P R AG M AT I C C O N S E RVAT I S M Edmund Burke and His American Heirs ROBERT J. LACEY Pragmatic Conservatism Robert   J.   Lacey Pragmatic Conservatism Edmund Burke and His American Heirs Robert   J.   Lacey Iona College New Rochelle, New York, USA ISBN 978-1-349-94903-8 ISBN 978-1-137-59295-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-59295-8 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016947815 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2 016 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifi cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfi lms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifi c statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Cover illustration: © Юлия Давиденко / Alamy Stock Photo Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Nature America Inc. New York For Abraham A progressive is always a conservative; he conserves the direction of prog- ress. A reactionary is always a rebel. —G. K. Chesterton, 1909 vii A CKNOWLEDGMENTS The idea for this book did not fully come together until I was given the opportunity to co-teach the Sophomore Honors Humanities Seminar at Iona College in the spring of 2012. My colleague Aaron Rosenfeld, from whom I have learned a great deal over the last few years, suggested that I lecture on Edmund Burke. After I took his advice, what started out as an exegesis of the political writings of Peter Viereck grew into something a bit more ambitious. The fruitful discussions in our seminar inspired me to broaden the scope of my project into a study of an underappreciated and misunderstood tradition in conservative political thought. I owe a debt of gratitude to Aaron and the fantastic students we have had the privilege to teach. I thank my former research assistant, Kate Roberts, who exhibited remarkable attention to detail and organizational skills. I especially appre- ciate her willingness to spend hours sifting through primary documents at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia University. Her efforts proved invaluable to me. I am grateful to the many people who read parts of the manuscript and offered encouraging words and constructive criticism. The follow- ing people deserve special mention: Marcus Aldredge, Carl Bogus, Marc Carbonneau, Gregory Collins, Mary Hagerty, Melody Herr, Jonathan Keller, Josh Klein, Cathy Lavery, David Leitch, Josh Leon, Daniel Lorge, Drew Maciag, Jerome Mileur, Seán Molloy, Claes Ryn, Lisa Szefel, Ralph Whitehead, and Alan Wolfe. I reserve my deepest gratitude for Rebecca Root, my wife, without whom I could never have written this book. She read every word of the ix