The Power Line Show, Ep. 102: Is “Post-Modern Conservatism” an Oxymoron?

This week you’re really in for it, as I decided to offer up another of my lectures on conservative thought at Yale for the William F. Buckley Program. Steve decides to tackle the “P-word”—Postmodernism. The term is overused, vague, and, like so many other things, badly corrupted by the left. In fact, the useable parts of it are actually old conservative ideas in some respects—a fresh vindication of Samuel Johnson’s famous review that argued “what’s good is not original, and what’s original is not good.”

This is a very preliminary investigation, and the theme needs a lot more work, so listeners who survive this are encouraged to comment and pose further questions for discussion.

The bumper music for this week’s episode was deliberately chosen to fit the topic: “Mad Sounds” by the Arctic Monkeys, and “Childhood’s End” by Marillion, since a lot of what goes under the banner of “postmodernism” is indeed mad, and overcoming it does require some adult maturity.

Next week, by the way, we’re planning to get the entire Power Line gang together for a year-end show, in which we’ll make predictions for next year and do a few other things. Stay tuned.

As usual, listen below or download the episode from our partners at Ricochet, or at iTunes.  And can you please post a review on iTunes? It helps goose their algorithms and boosts our audience.

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