Az alábbi szövegeket nem a Konzervatórium valamelyik fontos fiatal ideológusa irta, hanem én. Nagyon nagyon nagyon fiatal koromban, 1994 decemberében. Ékezetet nem tudtam használni (egy amerikai kisvárosból irtam ezeket a leveleket). Érdekelt a dolog, érdekelt ez a világ, volt egy nagyon jó egyetemi könyvtárunk, és esténként irtam ezeket a szövegeket. Nem tudom miért volt ez akkor ennyire fontos, láthatóan sok időt áldoztam rá. Azt hiszem ekkor még Orbán Viktor sem volt konzervativ. Persze én sem. Konzervativ liberálisnak tartottam magam, ma már annak sem. Semminek sem. Már 1989 őszén kezdtem ilyesmiket olvasni, kint a kollégiumban, ahol először hallottam ezekről a dolgokról. Allan Bloom-tól a "The closing of the American Mind" volt az első ilyen könyv, és az akkor nagyon megragadott.
Magyarországon effélékről akkor még nem beszéltek, legalábbis abban a közegben nem, ahol én mozoghattam. Azt hiszem jó, ha az embernek van egy ilyen korszaka, amikor sok mindent elolvas. És talán az is jó, hogy elmúlik... :) Ez a furcsa " esszé" itt lent gyakorlatilag olvashatatlan, kétlem, hogy lesz aki átrágja magát rajta, én sem tenném. Ez csak egy személyes emlék.
I. Szemben a valtozassal...
Mi az, hogy konzervativ ? Eloszoris egy konzervativ temperamentumu, egy konzervativ karakteru ember. Nem feltetlenul egy politizalo ember, egy igazsagoszto ember, egy a tarsadalom vagy a gazdasag mukodeset vizsgalo ember, hanem csak ugy altalaban egy karakter, akit Michael Oakeshott imigyen ir le a "Rationalism in Politics"-ben. "..to be conservative,then, is to prefer the familiar to the unknown, to pre- fer the tried to the untried, fact to misery, the actual to the possible, the limited to the unbounded, the near to the distant, the sufficient to the superabundant, the convenient to the perfect, present laughter to utopian bliss..." ".. A storm which sweeps away a copse and transforms a favourite view, the death of friends, the sleep of friendship, the desuetude of customs or behaviour, the retirement of a favourite clown, involuntary exile, reversals of fortune, the loss of abilities enjoyed and their replacement by others- - these are changes, none perhaps withouit its compensations, which the man of conservative temperament unavoidably regrets..." "..the disposition to be conservativeis, then, warm and positive in respect of enjoyment, and correspondingly cool and critical in respect of change and innovation : these two inclinations support and elucidate one another... ' Az Oakeshotti konzervativ polgar ellenpolusa a pragmatikus, "progressziv" modern allam, illetve ezek kepviseloi, akiket Oakeshott nem liberalisnak hanem "rationalist"-nek nevez. Mindazonaltal a konzervativ vs. liberalis dichotomiaban, ez a "rationalist" liberalist jelent. A konzervativ ily modon lelki rokonsagba keveredik a modern kor anarchistaival. Az ellenpolus karakteret igy irja le Oakeshott : "..the general character and disposition of the Rationalist are, I think not difficult to identify at bottom, he stands (he always STANDS) for independence of mind on all occasions, for thought free from obligation to any authority save the authority of "reason".." ".. His mental attitude is at once sceptical and optimistic : sceptical, because there is no opinion, no habit, no belief, nothing so firmly rooted or so widely held that he hesitates to question it and judge it by what he calls his "reason". Optimistic, because the Rationalist never doubts the power of his "reason" (when properly applied) to determine the worth of a thing, the truth of an opinion , of the propriety of an action..." A konzervativizmus lenyege, hogy ellenideologia. Edmund Burke , Joseph de Maistre a Francia Forradalom, Ortega y Gasset, Donoso-Cortes, bizonyos ertelemben Tocqueville a tomegdemokracia, Allen Bloom, Leo Strauss a huszadik szazadi "counterculture"-re valaszol. A konzervativ nem a priori ellenzi a valtozast, a politikai reformokat, adott esetben a forradalmat. Ne feledjuk el, az amerikai forradalom egy konzervativ forradalom volt . A forradalom "fekete serege" puritan lelkeszekbol allt, filozofiajat a Bibliabol, Arisztotelesztol, Humetol, Montesquieutol kolcsonozte, es idealjai azok a New Englandi puritan kozossegek voltak, ahol a blaszfemia, a hazassagtores, sot a