Edmund Burke and Sarah Palin thinking alike?

“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!!

Trump is not a conservative

Are “conservatives” really conservative?  About the only thing “conservatives” want to “conserve” is their power.

They are definitely not like Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, or Dwight Eisenhower.  They certainly don’t take Eisenhower’s advice about the “military-industrial complex.”

And they are definitely not like the “First Conservative”, Edmund Burke.  See “Edmund Burke: the first conservative” by Jesse Norman or “Great Debate: Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine, and the Birth of Right and Left” by Yuval Levin.

They are more like the French Revolution, tearing down everything that went before than Burke’s Whigs who made small changes to an existing order as needed.

This was intended for “Why I’m Still a Never Trumper”. Bret Stephens, New York Times, 2017-12-29, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/29/opinion/why-im-still-a-nevertrumper.html.  Unfortunately, comments were cut off before I could get it sent. 

Taxes might have saved the rich from the guillotine

In 18th Century France, the church and the nobility were not taxed.  The burden of taxation was on the bourgeoisie, the laborers, and the small farmers.  As the court became more extravagant and the government more costly, the taxpayers became more dissatisfied.  Eventually the anger grew to the point of revolution, a revolution that often was mob rule*.  Mob rule led to false accusations, and heads rolled.

Even the Tea Partiers of the day, like Robespierre, were not immune to the anger of the mob and to infighting among those who assumed control of the government.

We may see a parallel in the flood-ravaged parts of Pakistan.  The government is not very effective in bringing relief, partly because of so much posturing for power and partly because there is not enough money to do much of what needs to be done.  Oh yes, many of the rich in Pakistan pay little or no taxes.

This situation is providing a huge opening to the Taliban, which is providing relief in some areas.  How much this will increase the overall power of the Taliban remains to be seen.  Remember though, many revolutions were started by small bands, Mao Tse Tung or Fidel Castro.

* Mob rule was one of the things that Founders of the United States feared greatly.  Their distaste for mob rule led them to distrust French innovations, such as the metric system.