United StatesWho was Russell Kirk?
Russell Amos Kirk was born in Plymouth, Michigan, in 1918 and studied at Michigan State and Duke before earning a doctorate at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. His dissertation became The Conservative Mind (1953), which traced conservative thought from Edmund Burke to T. S. Eliot. He then settled in Mecosta, Michigan, where he wrote books, essays and ghost stories. He helped found National Review and wrote a column for it for 25 years, founded the journal Modern Age in 1957 and The University Bookman in 1960, and later converted to Catholicism. He died in Mecosta in 1994.
Political views
Held that conservatives believe in an enduring moral order and adhere to custom, convention and continuity.
Source: kirkcenter.orgArgued that policy should be guided by prudence, judging measures by their probable long-run consequences rather than short-term popularity.
Source: kirkcenter.orgBelieved freedom and property are closely linked, while holding that possessing property brings duties to the owner.
Source: kirkcenter.orgSupported voluntary community and argued that decisions most directly affecting citizens should be made locally, warning against centralized authority.
Source: kirkcenter.orgValued established religion as one of the traditions conservatives should preserve.
Source: plato.stanford.eduCriticized the 1991 Persian Gulf intervention and supported Pat Buchanan's 1992 presidential primary challenge as his Michigan chair.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgOpposed involuntary collectivism and argued that a central administration cannot confer justice and prosperity on people deprived of their old responsibilities.
Source: kirkcenter.orgCalled for prudent restraints upon power and upon human passions, describing conservatism as neither a religion nor an ideology.
Source: kirkcenter.org
Legacy
The Conservative Mind is credited with giving postwar American conservatism an intellectual lineage and helped launch the modern conservative movement alongside William F. Buckley Jr. Ronald Reagan awarded Kirk the Presidential Citizens Medal in 1989. Admirers value his emphasis on culture, community and moral imagination. Critics, including the political philosopher Harry Jaffa, questioned his reading of Burke, and libertarians and neoconservatives often disputed his skepticism of ideology, markets and foreign intervention.
In their words
In a genuine community, the decisions most directly affecting the lives of citizens are made locally and voluntarily.