And if we were to find a way to answer Teles' plea and install genuine critically-minded scholars who are inclined to investigate more deeply how these issues could be seen through a "conservative" frame (however defined) what might be accomplished? Would they somehow craft arguments that would convince skeptics that the claims of authoritative religion were not only true but deserved to be taken as law? That would convince the poor, members of racial minorities, people regarded as sexual and social deviants, etc. that their inferior status is deserved and must be embraced? That would reconcile the mass to the disproportionate political power of great wealth? Putting aside any considerations of morality, is such a thing even conceivable? Surely not if one is to give any credit to the work of Ron Inglehart, Pippa Norris, et al.
Yes, indeed: someone for whom ideologies and frameworks are their tools rather than their masters...
And if we were to find a way to answer Teles' plea and install genuine critically-minded scholars who are inclined to investigate more deeply how these issues could be seen through a "conservative" frame (however defined) what might be accomplished? Would they somehow craft arguments that would convince skeptics that the claims of authoritative religion were not only true but deserved to be taken as law? That would convince the poor, members of racial minorities, people regarded as sexual and social deviants, etc. that their inferior status is deserved and must be embraced? That would reconcile the mass to the disproportionate political power of great wealth? Putting aside any considerations of morality, is such a thing even conceivable? Surely not if one is to give any credit to the work of Ron Inglehart, Pippa Norris, et al.