Description
Moderate Conservatism: Reclaiming the Center by John Kekes is a response to attacks on the United States' 300-year-old constitutional democracy by extremists on the left and the right. It makes a reasoned case for moderation and the defense of a political system that has endured because it has balanced the often-conflicting claims of justice, liberty, equality, prosperity, and security. That balance is now threatened by extremists who ignore all else but their grievances. They are blind to the destructive consequences of their attacks on the conditions on which the well-being of all Americans, including their own, depends.The aim of Moderate Conservatism is to protect the United States' political system. It is a defense of what Americans have and are in danger of losing. Central to it is the rarely conscious patriotism of many millions of citizens who live private lives, earn a living, raise a family, and rely on the political system to protect the conditions in which they can continue to do so. They sustain life as Americans know it. And that life is now threatened by the destructive attacks of extremists. The United States is in urgent need of the balance and moderation this book describes and defends.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTIONCHAPTER TWO: FROM SIMPLICITIES TO COMPLEXITIESThe Aim of Moderate ConservatismConventional LivesCommon DecenciesShared Modes of EvaluationSources of ComplexitiesCHAPTER THREE: PERENNIAL PROBLEMSOverviewContingenciesConflictsCompromisesCHAPTER FOUR: THE PROBLEM AND THE RESPONSEThe ProblemComplex EvaluationsPersonal Attitudes and Our Political SystemNegative CapabilityToward Reasonable ActionsCHAPTER FIVE: THE RULE OF LAWThe ApproachProcedural or Substantive?Doubts about PrioritiesThe Moderately Substantive RequirementModerate Conservatism and the Rule of LawCHAPTER SIX: JUSTICEJustice as DesertWhy Should We Get What We Deserve?Terms of CooperationThe Test of TimeJustice as Desert: For and AgainstCHAPTER SEVEN: LEGAL AND POLITICAL EQUALITYThe AimContextualityConditionalityPracticalityJustificationCHAPTER EIGHT: LIBERTYThe Concept and Its ComplexitiesNegative LibertyReasons Against Negative LibertyPositive Liberty as AutonomyThe Exclusivist MistakeThe Secular Faith and Its ProblemsLimited LibertyCHAPTER NINE: PROPERTYThe Reason for ItIts ImportanceInterest-Based Justification?Entitlement-Based JustificationUtility-Based JustificationComplex JustificationCHAPTER TEN: LAST WORDSREFERENCESINDEX
