The Twisted Tree of Liberty

Among contemporary conservatives are some who refuse to use the services of the State even to assure the nation’s survival. Where did they go wrong?

In the spectrum of American conservatism there are and have been many different groupings, holding varying positions within the same broad outlook. Some have emphasized the menace of international Communism; others have emphasized the danger of the creeping rot at the heart of our own institutions. Some stress the corrosion of tradition, and with it of the natural law of justice, as the source of our afflictions; others, an intellectual failure to grasp the prime importance of freedom in the body politic. Nevertheless, whatever the differences in emphasis, there has been general agreement in the practical political sphere on the necessity both to resist the collectivism and statism that emanates from indigenous Liberalism and simultaneously to repel and overcome the Communist attack upon Western civilization, which—though it has its subversive detachments operating domestically—is primarily based upon the armed power of a foreign enemy.

FS

About the Author

Frank S. Meyer

Frank S. Meyer was a senior editor of National Review.

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Among contemporary conservatives are some who refuse to use the services of the State even to assure the nation’s survival. Where did they go wrong?

In the spectrum of American conservatism there are and have been many different groupings, holding varying positions within the same broad outlook. Some have emphasized the menace of international Communism; others have emphasized the danger of the creeping rot at the heart of our own institutions. Some stress the corrosion of tradition, and with it of the natural law of justice, as the source of our afflictions; others, an intellectual failure to grasp the prime importance of freedom in the body politic. Nevertheless, whatever the differences in emphasis, there has been general agreement in the practical political sphere on the necessity both to resist the collectivism and statism that emanates from indigenous Liberalism and simultaneously to repel and overcome the Communist attack upon Western civilization, which—though it has its subversive detachments operating domestically—is primarily based upon the armed power of a foreign enemy.