fiui engedetlenseg torvenyi buntetese HALAL volt. (ez nem jelenti azt, hogy tomegevel akasz- tottak fel embereket, de a Common Lawban a het (7) eves kor volt az elmeleti minimum a halalbuntetes vegrehajtasahoz, es tizennegy eveseken valoban vegre is hajtottak halalos iteleteket, bizony a huszadik szazadban is. A Supreme Court 1989-as donteset arrol, hogy a fiatalkoruak kivegzese NEM "cruel and unusual punishment" erre a szokasjogra alapoztak) A konzervativ azonban mindig szkeptikus a valtozassal, politikai reformokkal es plane a forradalmakkal szemben. Thomas Molnar kivalo amerikai katolikus es roppant konzervativ filozofus, nyiltan ellenforradalmarnak vallotta magat, o aki kishijan elpusztult Dachauban, Horthy,Salazar, Franco rendszeret glorifikalta The Counter-Revolution cimu munkajaban. Molnar szamara a marxizmus, a libera- lizmus sot maga a Reformacio is elviselhetetlen (Ecumenism) "..[The Reformation] was a unique impoverishment of the religious domain when all over the nothern half of Europe churches, statutes, missals, wood- carvings, were whitewashed, broken,crushed, and burned, but the spirit in whose name it was done was more devastating still. Protestantism generally denied the rights of the body and of the senses, and its puritanic variety inflicted horrible punishments on the most innocent expressions of earthly joy.." II.
1688-ban az angol Parlament megalkotta az English Bill of Rights-t minden nyugati alkotmany alapjat. A proklamacio megfosztotta II.Jakabot a tronjatol es helyere Oraniai Vilmost es feleseget Mariat ultette. "...being now assembled in a full and free representative of this nation, taking into their most serious consideration the best means for attai- ning the ends aforesaid, do in the first place (as their ancestors in like case usually done), for the vindicating and asserting their ancient rights and liberties, declare : 1. That the pretended power of suspending laws, or the execution of laws, by regal authority, without consent of Parliament, is illegal. 2. That the pretended power of dispensing with laws, of the execution of laws, by regal authority, as it has been assumed and exercised of late, is illegal. .... 9. That the freedom of speech, and debates or proceedings in Parliament, ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Parliament. 10.That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT inflicted.< well, az amerikaiak nem kifeje- zetten az originalitasukrol voltak hiresek :-))))> .... 13. And that for redress of all grievances, and for the amending, strengthe- ning, and preserving of the laws, Parliament ought to be held frequently. Epp szaz evvel kesobb, 1789 Augusztus 27-iken a Francia Alkotmanyozo Nemzetgyules a kovetkezo deklaraciot ( Az Emberi es Polgari Jogok Nyilatkozata) tette kozze : The representatives of the people of France, formed into a National Assembly ,considering the ignorance, neglect, or contempt of human rights,... ....set forth in a solemn declaration....in the presence of the Supreme Being, and with the hope of His blessing and favor, the following SACRED rights of men and citizens : 1. Men are born, and always continue, free and equal in respect of their rights... 4. Political liberty consists in the power of doing whatever does not injure another. ... 7. No man should be accused, arrested, or held in confinement, except in cases determined by the law, and according to the forms which it has prescribed. ... 11. The unrestrained communication of thoughts and opinions being one of the most precious rights of man, every citizen may speak, write and publish freely, provided he is responsible for the abuse of this liberty, in cases determined by the law. ... 