Book Reviews : The Conservative Affirmation. By WILLMOORE KENDALL. (Chicago: Henry Reg nery Co., 1963. Pp. xiv, 272. $5.95.)
| Date | 01 March 1964 |
| DOI | 10.1177/106591296401700125 |
| Published date | 01 March 1964 |
| Author | Ross R. Rice |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
147
These
strictures
are
not
meant
to
detract
from
Changing
Patterns
of
Military
Politics.
The
volume
is
an
important
contribution,
and
the
essays
of
Huntington
and
Rapoport,
particularly,
open
new
vistas
of
international
political
speculation.
University
of
California,
Los
Angeles
R.
N.
ROSECRANCE
The
Conservative
Affirmation.
By
WILLMOORE
KENDALL.
(Chicago:
Henry
Reg-
nery Co., 1963.
Pp. xiv, 272.
$5.95.)
In
his
present
work
Willmoore
Kendall
has
given
us
a
potpourri
of
discrete
essays
bearing
on
a
wide
variety
of
issues
in
the
continuing
liberal-conservative
dia-
logue.
Despite
the
claim
of
the
title,
he
has
neither
written
a
full
length
exegesis
and
defense
of
conservatism
nor
constantly
taken
the
offensive
against
liberalism.
As
a
matter
of
fact,
he
devotes
almost
equal
space
to
a
consideration
of
both
conservative
and
liberal
stands.
Here
he
defaults
on
his
promise
to
conservative-minded
readers
and
never
really
shocks
his
liberal
readers
into
fury.
He
identifies
areas
of
conserva-
tive
and
liberal
differences
in
seven
chapters,
leading
off
vigorously
with
&dquo;What
is
Conservatism?&dquo;
in
which
he
likens
the
liberal-conservative
discussion
to
a
war.
The
liberals’
battle
(a
social
revolution)
is
old,
but
has
been
winning
with
a
name
and
mission
over
the
past
quarter-century.
&dquo;We
stand ...
in
the
presence
of
a
Liberal
Revolution ...
one
that
means
business.
Its
purpose
is
to
establish
in
America,
in
Machiavelli’s
phrase,
new
modes
and
orders.
Conservatism ...
is
first
and
foremost
resistance
to
that
revolution.&dquo;
Along
the
battle
line
he
can
distinguish
the
opposing
liberal-conservative
sectors
of
fighting :
immigration,
taxation,
river
basin
develop-
ment,
the
HUAC,
spending
proposals.
His
preference
for
the
Madisonian
scheme
is
evident
where
he
writes
of the
&dquo;Two
Majorities
in
American
Politics.&dquo;
In
the
area
of
executive-legislative
tensions
on
the
federal
level
he
places
conservatives
on
the
side
of
the
legislature
and
the
efforts
of
Congress
to
thwart
presidential
proposals.
His
discussion
of
the
&dquo;two
ma-
jorities&dquo;
parallels
James
McGregor
Burns’
recent
identification
of
the
existence
of
a
four-party
system
in
our
national
government.
For
Kendall,
the
Madisonian
checks
aid
the
defense
of
conservatism,
and
are
thus
preferable
to
any
theory
of
government
by
popular,
national
mandate.
While
substantive
conservative
policies
may
com-
mend
themselves
to
many
thoughtful
persons,
Kendall
nevertheless
defends
present
procedural
safeguards
which
may
deny
a
possible
conservative
congressional
ma-
jority
the
opportunity
to
express
itself
by
bringing
crucial
issues
to
a
final
vote.
We
may
ask
author
Kendall
if
the
congressional
parties
constitute
a
conservative
ma-
jority
in
Congress,
then
why
does
he
find
it
necessary
to
defend
practices
that
thwart
a
voting
showdown
in
the
chambers
of
Congress?
Kendall
describes
McCarthyism
as
the
pons
asinorum
of
contemporary
con-
servatism,
and
assumes
a
position
antagonistic
to
the
open
society
concept.
He
feels
that
each
side
in
the
McCarthyism
controversy
viewed
the
other
as
a
heretic.
As
for
freedom
of
speech,
temperamentally
he
is
for
it,
but
denies
the
universal
applica-
bility
of
John
Stuart
Mill’s
Essay
on
Liberty
as
the
basis
for
free
speech.
As
for
the
contract
philosophers,
he
perceives
American
liberals
as
Lockean
and
conservatives
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