“Conservatism, as a distinguishable social philosophy,” wrote Robert Nisbet, “arose in direct response to the French Revolution.”
Almost as an afterthought, Irving Kristol averred that liberalism inevitably “makes a mess of things” before people vote it out.
Vote it out, yes—because they keep seeing mini-French Revolutions, usually without violence but always a shabby mess, in their midst. Think of what happened after the frantic policeman in Missouri shot and killed Michael Brown. People start wanting something that at least approximates conservatism.
