Robert Lewis Dabney, Stonewall Jackson's preacher and architect wrote that Northern conservatism was a mewling mess and would never stick to its principles and he died in 1898. He had a great quote:
“It may be inferred again that the present movement for women’s rights will
certainly prevail from the history of its only opponent, Northern conservatism.
This [Northern conservatism]
is a party which never conserves anything. Its history has been that it demurs
to each aggression of the progressive party, and aims to save its credit by a
respectable amount of growling, but always acquiesces at last in the
innovation. What was the resisted novelty of yesterday is today one of the
accepted principles of conservatism; it is now conservative only in affecting
to resist the next innovation, which will tomorrow be forced upon its timidity
and will be succeeded by some third revolution; to be denounced and then
adopted in its turn. American conservatism is merely the shadow that follows
Radicalism as it moves forward towards perdition. . It remains behind it, but never retards it, and always advances near its
leader. This pretended salt hath utterly lost its savor: wherewith shall it be
salted? Its impotency is not hard, indeed, to explain. It is worthless because it is the
conservatism of expediency only, and not of sturdy principle. It intends to
risk nothing serious for the sake of the truth, and has no idea of being guilty
of the folly of martyrdom. It always when about to enter a protest very blandly
informs the wild beast whose path it essays to stop, that its “bark is worse
than its bite,” and that it only means to save its manners by enacting its
decent role of resistance: The only practical purpose which it now subserves in
American politics is to give enough exercise to Radicalism to keep it “in
wind,” and to prevent its becoming pursy and lazy, from having nothing to
whip.”
http://voxday.blogspot.com/2020/08/build-your-own-platforms.html
