June 13, 2025

You cannot fight against the future. Time is on our side.

William Gladstone (1809–1898), British politician, prime minister, speech on the second Reform Bill, House of Commons, April 27, 1866, Seldes p.161

Was Gladstone—who served as Britain’s Liberal prime minister for four non-consecutive terms between 1868 and 1894 (that’s a span of 26 years!)—simply rubbing salt in Conservative wounds, or was he on to something?

This is the essential dilemma of conservatism. Things change, and to attempt to hold back the tide is fruitless—ultimately. But one direction to which change can take is toward past practice—if it can be dressed up in new clothes and given a new name. How about “states’ rights”, rather than “Jim Crow”?