Today is the 230th anniversary of Thomas Paine’s book Rights of Man. This is where political Leftism began. Paine’s legacy now forms the taken-for-granted background for American liberals and “conservatives” alike. Meanwhile, Paine’s rival and progenitor of conservatism, the statesman Edmund Burke (1729-1797), has been comparatively neglected by the American right.
Today, my friends and I are celebrating the 230th anniversary of Rights of Man by NOT reading Thomas Paine at all, but reading Edmund Burke’s masterful take-down of Lefitism, his Reflections on the Revolution in France.
I invite all conservatives to join me in this by returning to our roots! To help guide us in this ressourcement, see the following links, one of which I published yesterday for my column at Salvo: