Hope for the Conservative Future

You know, there seems to be a constant stream of pessimism coming from conservatives all over the country. Sometimes our laments begin to make us sound like liberals. But, for the most part, conservatives have different complaints than liberals do. We constantly think we're "losing." Part of that reasoning is that we look around and we constantly point to examples of cultural decadence. Even me, with all my optimism, sometimes I fall into this camp of pessimism myself.

This week, I was reading the opening preface to Russell Kirk's Prospects for Conservatives and came across a blurb from Kirk where he talked about a time when he conversed privately with President Richard Nixon. It was just a week into the Cambodian campaign and Nixon asked Kirk, concering the possible decadence of American society, "Have we any hope?" Nixon, with more emphasis, repeated the question to Kirk, "Have we any hope?"

Kirk replied that it is a matter of belief. "If most intelligent and energetic people come to believe the prophets of despair, then indeed ruin falls upon a state, for many folk withdraw to hidie-holes, there to conceal themselves from the coming wrath. But if, rather than despairing, people recognize the gravity of social circumstances and hopefully resolve to take arms against a sea of troubles - why, hope breeds hope, and a nation's vitality is renewed."

Kirk then goes on to remind us that every great civilization has periods of decay. But the especially great ones have periods of reinvigoration. "The conservative renewal in the United States is a response to the challenge of adverse circumstances," he says.

I don't know about you, but Kirk's words give me hope and inspiration. We can listen to the doomsdayers (like even Glenn Beck's laments sometimes sounds like) or we can find hope in our faith and in our principles, and go forward with a new call to action to take on those challenges we face. As I went around the country for ISI and as I go around the state of Florida for the James Madison Institute, I certainly find hope in a new generation of young people that are doing just - putting their principles into action - to carry on the traditions handed down to us and apply them to a new age.

(Some of the people reading this right now are some of those very people I am talking about.)