A friend just alerted me to the an outstanding and thought-provoking article in The Atlantic on John McCain, cleverly titled “Mr. Conservative. ” The concluding paragraph summarizes the article:
McCain, in short, is an antirevolutionary, not a counterrevolutionary. No wonder, then, he invoked Burke twice to an audience of skeptical conservatives or, perhaps more accurately, skeptical conservatives. And no wonder some of them booed. To movement conservatives, McCain represented heresy. But to the conservative movement, he represented a return to home truth.
I have not read much Edmund Burke directly (I have some of his work on my shelves), but Thomas Sowell‘s book A Conflict of Visions introduced me to the foundations and some fine details of Burke’s thought, which Jonathan Rauch expands upon in the article on McCain. His thinking influences much of present day conservatism, as you will see if you read the full article.
So, I am not sure Rauch’s assessment is correct that McCain is a more faithful embodiment of Old School Burkean Conservatism than many present “conservatives.” But, there is something to this argument that thoughtful people should consider. There is a tendency in all people to want our problems to go away overnight. The wisdom of old school conservatism, as defined in Rauch’s article, is that society should not jettison well-worn paths immediately, but incrementally, and only where needed.
In other words, jumping from revolution to revolution may not be the best way to preserve and enrich a culture. This may be the underlying logic of McCain’s conservatism.
Wrapping a Biblical perspective around this, I tend to think Burke’s (and perhaps McCain’s) incremental approach is more consistent with how God grows things (including people) by His providence in the world: here a little, there a little (Isaiah 28:10).
Yet, the counterbalancing truth is the call to completely reject moral evil, both personally and collectively. Ephesians 5:11 calls the Christian to “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” Thus, there is a radical component to life, if we would walk in God’s ways, where one must definitively uproot destructive practices whenever they take hold, even at great personal and political cost.
This is why leadership is hard, and why it is hard to offer effective critiques from anywhere behind the frontlines. There are times when political wisdom calls for the radical rejection of certain practices, even longstanding & “profitable” ones, like slavery. Yet, in the main, the incremental approach is probably best for stability and enduring growth.
What I like best about Burke’s conservatism is that it forces thoughtfulness and patience, rather than constant foment and often unbridled political dialogue. Leadership is demanding, and in the American system much of effective leadership demands much of us, for it is meant to be citizen-driven.
Let us pray that God will grant voters and our elected officials the eyes to see the difference between political compromise rooted in humility, versus compromise rooted in cowardice and political expediency. Let us all reject political self-righteousness areaand remember that God and His Word alone are to be absolute, not our preferences or political quick-fixes.
Let us remember the timeless wisdom of timely wisdom…
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
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