Changes

==No conservatism in America?==

==No conservatism in America?==

Reilling is notorious for a short passage in the preface to the ''Liberal Tradition'' to the effect that intellectually America is totally liberal and there is no place for conservative ideas.  He does allow that idea-free reactionary and conservative impulses do exist and affect politics.  he wrote:

Reilling is notorious for a short passage in the preface to the ''Liberal Tradition'' to the effect that intellectually America is totally liberal and there is no place for conservative ideas.  He does allow that idea-free reactionary and conservative impulses do exist and affect politics.  he wrote:

:"In the United States at this time liberalism is not only the dominant but even the sole intellectual tradition. For it is the plain fact that nowadays there are no conservative or reactionary ideas in general circulation. This does not mean, of course, that there is no impulse to conservatism or to reaction. Such impulses are certainly very strong, perhaps even stronger than most of us know. But the conservative impulse and the reactionary impulse do not, with some isolated and some ecclesiastical exceptions, express themselves in ideas but only in action or in irritable mental gestures which seek to resemble ideas."

:"In the United States at this time liberalism is not only the dominant but even the sole intellectual tradition. For it is the plain fact that nowadays there are no conservative or reactionary ideas in general circulation. This does not mean, of course, that there is no impulse to conservatism or to reaction. Such impulses are certainly very strong, perhaps even stronger than most of us know. But the conservative impulse and the reactionary impulse do not, with some isolated and some ecclesiastical exceptions, express themselves in ideas but only in action or in irritable mental gestures which seek to resemble ideas."<ref> online version [http://books.google.com/books?id=XKP0I6LL8KMC&pg=PR15&dq=%22reactionary+ideas+in+general+circulation%22&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&num=30&as_brr=0#v=onepage&q=%22reactionary%20ideas%20in%20general%20circulation%22&f=false p xv]</ref>

The statement is abrupt and is not backed by the analysis of wroters in the book. Indeed, Trilling deliberately left out major conservative writers such as [[William Faulkner]] and the Southern Agrarians because he could not handle them. (He said Faulkner was too regional to pay attention to.)  

The statement is abrupt and is not backed by the analysis of wroters in the book. Indeed, Trilling deliberately left out major conservative writers such as [[William Faulkner]] and the Southern Agrarians because he could not handle them. (He said Faulkner was too regional to pay attention to.)

==Neoconservatism==

==Neoconservatism==