re: #20 Decatur Deb

Once again, where did the idea come from that Burke was a conservative? He was, for the times, a radical progressive. Most of his life was spent fighting slavery and he supported America in its conflict with Britain.

Yeah, he opposed the French Revolution but not because he cared a damned about the ancient rgime. It was because he opposed the methods the Jacobins and other were using to obtain power. The guillotine for example.

In the words of Conor Cruise O’Brien, “The only way you can accuse Burke of authoritarianism is by ignoring everything he wrote or did.”