“The occupation of an hair-dresser, or of a working tallow chandler, cannot be a matter of honor to any person–to say nothing of a number of other more servile employments. Such description of men ought no to suffer oppression from the state; but the state suffers oppression, if such as they, either individually or collectively, are permitted to rule.”
Quoted in The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin, Corey Robin
I can’t see how he can equate a thinker like Edmund Burke to a clueless person like Sarah Palin.
The above quote is taken very much out of context. Burke was commenting on the French Revolution where everything was torn down to start anew. Burke's comments were often directed at Thomas Paine who thought each generation should start governance from scratch. Burke was very much for change in the context of continuity. People should keep what works and fix what is no longer working. To do so, you can't just take people off the street and expect them to understand what changes should be made and how.
I gave up reading The Reactionary Mind after that quote.
I do recommend Edmund Burke: The First Conservative by Jesse Norman and The Great Debate: Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine, and the Birth of Left and Right by Yuval Levin. Both have a more nuanced understanding of "conservatives" and "liberals". Although Levin describes himself as a conservative, he gives fair hearing to both Burke and Paine.
Ironically, both Paine and Burke favored the American Revolution. However, the United States was founded on a Burkean conservatism. The French revolutionaries imprisoned Paine for about a year and the French Revolution fell to a military government under Napoleon Bonaparte.
Unfortunately, I don't think there are any Burkean conservatives in the U.S. government, unless they are Democrats. The only thing conservative about Republicans is conserving their own power and that of large corporations.
Ironically, our first conservative wrote a well-thought treatise on how to govern and what dangers to watch out for. Current "conservatives" not only ignore the lessons in George Washington's Farewell Address, but they don't even attend its annual reading in the Senate!!
