historicism |hiˈstôrəˌsizəm; -ˈstär-|noun
The theory that social and cultural phenomena are determined by history.
positivism |ˈpäzətivˌizəm; ˈpäztiv-|noun Philosophy
A philosophical system that holds that every rationally justifiable assertion can be scientifically verified or is capable of logical or mathematical proof, and that therefore rejects metaphysics and theism.
Here is one more great article from Claremont by author John Marini in which he discusses the great crisis of our age and how the candidacy of Donald Trump is an effect of the breakdown in our understanding of public virtue and ethics in the face of leftist post-modern relativism and the ever-growing technocratic bureaucratic state. We are no longer a constitutional republic as our founders intended, as many have already pointed out.
But that transition to an administrative state has taken place deliberately at the hands of an amoral and technocratic class of elites who do not acknowledge or understand the need of citizenship and civic virtue as a foundation for the continued existence of civilization. For them, the only problems to be solved are scientific and mathematical. Morals, ethics, and patriotism are passé and of no value in their soulless modern world and thus they work frantically to stamp them out wherever they are found.
The rise of Trump is the voice of the regular people saying to the elites that we are tired of their constant micro-managing of society and that we recognize that the traditions and history of our great civilization have timeless value and importance and must be preserved.
The public good, once thought to be a legacy of the best that had been inherited from the past—including the American founding, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution—is not easily defended politically because it has been undermined intellectually. The most controversial aspect of Trump’s campaign, his slogan to “Make America Great Again,” goes to the heart of the problem. Trump’s view presupposes that the old America was good and established the conditions for its greatness. Is this true? Or is America something to be ashamed of, as the protestors against Trump have insisted, having accepted the teaching of post-modern cultural intellectuals? Trump’s defense of the old America goes unrecognized by conservatives, either because they have succumbed to the post-modern narrative or because Trump is unable to make the intellectual case for the old America. Thus the intellectuals stand almost to a man against him.
It is possible that the Trump phenomenon cannot be understood merely by trying to make sense of Trump himself. Rather it is the seriousness of the need for Trump that must be understood in order to make sense of his candidacy. Those most likely to be receptive of Trump are those who believe America is in the midst of a great crisis in terms of its economy, its chaotic civil society, its political corruption, and the inability to defend any kind of tradition—or way of life derived from that tradition—because of the transformation of its culture by the intellectual elites. This sweeping cultural transformation occurred almost completely outside the political process of mobilizing public opinion and political majorities. The American people themselves did not participate or consent to the wholesale undermining of their way of life, which government and the bureaucracy helped to facilitate by undermining those institutions of civil society that were dependent upon a public defense of the old morality. This great crisis has created the need for a Trump, or someone like Trump, and only those who recognize it as a crisis can be receptive to his candidacy. To be clear, the seriousness of the need does not mean that the need can be satisfied, perhaps even by a Lincoln, let alone a Trump. Nonetheless, Trump has established his candidacy on the basis of an implicit understanding that America is the midst of a crisis. Those who oppose him deny the seriousness of the crisis and see Trump himself as the greatest danger. And here again, Trump’s success will likely depend upon his ability to articulate the ground of a common good that is still rooted in the past—a common good established by a government that protects the rights of its citizens in a constitutional manner and establishes limits on the authority of government by demanding that the rule of law replace that of bureaucratic privilege and status.
And just for good measure, here is the latest post, Sanctimony as a Conservative Principle. (in which is answered various twittering from the self-appointed chattering classes)
Gerson points and sputters at my objection to foolish immigration policies that undercut wages, undermine cohesion, and spread violence. I would call it ironic that I wrote this response on a day during which there occurred three separate terror attacks, in three separate states. Except that in the annus horribilis 2016 such attacks are all too frequent. They don’t seem to bother Gerson much. If they do, he must think they are a necessary price we must pay for endlessly more “diversity.” He doesn’t say why all this diversity is good or why the inevitable downside is necessary. Apparently he considers those points self-evident. If you are a moral person like him, you don’t need to have them explained to you, and if you don’t understand or—worse!—reject them, you are ipso facto bad.
If this is “conservative” then it should be well beyond obvious that conservatism is dead. Not dead in the epistemological sense. Truth is true. Conservatism’s genuine insights will live on, no matter what shallow, false ideology appropriates its name. You can call gravity a force of repulsion rather than attraction, but naturam expelles furca, tamen usque recurret. But it’s dead as a currently constituted intellectual and political force—for certain. That Gerson claims to speak in conservatism’s name is proof enough. His whole oeuvre is nothing but Davoisie managerial liberalism: open borders, free trade, lift foreigners out of poverty (whatever happens to Americans is acceptable collateral damage) and democratize the world by force.
Conservatism as we have known it is over. The battle for its future has begun. I relish the coming debate. I hope to learn something. I expect to have my errors corrected, or at least be given things to think hard about, and to be dragged a little bit in the other side’s direction. This debate will not be free of acrimony (though I’ll do my best to be as polite as possible). Feelings are going to get hurt and passions will occasionally run high. For myself, I’ll try to be magnanimous in victory and honest in defeat.
