Quotation of the Day
5th April 2025
Trump always has the right reflexes. But a reflex is not a plan. It is not his job, but the job of his administration, to translate reflexes into plans. While executing with great energy and enthusiasm, the administration has had a rocky start in this translation.
A reflex without a plan is not action, but the illusion of action. Action is defined by its purpose. The only purpose of a reflex is to do the right thing. The purpose of an action is a step toward an end state. A reflex has no end or intent. An action is proactive. A reflex is reactive. An action is strategic. A reflex is tactical. And so on.
Because of the influence of libertarianism and the beauty and power of spontaneous order, not to mention the essentially mythic characteristics of their historical faith (when thinking inside a myth, we suffer from just-world fallacy by definition), the conservative tends to operate in terms of reflexes. Nature, he assumes, will provide. Perhaps there is even some relic of the old Puritan doctrine of Providence.