Comments on: Where are the Conservative Intellectuals? II

By: Diane Yoder

Diane Yoder — Mon, 27 Jan 2014 19:50:00 +0000

You can’t help yourself when it comes to pejoratives can you?

By: Diane Yoder

Diane Yoder — Mon, 27 Jan 2014 19:49:00 +0000

You just demonstrated the effectiveness of the current GOP’s attempt to make intellectualism seem as though it is the provenance of the so called liberal elite, and thus, something snobbish that “conservatives” would do well to stay away from. In truth, in years past, well before the days of Ronald Reagan, there were serious intellectuals in the Republican Party who used education to serve their country, not to serve an ideological straw man.

By: Diane Yoder

Diane Yoder — Mon, 27 Jan 2014 19:45:00 +0000

The author is discussing the lack of serious conservative intellectuals, not would-be Presidential wannabes. it seems to me that you are more interested in picking a fight than having a serious discussion. Conservatism is a serious ideology that has been all but lost in the current incarnation of this party. In my opinion there has not bee a serious conservative thinker since William F. Buckley in that party, although I think George Will might be the best the GOP can hope for in terms of someone who is a serious, methodical conservative intellectual.

By: Chef james

Chef james — Sat, 26 Oct 2013 09:10:00 +0000

Gee. I wonder if one has to be published or a columinst of note to be included in your search for an intellectual conservative. Personally, I doubt I have the cranial prowess to match wits with one so cerebrally endowed, and besides, I’m just a cook who was a liberal until I became a restauranteur, which made me reassess my progressive leanings; particularly after dealing with the oafish, narcassistic, pinheads who occupy every appointed or elected position of government. But might I suggest Thomas Sowell for a dose of unbridled conservative genius. Or maybe, if you want REALLY bright, you could call on the good Dr. Ben Carson? He IS a brain surgeon after all. One more idea tha you might find useful in your search: don’t dismiss us as intellectual midgets just because we seem to be somewhat obsessed with the current resident of the White House. After all, Obama really does stand for just about everything that modern conservatism does not. I doubt seriously if you would have called out say, Paul Krugman for his barrage against Reagan and his supply side mantra. Just a few random thoughts from a conservative of average intelligence.

By: Aron Hsiao

Aron Hsiao — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 19:36:00 +0000

The essence of the moment is that the mainstream demographic blocs of the Right have, as an ideological move, adopted anti-intellectualism as a central tenet of conservatism. Any marriage of democratic practice and political epistemology at the moment therefore precludes the conservative intellectual; if someone is intellectual in the slightest, the Right will disown him/her. They are the oft-maligned “RINOs” (Republicans in Name Only). To make matters worse, any intellectual at the moment of any value is loathe to be associated with the totality of the present (i.e. recent form of the) conservative project in America and thus tends to gravitate toward the (D) party. My suspicion is that rationally informed self-selection (they have careers and statuses, after all) results in a state of affairs in which few serious intellectuals can be found in the (R) party.

The best hope at the moment is therefore to find self-described intellectuals that do not declare an affiliation or that openly exercise their apolitical stripes, and to infer from this that a failure to embrace the only fundamentally and substantively pro-science-policy parties in the states (i.e. the Democrats and the Greens) indicates a latent reaction to the larger value positions and propositions in these parties, one that in another moment might have led them to a kinder, more intellectually sound Republican party. There are probably a few of these.

Because of the current anti-intellectual self-definition of the mainstream Right in the U.S., I suspect that it will be difficult to find “Republican intellectuals” or even “conservative intellectuals” apart from those that have made anti-Republican-party polemics the centerpieces of their public identity. I know I’ve read articles from a few of these here and there, most of them media pundits with previously (R) leanings, but their focus on the problems with the party and party politics on the right tends to lead them away from work on more the broad set of intellectual and philosophical questions that Jeff would prefer to have conservatives address.

I don’t have data on these points, but they are my strong suspicions.

