Cam, do you have rules on the length of comments? I was blocked from posting this all at once ...
But again, it doesn't mean Scruton supports an executive that is a law unto itself. He even writes in support of republican government in its broad sense.
Where citizens are appointed to administer the State, the result is republican government. [It] is not to be contrasted with monarchy [..] but with absolute rule, dictatorship, one-party rule and a host of other possibilities that fall short of participatory administration.
Scruton is also English and the English parliament has a much richer tradition of broad spectrums of opposition within parties. The intense Executive - Legislative equivalence is a particularly Australian problem. The brief period of whip dominance Bush enjoyed has already passed.
Give me utilitiy or give me something slightly better!
Don't think there is a rule on length of posts but I haven't looked at the code base in a while. You are probably being punished for doing something unusual - actually posting comments ;)
The Bill or Rights aspect of Howard's philosophy is a bit of an indirection, it did point out that his view of disorder came from citizenry acting in their liberty. It is government that provides order, and it is government's most important role, sufficiently so that it needs to break what we assume are natural rights, or governmental exclusions, to maintain that order.
It may be that Scruton is on a liberal side of conservatism; as opposed to executive rule style of conservatism, which Howard was, but still the limits on government in order to preserve order seems to encompass maximal government when necessary from modern conservatives. This is where it comes directly into tension with liberalism.
It seems by the entropy comment that he sees citizens expressing their liberty as entropic; naturally causing disorder and government's role becomes fending off the disorder stemming from liberty. So we are back to Howard's view.
'Sworn to no party, and of no sect am I.' Frederick Vosper's republican motto.
I had issues posting yesterday as well. I ended up copying the text and starting the whole comment process anew after going through a few previews. Also took awhile to actually write the comment.
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