It's Conservative Month at A Progressive's Library

Welcome to Conservative Month at A Progressive's Library! The well-read progressive knows what she is arguing against. Your argument will be more persuasive if you can fairly state your opponent's position and then explain (using facts, evidence, and logic) why that position contradicts itself or strays from the known evidence. To do this you need to be familiar with conservative literature.

I think there are two things you'll learn from reading the works recommended this month. The first is that you are sometimes going to have to change your mind. The progressives of the early 20th century, the libertarians of the mid-20th century, and liberals and progressives of the early 21st century have more in common than you might imagine. In fact, one of the great 20th century progressives, Louis Brandeis, identified as a conservative and would have been comfortable with big chunks of modern libertarianism.

The other thing you'll learn is how far today's conservative rhetoric is from traditional conservative arguments. There's a lot more radicalism in today's Republican party than conservatism.

Since I only have a month I've tried to cast as wide a net as possible. This month I'll write about A-list thinkers and Z-list rabble rousers. I'll cover classic literature and contemporary humor.

Just as I'm blending liberal and progressive works during the rest of the year, I'm blending libertarian and conservative texts this month.

If you have any recommendations let me know in the comments.