17. The right to property being inviolable and sacred, no one ought to be deprived of it, except in cases of evident public necessity, legally ascer- tained, and on condition of a previous just indemnity. Edmund Burke (1727-1797) az English Bill of Rights feltetlen hive volt, es a Francia Forradalom ( a Nagy Terror elott!) kerlelhetetlen ellen- fele. Reflections on the Revolution in France cimu munkajaban fejti ki azokat a nezeteket, amelyekrol a konzervativizmust a Bourbon-restauracio utan Burke francia hivei elneveztek. Burke per definitionem az elso konzer- vativ volt. Burke ugy atyja a konzervativizmusnak mint Marx a szocializmusnak, vagy Mill a liberalizmusnak, ezt Russell Kirk Edmund Burke eletrajziroja (es ujrafelfedezoje !!!) irta. Macaulay szerint Burke Milton utan a legnagyobb volt. Lord Acton egyenesen azt mondta, Edmund Burke-kel kezdodott a tortenelem. A Reflections az a konzervativizmusnak mint a Kommunista Kialtvany a marxizmusnak.Alapmu. Multkor azt irtam Burke-rol ellenideolog volt. Formalisan Rousseau ellenideologja,de konnyu latni, valojaban Locke-je is. Locke ket muvebol idezek. Az elso (Of Civil Government), az angolszasz liberalizmus ideologiai alapja, az English Bill of Rights politikafilozofiai hattere.(1690) " Man being as has been said, by nature all free, equal and independent, no one can be put out of this estate and subjected to the political power without his own consent.." " For, when any number of men have, by the consent of every individual made a community, they have thereby made the community one body <na ez a hires social contract, Rousseaunal compact social > with a power to act as one body, which is only by the will and determination of the majority. < gyengebbek kedveert a valasztojog az angol lakosok toredeket illette meg, es evszazados reformok vezettek a teljes reprezenta- cioig, jegyezzuk meg, Rousseau a compact socialja utan az emberi jogok egyetlen akaratban reprezentalodnak, ott mar tovabbi privatjogoknak nincs helye,minden vulgarrousseauizmusnak ertsd leninizmusnak, csurkizmusnak ez a trukkje> "..Wherever law ends, tyranny begins..." <kvintesszencialis angolszasz liberalizmus, az ember felett nem ember uralkodik, hanem a jog > Ezzel szemben a Reflections... leghiresebb passzusa igy kezdodik : "Society is indeed a contract ..." "In a partnership in all science, a partnership in all art, a partnership in every virtue and in all perfection. As the ends of such partnership cannot be obtained in many generations, it becomes a partnership not only between those who are living, BUT, between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born. Each contract of each particular state is but a clause in the great primeval contract of eternal society, linking the lower with the higher natures, connecting the visible and invisible world according to the fixed compact sanctioned by the invisible oath which holds all physical and all moral natures each in their appointed place. This law is NOT subject to the will of those who by obligation above them and infinitely superior, are bound to submit their will to that law. The municipal corporations of that universal kingdom are NOT morally at liberty, at their pleasure, and on their speculations of a contingent improvement, wholly to separate and tear asunder the bonds of their subordinate community and to dissolve it into an unsocial, uncivil, unconnected chaos of elementary principles " Burke frontalisan tamadja az English Bill of Rights minden "liberalis" ertelmezeset. <Ismeros ?? Szamoljunk csak, Rehnquist,Scalia, Thomas, Kennedy Sandra Day O'Connor ez ugye 5 a 9-bol, ok a Wallace vs. Jeffrey "liberalis" ertelmezeset kezel(ne'k)ik felvont szemoldokkel, az ugye alkotmanymodositas nelkul marmajdnem egy teljes voluntary prayer lenne > Eloszoris Pascal-i ketelyei vannak a Descartes-i "Reason"-nal kapcsolatban. Egy eredendo bunnel terhes , esendo, gyarlo embert lat aki piszkalja a Tortenelem Isten altal elinditott Ingaorajat. Burke hisz a prejudikaciokban es preskripciokban.Ez affele szocialokologia, Burke fel a Tiszta es Absztrakt es foleg roppant Emberi Eszmetol, ami jon, es beleavatkozik a tortenelem evoluciojaba. Burke a JO, az IGAZSAGOS (kereszteny) tarsadalomban es annak torvenyeiben hitt. Termeszetesen, a jo es igazsagos tarsadalmakban vannak torvenyek amelyek vedik az embereket (foleg azok tulajdonat, Burke szerint a tulajdon teszi az embert emberre, es a legfobb jog, a tulajdon korlatozas nelkuli atszarmaztatasa generaciorol generaciora) . LENYEG : Burke szamara az ABSZTRAKT emberi jog, az onallo eletet elo emberi jog, a jo,igazsagos,keresztenyi tarsadalom immanens erdekeitol fuggetlen jog ertelmezhetetlen. Ezert utalta annyira a franciakat... Burke nem volt teologus. (Locke az IS volt). Mivel a Vallas es az Ember viszonyanak targyalasa elkerulhetetlen, a mai