The American Conservative -- The Virtuous Liberal
阿米哥分享
阿米哥分享
The American Conservative -- The Virtuous Liberal
The American Conservative -- The Virtuous Liberal Previous Article Next Article June 01, 2010 Issue DiggMixxDiigoGoogleDeliciousRedditFacebook Benjamin Disraeli is back in fashion. The dapper Earl of Beaconsfield, twice prime minister under Queen Victoria, makes a comeback whenever conservatives of a certain benttoward national greatness rather than limited governmentgo hunting for a genealogy. Writing in the Weekly Standard, David Gelernter hailed him as the inventor of modern conservatism and a 19th-century neocon. Sam Tanenhaus, New York Times Book Review editor with a hobbyists interest in the Right, has urged conservatives to rediscover Disraelis tradition, which he believes best represented in recent years by Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Disraeli may be every liberals favorite conservative, but his great rival, William Ewart Gladstone, is an orphan: too much the classical liberal for todays Left, too anti-imperialist for the contemporary Right. Only briefly, 30 yea rs ago, did he come back into vogue when Margaret Thatcher and her free-marketeer allies cited him as an inspiration. They were right to do so, but Gladstone deserves attention for more than just his economics. Early on, he seemed a near reactionary, but he embarked on the rarest of political odysseys, moving from right to left as he aged. The Tory became leader of a new Liberal Party that coalesced around him; he went from being a self-described out-and-out inequalitarian to a backer of the masses against the classes. His policies over four terms as prime minister and four as chancellor of the Exchequerroughly analogous to secretary of the Treasurywere called liberal in his time, but appear conservative in ours: he was largely successful in limiting government, imposing fiscal discipline, keeping taxes low, devolving power, and expanding political and religious liberties. Friends and opponents alike admired his integrity, yet he was also loathed for his forthright Christian piety. After meeting him, Henry James noted, Gladstone is v! ery fasc inat...
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