In the United States at this time liberalism is not only the dominant but even the sole intellectual tradition. For it is the plain fact that nowadays there are no conservative or reactionary ideas in general circulation. This does not mean, of course, that there is no impuluse to conservatism or to reaction. Such impulses are certainly very strong, perhaps even stronger than we know. But the conservative impulse and the reactionary impulse do not, with some isolated and some ecclesiastical exceptions, express themselves in ideas but only in action or in irritable mental gestures which seek to resemble ideas. – Lionel Trilling (1950)
Well, they got a chance to try out their irritable mental gestures that resemble ideas. How’d it work out?
