Political Policy was launched on the auspicious date of July 4, 2009. Its mission is to advance traditional conservatism and preserve America’s First Principles. Political Policy animates it's mission by critiquing matters of public policy through a discriminating lens to ensure that America’s founding principles and conservative heritage are held in the highest regard. Political Policy's efforts represent its contribution to the good cause for shaping the narrative toward upholding the traditions and principles that are the inspirational bedrock for America’s founding.
Aristotle defined first principles as “the first basis from which a thing is known”. America's First Principles are enumerated within the Declaration of Independence, which is the document that defines the basis for America's founding. The Declaration identifies America's First Principles as a respect for the rule of law; the recognition that all persons are created equal and are naturally endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among these being life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that governments are instituted by the people and derives its just powers from the consent of the governed; and the principle of limited government, which means that the legitimate purpose of government is the protection of unalienable rights and the government is to be strong enough to fulfill that purpose, yet limited solely to that purpose. The Declaration also says that if ever "any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government."
Political Policy's conservative philosophy is grounded in the beliefs of Edmund Burke, the father of conservative thought, and Russell Kirk who is widely regarded as the principal intellectual founder of the American conservative movement. Russell Kirk distinguished conservatism not as an ideology but as a body of principles by stating, “The attitude we call conservatism is sustained by a body of sentiments, rather than by a system of ideological dogmata”, and his magnum opus The Conservative Mind revived and brought to light the principles of conservatism. In his book The Politics of Prudence Kirk portrays the thoughtful conservative in the following passage,
"... the intelligent conservative endeavors to reconcile the claims of Permanence and the claims of Progression. He thinks that the liberal and the radical, blind to the just claims of Permanence, would endanger the heritage bequeathed to us, in an endeavor to hurry us into some dubious Terrestrial Paradise. The conservative, in short, favors reasoned and temperate progress; he is opposed to the cult of Progress, whose votaries believe that everything new necessarily is superior to everything old.”
Therefore the true conservative weighs both permanence and change through the lens of an enduring moral order.
William F. Buckley, Jr., the founder of National Review, coalesced the thoughts of Russell Kirk and other leading conservative thinkers and galvanized the modern conservative movement. His philosophy on government and public policy is Political Policy's guiding light as to the role government should play in America’s social, political and economic systems.
Traditional conservatism and the First Principles enshrined in the Declaration of Independence are the lifeblood of America’s founding. If America’s political leaders refuse to recognize and affirm them when crafting public policy then the America we love, admire and treasure will become an America we long for.
In closing thanks for visiting Political Policy and I welcome your comments. As a final thought, as you move through life always be aware of the reality and the truth, not the perception and the myth.
Dennis Gallagher
Founder and editor, Political Policy
William F. Buckley, Jr. Tribute
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