Letting it Burn
A theoretical defense of Revolution from a person with mostly "conservative" instincts
There are a couple of different reasons that conservative people tend to oppose political revolution:
Some will cite Romans 13, and take a kind of dogmatic approach: submit to authorities. Always. As a matter of doctrine.
Many seem to think that the corruption and deception and lack of good-faith political representation we see in today’s politics doesn’t add up to the kind of pain we would face if a big revolution occurred.
Some simply don’t know what’s going on, don’t have reasons.
Some are cowards, afraid of pain, and would oppose “doing anything” even if glory were the reward, because they are scared of pain and death.
The first time I heard the Beatles song, “Revolution,” ironically, I was on a bridge crossing the Potomac river on a school bus with classmates. The ripping electric guitar spoke to me, and I heard the lyrics with extra seriousness:
…but when you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao, you ain’t gonna make it with anyone anyhow… don’t you know it’s gonna be, alright?
Today’s conservatives hardly think of John Lennon as their intellectual predecessor, but for many, he is precisely that in this case. He was the voice of “Chill out. No need to do anything drastic. Everything will smooth itself out. Trust the plan.”
