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May 26, 2005

Theocracy is not Conservative

Liberals fear that religious conservatives are trying to impose a theocracy because they are wired to involve the government in all solutions. In this line of thinking, God needs government to accomplish His will and His way. To impose a theocracy (if that were really possible now) is quite un-conservative, though a tidy way to assure religious adherence.

Kent at Trolling in Shallow Water has a good discussion of the topic, and points us to a great column by Jonah Goldberg that includes this:

Contrary to all the bloviating jackassery about how conservatives are more dogmatic than liberals we hear these days, the simple fact is that conservatives don't have a settled dogma. How could they when each faction has a different partial philosophy of life? The beauty of the conservative movement [as Buckley noted] is that we all get along with each other pretty well. The chief reason for this is that we all understand and accept the permanence of contradiction and conflict in life. Christians and Jews understand it because that's how God set things up. Libertarians understand it because the market is, by definition, a mechanism for amicably reconciling competing preferences. Agnostic, rain-sodden British pessimists understand it because they've learned that's always the way to bet. Conservatism isn't inherently pessimistic, it is merely pessimistic about the possibility of changing the permanent things and downright melancholy about those who try.

Posted by Jim at May 26, 2005 07:23 AM

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» What is a Theocracy? from JackLewis.net
the·oc·ra·cy A government ruled by or subject to religious authority. — The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language  n... [Read More]

Tracked on May 26, 2005 09:41 AM

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