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Entry: A response to my critics Link: http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/a_response_to_my_critics#26632 Post contents: "Conservatives uphold legitimacy whatever the human cost." "1. Some wrongly imputed to me the view that order for conservatives must be maintained at all costs, even by the most unsavory means. Under my account, however, conservatives defend not order but legitimacy--viz, that species of order which is maintained by near-universal assent. Indeed, it seems to me that conservatives per se have no particular position on whether and how order should be maintained in the absence of legitimacy. They defend legitimacy precisely to avoid the need for violent or oppressive reestablishment of authority. " Mr. Bramwell, please reconcile the two statements. According to your first statement, legitimacy should be maintained whatever the human cost. According to the second, legitimacy is precisely defined as something that apparently does not require a significant human cost in order to maintain. How is one supposed to know that you define legitimacyh as order maintained with near-universal consent when you claim that this assent is worth almost any human cost? Sent at: 2008 09 06