Victor Milione, president of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute from 1963 to 1988, died on Monday. To remember his life, ISI's new web journal First Principles has posted a wonderful essay from Milione called "Why I Am a Conservative." "[C]onservatism is so hyphenated at present that no one has any idea of what one is signing on to," Milione wrote last year. "The reason I believe this to be the case is that conservatism has been overly politicized." This is an important point to remember, particularly when this election or that vote doesn't go your way. It's the Left, not conservatives, who put faith in government to solve our problems. Milione reminds us that passing on a tradition involves something beyond capturing a government. The organization he led reminds us of that too.

A fine little essay in a lot of ways, though not great. He does, however, collect and intersperse great quotations, most of which I haven't seen before, and which really struck me as true.

Weaver's phrase is excellent: "the appalling problem, when one comes to actual cases, of getting men to distinguish between better and worse." Yup, that's my day today.

I agree: conservatives have to become a lot more thoughtful and a lot less political.