26 May 2008

Quote of the Day: Movement Conservatism

From Thers of Whiskey Fire:
Movement conservatism started off as a racket. Movement conservatism has always been about exacerbating and then profiting from existing cultural, social, and economic resentments. There was never any fall from an original ideological Eden. The corruption was there from the start. Packer is quite right to emphasize how the political and popular success of movement conservatism owes everything to its legitimization of a politics of resentment that arose in the 1960s. Movement conservatism has nothing without Hatred of the Liberal, a point reinforced not least by the image with which Joyner chooses to adorn his post.
Actually, if you look at Bill Buckley's pro segregation essays in the 1950s, the promulgation of hate for political power starts about a decade earlier.

It got its start from hating FDR, and folks like Buckley patted themselves on the back for being able to put a pseudo intellectual gloss on hate and greed.

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