08-23-2022, 05:55 PM
The one "classic" conservative position that I missed is an overall pessimism in human nature. That should reasonably be dropped for a practical reason: that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Pessimists ordinarily get their doubts about Humanity fulfilled.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.