Yuval Levin has penned a sharp response to David Brooks's column today on Burke and contemporary American conservatism. Writes Levin:
Like it or not, and conservatives don't always like it, America's traditions are idealistic, and are in some respects also ideological. And they tend to be expressed in more explicit creeds than Britain's. Ours is a young nation, so some of our age-old wisdom is young too. Brooks criticizes American conservatives for being American conservatives, and thus engaging in their work of preservation and progress with American materials. But it is the strange fate of American conservatives that the tradition that is ours to defend is a liberal tradition. A good conservative, a good Burkean, would defend what is best about it (like freedom and independence) and seek to build on that while drawing also on what is best about our other, older traditions (like faith and family).
I'd add that it probably was Russell Kirk, more than any other author, who helped create a linkage between Burke's conservatism and American politics. Perhaps a better place to locate the beginnings of American conservatism, however, would be with the writings of this man.
