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Conservatism has played a signif role in the development of US pol notwithstanding the revolutionary tradition in the US. In the absence of a crown & a nobility, conservatism has centered around the Constitution & the instit of private property. Deeply perturbed by the appearance of New Deal & Fair Deal welfarism, many conservatives hoped the security state was a passing phenomenon. The persistence of the Cold War & the acceptance by the moderate Eisenhower regime of the New Deal reforms have left many conservatives profoundly disturbed. Anti-communism developed around the investigative function of Congress as the chief device used to combat liberalism. Since 1960 a secret org, the John Birch Society, has been created which advocates radical action, such as the impeachment of the Chief Justice. The Supreme Court is the current focus of criticism. The strategy of the extreme right appears to be the splintering of the Repulibcan party. Amply financed by the nouveaux riches, especially the oil beneficiaries of special tax privileges, widespread propaganda is being spread to inflame the unthinking masses. The radical right has some resemblance to fascism but should not be so regarded unless stronger leadership & more violence develop. AA.

Conservatism has played a significant role in the development of American politics notwithstanding the revolu tionary tradition in the United States. In the absence of a crown and a nobility, conservatism has centered around the Con stitution and the institution of private property. Deeply per turbed by the appearance of New Deal and Fair Deal welfar ism, many conservatives hoped the security state was a passing phenomenon. The persistence of the Cold War and the accept ance by the moderate Eisenhower regime of the New Deal re forms have left many conservatives profoundly disturbed. Anti communism developed around the investigative function of Con gress as the chief device used to combat liberalism. Since 1960 a secret organization, the John Birch Society, has been created which advocates radical action, such as the impeachment of the Chief Justice. The Supreme Court is the current focus of criticism. The strategy of the extreme right appears to be the splintering of the Republican party. Amply financed by the nouveaux riches, especially the oil beneficiaries of special tax privileges, widespread propaganda is being spread to inflame the unthinking masses. The radical right has some resem blance to fascism but should not be so regarded unless stronger leadership and more violence develop.

A large segment of the US public believes that the causes of moral decay have not been correctly identified by the media. According to the 'traditional conservatives', drugs, AIDS, murder, poverty, feminisation, sexual promiscuity, aberrant cults, the erosion of family life and the environmental crisis are all a result of the infiltration of Marxists and their allies who seek 'global democratic peace'. (SJK)

THE CONSERVATIVES OF AMERICA, ONCE A POWERFUL FORCE, HAVE BEEN SET BACK BY FUNDAMENTAL DIVISIONS WITHIN THEIR RANKS. ON THE ONE HAND, THERE ARE THE TRADITIONAL CONSERVATIVES WHOSE PRIMARY EMPHASIS LIES IN LOYALTY TO AMERICA AS A NATION OF PEOPLE PROUD OF THEIR CULTURAL AND SCIENTIFIC ACHIEVEMENTS. ON THE OTHER HAND, THE NEW BREED OF "NEO-CONSERVATIVES" CORRESPONDS MORE CLOSELY TO NINETEENTH CENTURY LIBERALS. THE LATTER PLACE ECONOMIC INDIVIDUALISM ABOVE THE INTERESTS OF THE NATION AND OFTEN LOOK FOR FINANCIAL PROSPERITY NOT IN STRENGTH AT HOME BUT IN UNFETTERED WORLDWIDE TRADE. THE "NEO-CONSERVATIVES" THINK NOT OF NATIONS BUT OF INDIVIDUALS AND THEY CHAFF AT THE OLD TRADITION OF MERCANTILISM.

The study of ethics has recently become influenced by a form of moral conservatism—a critique of "modernity" with a bias towards Aristotle. It stresses the integrity of communities and their customs, a pluralistic and particularistic respect for the diversity of human groups, the poverty of utopianism and Marxism, and the inevitability of moral and political conflict. Each stress raises major issues: the priority of social goods over human rights; hermeneutical problems of understanding between communities; difficulties for societies' shaping a common future in accordance with their moral understanding; the balance between consensus and conflict in political life. These problems are addressed in an extended form of moral conservatism which defines a number of correspondences with progressive conceptions of humanity. Referring to central facts of moral psychology and possible institutions of public communication, the discussion identifies universal human purposes whose practical implications are consistent with a postmodern society in which the course of development is settled by public deliberation.

We propose an analytic account of dispositional conservatism that attempts to uncover a foundation of what is often taken to be an anti-foundationalist position. We identify a bias in favour of the status quo as a key component of the conservative disposition and address the question of the justification of such a conservative disposition, and the circumstances in which the widespread adoption of such a disposition might be normatively desirable. Our analysis builds on a structural link between the economist's traditional emphasis on questions of feasibility and the conservative's attachment to the status quo.

What might a Stoic approach to politics look like? David Goodhart aptly describes the political divide pervading Western societies in terms of the 'somewheres,' who are communitarian, rooted in particular places, and resistant to social and political change, versus the 'anywheres,' who are cosmopolitan, mobile, and enthusiastic embracers of change. Stoicism recognizes a similar distinction. This paper defends a conservative interpretation of Stoic politics. According to 'Stoic conservatism,' cosmopolitanism is an ethical ideal through which we perform the obligations assigned by our communitarian role(s) in society. The view is 'conservative' in that it favors existing institutions as the starting point for virtue instead of reasoning a priori about what virtue requires. Stoic politics consists neither in cosmopolitan transcendence of particular attachments, nor in passive acceptance of the communitarian status quo, but in ethical improvement toward virtue, within the political structure of society.