napra rendel szent evangeli- umot a Locke-i es Burke-i felfogas kulonbozosegenek felmutatasaval zarom.:-) Angliaban, II.Jakab nyilt katolikus restauracioja bekitette ossze az angli- kan egyhaz kulonbozo frakcioit (Laud Canterbury ersek hivei elvetettek a predesztinaciot, az Independensek maguk valasztottak volna a papjaikat, az 1649-1660 interregnumban a leheto legdrakoibb bibliai torvenyeket iktatta torvenybe a Puritan frakcio, szigoruan ellenoriztek a kereszteny Sabbath betartasat (aprosag, Massachussetsben joval a Wall of Separation "felhuzasa" utan Tocqueville meg olyan varosokat talalt ahol kulon tisztsegviselo zaklatta a vasarnapi utazokat) az iszakossagot is torvenyben tiltottak. Szoval a zsido-kereszteny tradicio helyes osvenyenek kijelolesenel,mondjuk ugy, problemak mutatkoztak. A dogmakat allandoan valtoztattak, es konyortelenul szamonkertek a helyes ideologiai iranyultsa- got. Vilmos megkoronazasa utan, az angol Allami Egyhazugyi Hivatalt :-(( (Court of Commissioners for Ecclesistical Causes) megszuntettek, persze az anglikan vallas allamvallas maradt ( egeszen a mai napig, egyhazi ugyekben az angol Parlament az illetekes, es koszonik szepen jol megvannak vele) es kibocsatottak az Act of Tolerationt. Well, almost toleration-t.... Marmint olyan "lehetetlen" vallasokat mint peldaul a katolicizmus, termesze- tesen tovabbiakban is uldoztek. :-(((<az fel sem merult, hogy a zsidokat emancipaljak, egyebkent a masodik legnagyobb brit konzervativ apukajat Isaac d'Israeli-nek hivtak, az anglikan vallasra attert Disraeli magat a leheto legbuszkebben a "Judaic race" fianak vallotta, es az angolokat ez nem erdekelte, ahogy a brit kozmondas tartja," the British is the only bloody nation on the face of the Earth which is not anti-semite, well of course, because we know that WE ARE THE SMARTEST GUYS ON THE BLOODY WORLD and not the f.... Jews" > A liberalis Locke errol igy ir ( Letter Concerning Toleration 1689) "Let us now consider what a church is. A church then I take to be a voluntary society of men.." "I say it is a free and voluntary society..." "Speculative opinions, therefore, and articles of faith, as they are called, which are required only to be believed, cannot be imposed on any Church by the law of the land " "Further, the magistrate ought not to forbid the preaching or professing of any speculative opinions in any Church..." <Na mielott, a Happy End focim megjelenne a kepernyon...> " Again : That church can have no right to be tolerated by the magistrate, which is constituted upon such a bottom, that all those who enter it, do thereby ipso facto, deliver themselves up to the protection and service of another prince. <gyengebbek kedveert, a kurrens another prince-t II. Janos Palnak hivjak...> " <es, hogy lassa mindenki,a liberalizmus es az ateizmus nem mindig volt olyan kedelyes viszonyban mint manapsag> "Lastly, Those are not at all to be tolerated who deny the being of God. Promises, covenants, and oaths, which are the bonds of human society can have no hold upon an atheist" Burke (anyja katolikus volt, es csaladjat az IRA elodjevel a Whiteboys nevu terrorszervezettel valo kapcsolattartassal vadoltak) : "We are resolved to keep an established church, an established monarchy and an established democracy < multkor egy miseryt gepeltem mistery helyett, ez itten viszont nem typo> each in degree it exists and in no greater " Burke mar Bolingbroke (rendkivul tekintelyes filozofus-politikus) latens deizmusaba is belekotott, a Filozofusok manifeszt deizmusatol kifejezetten rosszul volt. Hitt a termeszetes hierarchiaban, es az Istentol eredo autoritasban, egy tarsadalomban, ahol az emberek Isten es az Torveny elott egyenlok, de tehetseguk , szarmazasuk es vagyoni helyzetuk szerint kulonbozo helyet foglalnak el, es ezt a helyzetuket bekeben tudomasul veszik. < well, azt o is belatta, hogy egy gombontonek, vagy egy csatornatisztitonak kicsit mast jelent ez a tudomasulvetel mint a House of Lords egy tagjanak> Az Established Church az Irgalmassag es az Alazat, es termeszetesen a tarsadalmat megtarto autoritas kepviseloje es terjesztoje. Ezert vedte az Anglikan Egyhaz kulonos helyzetet Edmund Burke, az elso es maig legnagyobb konzervativ aki nem hitt az Irgalmassag es Alazat nelkuli "Reason"-ben.
