Tolkein, Kirk, and the Forgotten Conservatism

A few weeks ago I began posting reflections on the nature of conservativism, drawing heavily from Russell Kirk's The Conservative Mind. Kirk was the intellectual godfather of modern American conservativism, though sadly, far more Americans know of Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh than Kirk. Hannity, Limbaugh, and others who are part of the media-entertainment complex that poses as conservatism are in reality ideologues (perhaps even demagogues), and thus are the antithesis of the conservativism defined by Kirk as "the negation of ideology."

In today's post I'd like to draw attention to a strain of conservative thinking that Kirk wrote about in The Conservative Mind that also happens to be reflected in The Hobbitt and The Lord of the Rings trilogy penned by J.R.R. Tolkein. That line of thinking is usually called agrarianism.

The Squared Circle: The Best Are Good at Being Good and Bad

The greatest actors to me are those who can be equally convincing playing a villain or a hero. That sort of versatility requires a reservoir of talent much deeper than that necessary to be just a "good guy" or "bad guy." And the same is true with professional wrestling, in my opinion. Some guys spent their entire career being heroes (like Ricky the Dragon Steamboat) or villains (like the Sheik, or the Iron Sheik). All of these wrestlers were very talented, and knew how to tell a story, but the lack of multi-dimensionality is a major negative for me.

Museum of the Messiah: The Manger

In the second lesson in this series I talked about the significance of the manger Jesus was placed in (Luke 2:1-12). The manger signifies the humility of Jesus-

Sermon: Museum of the Messiah - The Swaddling Cloths

Yesterday I began a series on the birth of Jesus imagining a museum exhibit of the life of Jesus. The first artifact on display is the swaddling cloths mentioned in Luke 2:1-12. The swaddling cloths are a vivid reminder of Jesus' humanity. And according to Matthew 1:18-22, Jesus became human to be Immanuel, "God with us." Why is God with us?

Conservativism - The Negation of Ideology

Russell Kirk's The Conservative Mind was a landmark study of the various threads of conservative thought. Sadly, today's so-called conservatives get their marching orders from the media-entertainment complex rather than looking back to the first principles, or as Kirk called them, the "permanent things" of traditional conservatism. As a result, conservatism has been dumbed down to a few bullet points and divorced from the prudent, thoughtful legacy of men like Kirk.

This paragraph from the forward to the seventh edition of The Conservative Mind captures the essence of conservatism:

The Squared Circle: Make 'Em Laugh!

I have always tended to cheer for the villains ("heels") rather than the good guys ("babyfaces") in wrestling. Part of the reason is that the heels by their very nature tended to be more interesting, more flamboyant. But another reason for my preference for the bad guys has to do with how entertaining a good heel is in the ring. The job of the heel is to make the good guy look good, to put him in a position to make the big comeback and pull out a win (or lose by cheating).

In order to accomplish this, a heel has to have tremendous timing, feeding off the audience to know when the right time is to let the babyface make his comeback. And another key component to a good heel is a sense of comedic timing. A great bad guy makes the hero look good by making himself look comically incompetent.

Notice this classic Ric Flair move-



How can you not laugh when you see that? And how can you not love a performer who can make you laugh? That's one reason I like the "bad guys."

What is conservativism?

How many times have you heard or read the words "soul-searching" after the recent election? As in this headline: "After Romney loss, GOP soul searching begins." There is indeed a great deal of discussion and debate among those who consider themselves "conservative" over the direction of the conservative movement and the Republican Party. But who defines conservativism, and how should conservativism be defined? That is the deeper philosophical issue behind these discussions.