Quote of the day 9th February 2023 - Eric Flint's "Iron Law of Politics"

“If there is one absolute iron law in politics, which has applied, does apply, and will apply in any political system created by the human race, it is this.” 

 “There will always be a conservative faction — and it will always be powerful. In fact, except in times of revolution and great upheaval, it will usually tend to be dominant.” 

 “When I say ‘conservative,’ I am not referring to any particular political philosophy. I am using the term in lower case, so to speak. I am referring to the basic attitude of most people that unless conditions are intolerable it is usually better to err on the side of caution.” 

 "The essence of Conservatism is not a political philosophy of any kind It is a general attitude" 

    (going on to quote some sayings which epitomise that attitude) 

•     "If it ain't broke, don't fix it. That's my personal favourite - and, by the way, a piece of wisdom I subscribe to myself. 

•     Better the devil you know than the devil you don't. That's another. 

•     A third - I'm quite fond of this one also - is be careful what you wish for because you might get it.  

•     And finally there is the famous Murphy's law, which perhaps encapsulates the heart of conservatism;  If something can go wrong, it will." 

(Eric Flint - speech given to a character in his novel "1636: the Ottoman onslaught." 

To add context to this speech, Eric Flint describes himself as a socialist and the character to whom he gives this speech is also on the left and so are the people she is talking to. The speech is made by a radical reminding her fellow radicals that there may be issues that conservatives - with a small c, this is not a reference to the British Conservative party - are right about. 

Eric Flint is one of the very, very, very few left-wingers who understand conservatives. It is also the case that intelligent conservatives, whether with a upper or lower case 'c' at the beginning, should equally recognise that no political philosophy has a monopoly of wisdom and people on the left may occasionally get things right too.) 

ADDENDUM

I thought it might be worth adding here the further words about the above quote which I used when I linked on Facebook to the original version of the above post. 

 There are sadly few people on the left or right of politics with a good understanding of the other - and I think it is particularly true that not many on the left understand the right. Someone - I think it might have been Quentin Langley - once described this to me with the words 

"We think they're wrong, they think we're evil." 

I can think of several of the final few meetings of Cumbria County council which exemplify the point. Last year a Labour councillor vehemently denied having insulted members of the Conservative group who had indicated we were about to vote FOR the motion she was proposing by accusing us of lacking integrity or compassion, yet said she was insulted herself by the suggestion that our political aims were not that different (e.g. that we agreed that the council should take action to help people who were suffering.) 

One of the very few people on the left who does appear to have some understanding the arguments of the right is the author Eric Flint. In his novel "The Ottoman onslaught" he puts into the mouth of a fictional pragmatic left-winger a brilliant speech to her fellow lefties, which is an argument for why it may sometimes be a good idea to listen to or even co-operate with the more reasonable people from the other side of the political divide. 

 Now I have not forgotten a quote from another writer of the same genre, Larry Niven: 

"There is a technical, literary term for people who mistake the opinions and beliefs of characters in a novel for the opinions of the author. The term is 'idiot'." 

 So I don't make the mistake of assuming that Eric Flint himself believes every word he put into the mouth of the character who makes the "Iron law of politics" speech. 

But he could not have written it without having a better understanding of what small 'c' conservatism is than many Conservatives, never mind most non-conservatives, enjoy.