mentalblog.com comments:
You are right about Brooks.
Brooks is forgetting the distinction between a totalitarian, statist society in which everything flows to and from the government, and a free civil society in which a variety of non-governmental institutions and communities flourish.
If you want to know what real nNglo-Saxon conservatism is really all about, one of the best exponents would be Roger Scruton.
Gandalin, I was looking at Franklin in Paris trying to refute your theses that French revolution had less to do with American revolution than the English tradition. But as I started to study Franklin's life, I am not sure about this anymore.
Tzemach,
Your Franklin posts have been fascinating. I commented on the most recent one, but the comment was lost. I think you have done excellent work here in providing the physical, human chain from Franklin via the Loge des Neuf Soeurs through Czartoryski to Lefin and then finally to the Salanter. That is real intellectual history.
As far as the Continental vs the Anglo-Saxon Enlightenment is concerned, this is a critical point. It was the Continental Enlightenment which gave rise to totalitarianism, and totalitarianism just has never gained a foothold in the Anglo-Saxon world -- until now. In contemporary Britain, the effect of decades of Continental intellectual assault was seen during the Tony Blair years, and the Anglo-Saxons have work to do in order to recapture their heritage of freedom.
Roger Scruton is a good source on this, too.
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