William Voegeli, a visiting scholar at Claremont College, in an essay entitled “Liberalism and Civilization” published in The Blue Review takes Waugh as his spokesman for the conservative cause. The Blue Review is a peer-reviewed blog intended to promote the public interest and sponsored by Boise State University. VogeliĀ uses Waugh’s “philosophy” as a counter to that of John Stuart Mill whom he sets up as the source of liberalism’s principles. Waugh’s views are quoted from his “Conservative Manifesto” which was stated in his 1939 book Robbery Under Law andĀ is excerpted and reprinted in Essays, Articles and Reviews. In addition, Voegeli quotes Waugh’s 1964 review (“The Light that Did Not Wholly Fail”) of two books about Rudyard Kipling, also reprinted in EAR, in which Waugh expressed his admiration for Kipling’s then unpopular political views:
The beliefs Waugh discerned in Kipling were ones he had expressed in his own voice 25 years previously. āI believe,ā he wrote in his āConservative Manifesto,ā āthat the anarchic elements in society are so strong that it is a whole-time task to keep the peace.ā He was profoundly skeptical of the idea that the airport walkway that took us from barbarism to civilization will simply keep going forward forever, either because it cannot be stopped or reversed, or because no one would wish to. To the contrary, āCivilization has no force of its own beyond what is given it from within. It is under constant assault and it takes most of the energies of civilized man to keep going at all.ā By the same token, āBarbarism is never finally defeated; given propitious circumstances, men and women who seem quite orderly will commit every conceivable atrocity.ā Thus, without āunremitting effort,ā [Waugh]Ā wrote, we risk āthe dissolution ⦠of the spiritual and material achievements of our history.ā
After trolling through more recent political writings on the subject, Voegeli concludes [Spoiler Alert!] that Waugh’s side wins the argument.
Very interesting blog entry. I am just learning about Evelyn Waugh for the first time, but as a lit. and history prof. with some experience and a strong respect for John Stuart Mill, one that will not be easily dislodged. For that reason in particular I look forward to learning more of Waugh – I’m currently shopping around for a cheap collected essays book – since I take it from this blog Waugh felt himself in opposition to Mill in some regard.
On reading the quote from Waugh, however, I am forcefully reminded why there should be no reason for liberal and conservative not to join forces against the corrosive barbarism at play in the US national elections of 2016. Both alike should vigorously oppose with every particle of their energies the evil forces unleashed by the barbarian from the [old] Wharton school of Finance.