[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 151 (Friday, October 24, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2127]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         THE CONSERVATIVE MIND

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                          HON. MARK E. SOUDER

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 24, 2003

  Mr. SOUDER. Mr. Speaker, The Conservative Mind is an historic book 
that has profoundly affected many of us in this chamber. Indeed, some 
of us may be in this very chamber because of its great influence. 
Published in 1953, the masterpiece was penned by the late Dr. Russell 
Amos Kirk, the foremost philosopher of the modern conservative 
movement. His writings--not to mention his Piety Hill seminars--served 
as part of the philosophical foundation for such important moments in 
American political history as the 1964 Goldwater presidential campaign, 
the Reagan Revolution of 1980, and, most recently, the Republican 
Revolution of 1994.
  How does one begin to sum up conservatism? One can start, as Dr. Kirk 
did in The Conservative Mind, by stating what it is not. He wrote that 
the conservative abhors all forms of ideology. Promising a 
``terrestrial paradise,'' an ideology is anathema to the conservative, 
who knows it to be the tool and weapon of the coffeehouse fanatics--a 
substitute for religion--that will ensure an ``earthly hell.'' No 
manual for partisan action, then, The Conservative Mind does not--
cannot--point the way to Zion.
  Instead, the man of letters wisely explained, we must turn to custom, 
convention, constitution and prescription. And we must apply variously 
and with prudence the general principles he delineated.
  The brilliance of The Conservative Mind is its cogent synthesis of 
the works of historical icons--ranging from Edmund Burke to T.S. 
Eliot--into six canons of conservative thought. The resolution that I 
have introduced acknowledges these canons and honors the golden jubilee 
of Dr. Kirk's magnum opus.
  It also recognizes the tireless work of the Russell Kirk Center for 
Cultural Renewal, presided over by Dr. Kirk's widow, Annette, and the 
Intercollegiate Studies Institute, which is republishing many of his 
master works.
  It is time that the House of Representatives affords this man, this 
book and these institutions with such recognition. I hope that the 
members of this body will join me in celebrating the 50th anniversary 
of the publication of The Conservative Mind and those custodians of 
this wonderful patrimony.

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