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Comment by mckirk | Hacker News Reader

Could you give some examples of actually 'worthwhile' right-wing/conservative perspectives? I'm genuinely curious, because it's quite hard to tell whether these views get suppressed in my filter bubble, or if there just aren't many worth examining.

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Just as one arbitrary example, perhaps look into Roger Scruton. His work on architecture is a good introduction, for example Why Beauty Matters: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bHw4MMEnmpc.

Like most good conservative thinkers, he’s no longer with us. I recommend him because he’s not overtly political. The best conservative thinkers stay out of the boring political quarrelling, IMO.

.. do you have any examples that are still alive? "Welcome to conservativism, all our best thinkers are dead" isn't a great pitch.

He died earlier this year, so he's not entirely outdated (although judging thinkers by their expiry date does not seem sensible regardless).

Others still alive worth reading include:

- Douglas Murray

- Patrick Deneen

- Theodore Dalrymple

- John Gray (although not easily categorized as a conservative)

- Sohrab Ahmari (although if you are averse to religious discourse, perhaps not)

I'd recommend Ross Douthat, currently with the NYT, and Andrew Sullivan, on Substack.

To be fair, the defining trait of conservatives is that they think ideas don't expire all that quickly. It makes sense that they'd hold dead thinkers in higher regard than others would.

All the best left-wing thinkers are also dead.

Jordan Peterson?

I’m not sure I’d call Peterson conservative or right-wing. A great thinker though, for sure.

There are many different right-wing factions, I don't know exactly what you mean by "worthwhile", if you want to understand what is happening in the world, you might want to at least be familiar with the main ones and their world views.

For libertarianism maybe read Reason. For the neo-cons it would be the National Review, for paleo-cons, the American Conservative. For the business or free market conservatives, the Heritage Foundation or AEI. For unabashedly pro-Trump conservatives, it would be the American Spectator. For the religious right, no idea what you would read there.

It's very different from the left wing stuff I read in that the right-wing groups mainly have a single thread in common, a skepticism of centralized government control, whereas the liberal sources that I read all seem to share more of a common ideology.

George F. Will

Thomas Sowell

Kori Schake

Jeff Flake

And almost anyone who has resigned in protest from the current US administration: Mattis, McMaster, ...

The brillant writings of F.A. Hayak could very well interest those with an open mind to such things.

Although almost nobody who reveres him seems to notice that his policies assume a basic level of universal healthcare and significant government assistance during economic downturns, since he writes about these almost as a side-note.

Which is why exactly I call his writing brillant...he seems to be able to express a consevatism that also has a soul.

Nick Szabo

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