Lament for a High Tory Conservatism

The low church Protestantism of American conservatives and their Canadian epigones leaves them defenseless against the corrosive power of modernism, according to Dart. In this part of his account the theological intrudes upon the economic. The contest between Red Tory vs. Blue Tory (here the political “colours,” are the Canadian and British, where red tends towards the left and blue to the right) is based on a theological distinction. While Red Tories are usually socially conservative and economically liberal (or more accurately, corporatist) and the Blue Tories the opposite, Dart finds the real cause of the distinction to reside in the Reformation. As he puts it, “everything hangs on how AD 1400-1700 is interpreted.”.”

Geoffrey M. Vaughan teaches political science at Assumption University. He is the editor of Leo Strauss and His Catholic Readers (CUA Press, 2018).

https://lawliberty.org/book-review/lament-for-a-high-tory-conservatism/