People who promise progress invariably believe that they can use the state or some other form of coercive power to improve us. The result is dehumanisation. You see it in socialist societies where initiative is killed. You see it in high streets where small businesses are squeezed out by faceless supermarket giants.
Conservatism is less interested in where we are going than in where we’ve come from – how the past shapes our identity as individuals. We grieve for the felled tree because we climbed it as children and because it’s part of our landscape and home – and, thus, part of who we are. If the price of progress is demolishing our past then it’s not worth paying.
Conservatism is less interested in where we are going than in where we’ve come from – how the past shapes our identity as individuals. We grieve for the felled tree because we climbed it as children and because it’s part of our landscape and home – and, thus, part of who we are. If the price of progress is demolishing our past then it’s not worth paying.
No comments:
Post a Comment