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Entry: Postmodern, Not Hypermodern: Russell Kirk Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/postmodern_not_hypermodern_russell_kirk#15121 Post contents: Frank Purcell writes of Kirk that he never was a neo-con, but did nothing much to offend them at least during the first few decades of his fame. I don't think that during Kirk's early career as a conservative writer there was much consciousness of the neo/paleo distinction. That didn't come until the 1980s. A seminal moment was the withdrawal of the nomination of M.E. Bradford, a traditionalist conserrvative, to head the National Endowment for the Humanities. Bradford was a Southerner and had written papers critical of Lincoln's Constitutional theory, his assertions of executive power, and other aspects of the Union's conduct during the War Between the States. These brought Bradford into conflict with such people as Harry Jaffa, the Straussian head of the Claremont Institute. Whereas before Bradford's nomination to the NEH these conflicts were purely on an academic level, now the knives came out amongst the journalists and political hacks. George Will wrote a column decrying the nomination. Eventually Bradford withdrew and the neo-con favorite, William "Bet-a-Million" Bennett, was installed in his place. I was acquainted both with Kirk and with Bradford, certainly not well enough to claim them as close friends, but both were men I admired and spoke with on a number of occasions. To say that Kirk avoided offending neo-cons is a peculiar misrepresentation. As a matter of fact he once made a quip about neo-cons mistaking Tel Aviv for the capital of the United States. At least one prominent neo-con, the execrable John Podhoretz, was still bleating about this within the last year or two on NRO's "The Corner." As for Kirk's reported reluctance to attend Mass because of his distaste for the priest at his church, I have known a number of Catholics with no pretensions to be men of letters or political philosophers who have expressed similar sentiments. I have a good friend who, long estranged from the Church, married late, fathered a son, and began going to church again because he and his wife wanted to raise his child in the faith. My friend attends mass but has mostly avoided taking communion because he can't bring himself to confess to the priest at his church, whom he dislikes. People are quirky and flawed and behave oddly on some points. If Kirk did so, it only proves that the intelligent and articulate are no more exempt from these peculiarities than are completely ordinary folk. I hope Dr. Purcell will find it in his heart to forgive him. I think God will. Sent at: 2008 07 20