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Robert Conquest’s First Law of Politics

January 28, 2011 by jtaggart

In his new book The Uses of Pessimism: And the Danger of False Hope
(h p://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0199747539?ie=UTF8&tag=sillinandsilh-
20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0199747539) Roger Scruton quotes and
discusses the first of Robert Conquest’s three ‘laws of politics which states:

[E]veryone is right-wing about what he knows best.

Scruton continues:

By ‘right-wing’ Conquest means suspicious of enthusiasm and novelty, and respectful towards
hierarchy, tradition and established ways. One sign of ignorance, according to Conquest, is the
preference for originality over custom and radical solutions over traditional authority.

Lastly, Scruton adds:

Of course, we need originality, just as we may need radical solutions, when circumstances radically
change. But we need these things when conditions are exceptional, and it is against the desire to see
all cases as exceptional that Conquest was warning.

In case you were wondering, Conquest’s other two ‘laws of politics’ are:

(2) any organization not explicitly right-wing sooner or later becomes left-wing, and
(3) the simplest way to explain the behavior of any bureaucratic organization is to assume that it is
controlled by a cabal of its enemies.

Posted in Philosophy, Politics | 1 Comment

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29. 10. 2020 Robert Conquest’s First Law of Politics | Silken Lines and Silver Hooks

One Response

Conquest’s Three Laws of Politics | Things to Remember, on November 11, 2012 at 12:16 pm | Reply
Things to Cherish
[…] first seems to me to be the least so. I found a page that discusses this law specifically and gives a
quote from Roger Scruton’s book, “The Uses of Pessimism: And the Danger of […]

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