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Entry: Who Are We? Link: http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/who_are_we#26403 Post contents: The problem with this definition, and the reason that some of Mr. Bramwell's corollaries do not actually follow, is the <i>Weberian</i> definition of legitimacy, as opposed to some "true" legitimacy. The managerial state is legitimate by Weber's definition, but conservatives oppose it. Same with mass consumerism and lots of other things. Or in other words, defense of these institutions is conservative by the proposed definition, as would all defense of "charismatic" authority. Mr. Bramwell abandons his own definition in his corollaries, where he uses non-Weberian (e.g., Maistrian) criteria of legitimacy. The question of legitimacy is crucial here. But any attempt to define "true" legitimacy leads back to the problems Mr. Bramwell thought he was avoiding. Sent at: 2008 09 05