A welfare state, properly conceived, can be an integral part of a conservative society.

A welfare state, properly conceived, can be an integral part of a conservative society.

An intellectual may be defined as a man who speaks with general authority about a subject on which he has no particular competence.

After all, if you believe that no one was ever corrupted by a book, you also have to believe that no one was ever improved by a book (or a play or a movie). You have to believe, in other words, that all art is morally trivial and that, consequently, all education is morally irrelevant. No one, not even a university professor, really believes that.

Even if we can't be happy, we must always be cheerful.

...only liberal organizations are clearly designated [in the press] as "nonpatisan, nonprofit." Non-liberal research organizations are always identified as "right-wing" or "conservative."

The trouble with traditional American conservatism is that it lacks a naturally cheerful, optimistic disposition. Not only does it lack one, it regards signs of one as evidence of unsoundness, irresponsibility.