  Edmund Burke's " Reflections on the Revolution in France"  ( 1790)  is one of the classic works of conservative political philosophy.  Among other things,  Burke limns the importance of tradition,  the gradual evolution of systems of government into more enlightened forms,  and the dangers of radicalism.  He writes with common sense and passion,  and this book is a must-
read for people of any political persusasion,  particularly in these troubled times.  For here we see how far the GOP,  which is nominally " conservative,  has drifted from that which the term was originally coined to describe.  From pushing for the Patriot Act to tweaking the Constitution;  from unlawful arrests to denying prisoners the right to a fair trial;  from illegally diverting funds without Congress' authorization to outing covert CIA agents for revenge;  from destroying our traditional alliances to forcing our military to pay the consequences for the Defense Department's incompetence,
 the Bush administration and the modern Republican Party which supports it is so far from true conservativism that one shouldn't even be forced to point it out.
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I am incapable .  .  .  of keeping terms with those who profess principles of extremes;  and who under the name of religion teach little else than wild and dangerous politics.  Well,  I guess that makes me a Burkean conservative.
