day no. 17,360: revolution, reaction, and reformation

"The hallmark of the revolutionary mind is impatience. The same thing is true over on the other side—the reactionary mind is also impatient. The revolutionary wants his new order now, and is willing to burn everything to the ground in order to get it. The reactionary wants to prevent that, which is fine, but he is just as impatient. He demands that everything be fixed immediately. Both the revolutionary and the reactionary are convenience store activists—they want their results the same way they want their coffee, which is to say, hot and now. The reformer, by contrast, living in the light of eternity, and grounded in the Word of God, can afford to be patient. He can take a principled stand, and leave the results to God. He is not going to be dazzled, or snookered, or beguiled, by payments under the table from the commies." — Douglas Wilson, Hate Farm Subsidies from the SPLC

A principled stance cannot, by definition, wander away. It stands its ground come hell or high water. It knows how to suffer. It is not so hellbent on getting what it wants that it is willing to do whatever it takes to get it. How the ends are accomplished matters. That is the difference between a reformer and a revolutionary/reactionary. The reformer would take reform sooner than later, but isn't so particular about the sooner part as to be willing to surrender certain principles to speed up the process. The principles are the point. And when you have an a priori commitment to your priorities, you take the consequences come what may. You'd rather stick to your principles than gain a particular end by abandoning or ignoring them.

The extreme left and right are not the furthest apart. They are not polar opposites of a long, straight, line. They are opposite ends of a horseshoe. The more extreme either becomes, the closer they come together. Out on the limbs, they are not as committed to principle as they are committed to impatience. On those grounds, the woke left and the dank right have more in common with each other than either of them do with the rest of us principled folk holding down he majority of the curve.