important events in Conservatism, 10 important Conservative books, 10 important Conservative thinkers, and 10 important conservatives. He also has chapters on the nature of Conservatism, Conservative foreign policy and the Conservative approach to various issues.

Dr. Kirk's version of Conservatism is somewhat controversial. According to Kirk, Conservatism is not an ideology, rather it is an "attitude" reflecting "prudence." Kirk defines ideology as a type of secular religion. For this reason, many libertarians have criticized Kirk for reducing Conservatism to an "attitude" rather than a coherent ideology that is able to confront statism. I don't agree with Kirk's definition of "ideology," but it is important to note that Kirk supported free enterprise, and limited (and decentralized) government. Although he wasn't supportive of libertarianism (which he critiques here in a somewhat off the mark essay), he was no apologist for the state.

Two essays stand out here. In "The Neoconservatives: An Endangered Species," he makes the now-famous statement that "And not seldom it has seemed as if some eminent Neoconservatives mistook Tel Aviv for the capital of the United States." In "Toward a Prudent Foreign Policy" he criticizes the first Gulf War as a "war for an oil-can." No doubt Kirk would have opposed the recent Gulf War (and been denounced as an "unpatriotic conservative" by the nitwits who now pass as deep thinkers in the conservative movement.

For an even more basic summary of Kirk's thought, see his book THE AMERICAN CAUSE, which has recently been republished by ISI.

I became a conservative long before I knew what a conservative was, exactly. In fact I didn't know what a conservative was EXACTLY until reading this extremely helpful and clear book. Kirk takes for granted that his readers - or, as other reviewers have pointed out, listeners - will already have read his magnum opus THE CONSERVATIVE MIND, though I had not, and others need not. This work is the more elementary of the two, and to a beginner the more helpful.

Of particular usefulness is his careful distinction between conservbatives and libertarians, and between conservatives and neoconservatives. It had puzzled me for years why neo-cons who I thought of as "almost" conservatives were nonetheless saying in public such appallingly stupid things. Now I know.

By all means, son't stop with this book. Look up his recommended readings and plunge in. Though most are obscure, some can be found in libraries, others at Amazon, and a couple of REALLY hard-to-find items can be gotten at Project Gutenberg, that extraordinary (free) internet resource.

Kirk is indeed the father of 20th century American conservatism. This book serves as both an excellent introduction to his foundational writings and to conservatism, properly understood, itself. If you want to study conservatism you couldn't do better than starting with this fine collection of essays.

If you want to know what conservative core principles are there is no better place to begin than this hugely enjoyable and fascinating compilation of the work from our latter-day Edmund Burke. He has shaped my thought and guided my study of conservative political principles for some time now and it is high time a younger genertion rediscovered the works of this magnificent man. His erudition is a perfect match for his charmingly old-fashioned writing style. You might want to follow up a reading of this work with either "The Roots of Order" or "Eliot and His Age."

This book was the first one of Kirk's books that I read. I consider Kirk being one of the most inspiring writers when it comes to politics, but sometimes a bit unclear. The chapter on libertarianism offers a quite narrow presentation of the libertarians, and sometimes when it comes to practical action Kirk might be too close to the laissez-faire-liberalism that dominate much of the contemporary conservative thought in the US. "Ten Conservative Principles" is a very good consenation of conservative political and social thought. "The Cultural Conservatives" and "Towards a Prudent Foreign Policy" are other great chapters. In it's whole, I think this book is a good introduction to the contemporary conservatism in the US.

Another reviewer said it best, this is "Conservatism 101." Kirk offers an overview of conservatism and the movement in the 20th century. The pillars of conservatism are an embrace of tradition, upholding limited government and ordered liberty. Moreover, he makes a good point, in quoting Hughes, he purports that conservatism is not an ideology, but the negation of ideology. Kirk offers a bittersweet assessment of libertarians and their limitations and flaws as he perceives them. He elaborates on the Humane Economy posited by Swiss economist Wilhelm Roepke. Roepke stands opposed to the "colossal" mass welfare state of big business, big regulation and the proletariat masses. A humane economy rests on the principles of subsidiarity and distributism (widespread distribution of private property) while the state doesn't displace or usurp the role of civil society and its humane institutions. Kirk writes an obituary for the so called neoconservatives, though this maybe wishful thinking at best, since unfortunately the late Russell Kirk is dead, and well the neocons have taken over the conservative movement. Kirk also brings the ideas of Richard Weaver and southern conservatism to the table. All things considered, this is a good volume and a good introduction to true blue conservatism, though not Kirk's best.

This book could not be any more useless. I can see why only a conservative press would publish it. What a weird little cult the Kirk cult is. Definitely avoid this condescending, yet unlearned author.