III. A kortars amerikai konzervativ Russel Kirk irja a konzervativokrol : "I think that there are six canons of conservative thought. 1.Belief in a transcendent order, or body of natural law, which rules society as well as conscience. Political problems at bottom are religious and moral problems... ..True politics is the art of apprehending and applying Justice which ought to prevail in a community of souls. 2. Affection for the proliferating variety and mystery of human existence, as opposed to the naroowing uniformity, egalitarianism, and utilitarian aims of most radical systems... 3. Conviction that civilized society requires orders and classes, as against the notion of a "classless society'. With reason, conservatives often have been called the party of order... 4. Persuasion that freedom and property are closely linked :separate property from private posession, and Leviathan becomes master of all. Economic levelling, they maintain, is not economic progress. 5. Faith in prescription and distrust of "sophisters, calculators and economists' who would reconstruct society upon abstract designs. Custom, convention, and old pres- cription are checks both upon man's anarchic impulse and upon the innovator's lust for power. 6... Society must alter, for prudent change is the means of social preservation, but a statesman must take Providence into his calculations, and a statesman's chief virtue, according to Plato and Burke, is prudence." Ezzel szemben a liberalis attitudrol igy velekedik : " All the same, in a hastily generalizing fashion one may say that radicalism since 1790 has tended to attack the prescriptive arrangement of society on the following grounds - 1. The perfectibility of man and the illimitable progress of society : meliorism. Radicals believes that education, positive legislation, and alteration of environment can produce men like gods, they deny that humanity has a natural proclivity toward violence and sin. 2. Contempt for tradition. Reason, impulse, and materialistic determinism are severally preferred as guides to social welfare, trustier than the wisdom of our ancestors... 3. Political levelling. Order and privilege are condemned; total democracy, as direct as practicable, is the professed radical ideal... 4. Economical levelling. The ancient rights of property, especi- ally property in land, are suspect to almost all radicals; and collectivistic reformers hack at the institution of private property root and branch. " Ennek a szovegnek pedig semmi koze sincs Newt Gingrich-hez. Altalaban, Newt Gingrichnek semmi koze sincs a konzer- vativizmushoz, egy konzervativ nem hirdeti meg a forradalmat a TV-ujsagban. Kirk a Real McCoy, Gingrich egy West-Georgiai macher. A konzervativ szamara eleve vereseg a liberalis demokracia lete. A "political levelling" (bar az amerikai alkotmany elso cikkelyenek masodik szakasza ugyan leirja, hogy a Nep valasztja a kepviseloit de arrol egy szot nem szol, hogy ki a nep, a nep meglehetosen hosszu ideig jomodu, feher ferfiakbol allt.) kiteljesedett. (Voting Rights Act,illetve 15., 19.,24. es 26-ik kiegeszites) Kirk elso es masodik pontja eppen arrol szo, hogy absztrakt jogelvek nem vezenyelhetik a konzervativ szamara kedves tarsadalmat, es hat egy orszagot absztrakt jogelvek vezerelnek az az USA. A konzervativ tarsadalomban leteznek autoritiv intermediate retegek. Na, hat ez nem jellemzo Amerikara. A Barron vs. Baltimore 1840-ben meg adott egy leheto- seget a tradicionalistaknak azzal, hogy az allamokat kivonta a Bill of Rights hatalya alol, azonban a huszadik szazadban a "Barron" eltunt, szovetse- gi birok ugy vagnak haza absztrakt alkotmanyos indokkal, nepszavazassal megerositett torvenyeket hogy orom nezni. Amerikaban a Supreme Court filozofus-kiralyai voltak arra hivatva, hogy a tradiciokat orizzek. A huszadik szazad liberalis fobiroi pedig "atalltak" a forradalmarok taboraba. Kirk szamara a kulonbozo vilagkepek, a kulonbozo velemenyek igenis nem egyenranguak, es pont. (and he is damn proud of it) Az USA-ban pedig kifejezettel eroszakosan egyenjogusitjak a velemenyeket, neha egyaltalan nem vilagos, hogy a velemenyek elnyomoi vagy a velemenyek elnyomoinak elnyomoi aggresszivebbek. Amerika nem igazan osztalytarsadalom, kulturalisan nagyon nem az, ahol feher gimnazistak jiveban beszelgetnek es gangsta rapet hallgatnak a hiphop sapkajukban , Yo-mama-yo, mondjam vagy mutassam :-)) (nem tudom mutatni,valahogy nagyon kombinative kellene a csuklot es az ujjakat behajlitgatni :-)). A New Deal "economic levelling"-jet sem igazan lehet "visszacsinalni". (Gingrich FDR-t a legnagyobb huszadik szazadi elnoknek tartja, az ellenseg megtevesztese vegett, bar a C-SPAN-en rola aradozo Toeffler hazaspar akkora libertarianus hogy orom nezni, a neni olyan vehemens pro-choice, hogy az mar kifejezetten mulatsagos). A konzervativ tehat tovabbra is morog. (morogni egyebkent jo)