By: Felipe Pait

Felipe Pait — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 11:48:00 +0000

Your search has been mentioned in a review of a book by David Gelernter: http://chronicle.com/article/Dreaming-of-a-World-Without/132813/

Summary: the search continues. I’d guess the best answer is still Walter Russell Mead. The problem is that if you follow his blog you spot a lot of plain nonsense. In an effort to cover ground and make points, the writers often step out of their depth, equipped only with their map of how they think the world should be. That is a dangerous way to navigate. It makes one doubt their analysis even when they appear to know more than the reader.

Additionally, too large a fraction of the comments are useless ideological drivel.

By: Scott

Scott — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 16:16:00 +0000

I think you will find the article below interesting. In a way, I believe it validates the assertion that Conservative thought has steadily deteriorated. The comments section is particularly illustrative. Some Republicans also find the situation disturbing.

Btw, I think anyone might realize that “Ivory Tower” is a figure of speech. So is “a**hole.” Regardless, a pejorative is a pejorative.

http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/judge_posner_hits_goofy_trend_in_gop_says_hes_becoming_less_conservative/?utm_source=maestro&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly_email

By: Malcolm Fraser

Malcolm Fraser — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 00:31:00 +0000

An interesting response, Mr. Goldfarb, and I struggle to unearth the unsavory name-calling you perceived. Surely not the word “pundit”, since one can most certainly be both an intellectual and a pundit. Perhaps “pedantic rant” was a little extreme, but a pedantic indeed you are, to one who needs a dictionary on hand to appreciate the subtleties in your discourse. I’ll admit that the italics around the word intellectual were unnecessary and could imply a certain anti-intellectual bias. Obviously you know the term “Ivory Tower” is merely a figure of speech; in this case applied to a pulpit the reader has no access to. Here I applaud you for providing some limited access, and indeed, responding to it; an eventuality (no! courtesy) I did not expect. As for my comment regarding intellectualism and hard work; this is not an opinion I hold personally. I spent much of my career in front of a computer. It is, however, an opinion held by many who work hard physically to earn a living, but who are by no means the anti-intellectuals of Richard Hofstadter’s era. All of which prompts me to ask (not altogether innocently) if the word “Liberal” (capitalization intended) is not the objectionable name-calling? I understand many liberals believe the term is being used as a label in order to morph them into single homogeneous entity, in much the way conservatives are lumped in with the Tea Party, the Religious Right and fanatics of all ilk by the left. I fear we are both infected with Mr. Moldbug’s X and Y viruses. I suggest seeking a cure as a worthwhile intellectual exercise.

Malcolm

By: Jeffrey C. Goldfarb

Jeffrey C. Goldfarb — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 18:04:00 +0000

Standard American anti-intellectualism, Mr. Frazer. as explored by Richard Hofstadter long ago. Just what I am hoping to go beyond. I respect conservative thought. You will note this if you read many of my other posts and posts by conservatives who I have invited to contribute to Deliberately Considered. I hope to provide a platform of serious discussion among people who don’t agree. Note my post today on the Roberts court.

Name calling doesn’t do. And by the way, I work and am not stuck in an ivory tower. Not sure that farmers in Oklahoma see or know more than I do, certainly they see other things. I am interested and welcome their perspectives, though I may disagree.

By: Malcolm Fraser

Malcolm Fraser — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 15:24:00 +0000

During my own on-line search for “Conservative Intellectuals” I came across this article and found all my previously formed opinion of “liberal pundits” to be confirmed. Note that I do not award the title of “Liberal Intellectual” to the author since there are no examples of intellectual discourse presented. All I perceive is long pedantic rant by a self-appointed “intellectual” attempting to convince us that intelligence and conservatism are mutually exclusive. Perhaps Mr. Goldfarb should remove himself from his ivory tower and visit a few farmers in the American heartland (I recommend Oklahoma) where he will find a wealth of conservative thinkers who would never dream of referring to themselves a intellectuals because they believe the terms “intellectual” and “hard work” to be mutually exclusive.