Confession

L.A.S. s.d. C.L.:

There are times in life when we must come clean. None of us is without fault. I am inclined to think life would be rather dull if we were perfect.
I hereby confess: I am a political snob. I long for a real debate in politics, for politicians that can really speak the speech as 'twas pronounced, and for something more satisfying than the soundbite.
Fortunately, a friend passed along this bit of absolution: In Defense of Uppitiness.
Mr. Greenberg is quite right about "conservatism-as-attitude": it is a belief that there are things in the past worth bringing into the present, and that action should be taken with reference to first principles. He forgets, unfortunately, that it is not merely for our own health that we bring them. The good in our past is also a legacy for our children and to future generations.
Those of us in the present are bound by salutary chains to the generations before and after. Whether we will or no, the institutions and actions of distant ancestors shape our immediate present. Our actions, in turn, will shape the future in the form of our last testaments.
I do not believe that an unchanging, Roman veneration of the mos maiorum, customs of the ancestors, is the correct way to pass along our estate. We ought to improve upon what was given to us, but ought not to change for the sake of change. A good change is considered, small, and careful.