Peter Berger’s ‘Paradox’

jaw more firmly, try to look tough (always a hard feat for intellectuals, right or left), and start talking about the hard necessities of power in the real world. Fine. I too have heard of Realpolitik. But one cannot have it both ways. Either “everything goes” in the struggle for power in the real world, or there are limits beyond which moral outrage has a right to be heard. After all, it is always the case that one side’s atrocities are the Realpolitik of the other.

Whatever some of its spectacular follies, the movement against the Vietnam war has been, I believe, one of the more cheering expressions of a genuinely American humanism in our time. Shorn of its follies, it represents a sign of hope for the future of the society. The failure to understand this has separated intellectual conservatives from one of the most promising moral impulses in the current American situation. The failure is one of moral judgment as well as of political vision. These two are not always connected. In this instance, I think, they are—with very depressing implications for the future of American conservatism.

About the Author

Jeffrey Hart

Jeffrey Hart is a contributor to National Review.

Featured Tags

jaw more firmly, try to look tough (always a hard feat for intellectuals, right or left), and start talking about the hard necessities of power in the real world. Fine. I too have heard of Realpolitik. But one cannot have it both ways. Either “everything goes” in the struggle for power in the real world, or there are limits beyond which moral outrage has a right to be heard. After all, it is always the case that one side’s atrocities are the Realpolitik of the other.

Whatever some of its spectacular follies, the movement against the Vietnam war has been, I believe, one of the more cheering expressions of a genuinely American humanism in our time. Shorn of its follies, it represents a sign of hope for the future of the society. The failure to understand this has separated intellectual conservatives from one of the most promising moral impulses in the current American situation. The failure is one of moral judgment as well as of political vision. These two are not always connected. In this instance, I think, they are—with very depressing implications for the future of American conservatism.