Black History Month and the Democratic Dead End: A Conservative Reckoning

This Day in History: February 25 – A Conservative Reflection on Memory, Principle, and Nation

What is history, if not the collective memory of a people? For conservatives, the past is not a foreign country to be raided for talking points or discarded when inconvenient. It is the foundation upon which we build the future a repository of wisdom, tradition, and the hard-won lessons of those who came before us. Looking through the newspapers and archives of February 25 across the decades reveals a tapestry of moments that remind us why the conservative vision, rooted in ordered liberty and institutional continuity, remains essential.

The Peril of Partisan Bitterness (1954)

Seventy-one years ago today, on February 25, 1954, a letter to the editor appeared in Utah's Daily Herald that could have been written this morning. The author, Willard Hawkins, deplored the political bitterness of his era, quoting Kipling's *Recessional* with its haunting plea: "Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget lest we forget!" 

Hawkins observed something that remains true: nations that achieve greatness can crumble into oblivion when they lose their moral bearings. He watched as Republicans and Democrats hurled charges of "creeping Socialism and Communism" at one another, while unemployment mounted. He specifically noted the venomous attacks of Senator McCarthy, warning that "a house divided against itself will fall."

The conservative understands that political passion must be tempered by prudence. We fight for principles, not personalities. We recognize, as Hawkins did, that the things Christ condemned most severely were hypocrisy and spiritual pride. A conservatism that forgets humility is no conservatism at all it is merely power-seeking dressed in traditionalist clothing.

When Statesmen Abandon Principle (1888)

Travel further back to February 25, 1888, and we find *The Spectator* offering a searing critique of liberal statesman William Gladstone. The conservative publication accused Gladstone of abandoning principle to court the Irish nationalist vote, praising men who had "poisoned domestic life" and "strangled liberty" .

The lesson here is timeless: political leaders who sacrifice moral clarity for short-term electoral gain betray not only their country but the very concept of statesmanship. Gladstone, once admired for his "brilliant and patriotic services," had, in the view of conservatives, cast his lot with those who threatened the Union. The conservative tradition has always insisted that principle matters more than power that there are some alliances too degrading to make, some compromises too corrupting to accept.

Building, Not Tearing Down (1891)

Yet February 25 also offers moments of constructive patriotism. In 1891, Democrats in Provo, Utah, gathered on George Washington's birthday to organize a political party committed to local self-government, tariff reform, and the protection of every qualified elector's voting rights . They invoked the Founders Jefferson, Madison, Jackson and understood themselves as heirs to a great tradition.

The conservative sees in such gatherings the genius of American self-government. Free people, associating voluntarily, building institutions that channel conflict into constructive debate rather than violence. The speaker that night told a story of three boys asked their politics—one a Democrat, one a Republican, and one with no politics at all, who admitted "I want that coon." The conservative prefers the boys with principles, even when we disagree with them, to the man with none.

The Danger of Historical Amnesia

Which brings us to our own moment. As one recent analysis of conservative constitutional thought reminds us, "narratives matter". The stories we tell about our past shape our future. For decades, conservatives warned that abandoning our constitutional heritage would lead to a dangerous expansion of state power and the erosion of local community. Those warnings were dismissed as alarmism. Today, even progressive scholars acknowledge that the administrative state has grown beyond anything the Founders envisioned.

The conservative approach to history is neither blind nostalgia nor cynical manipulation. It is the understanding that, as Kipling wrote, "The tumult and the shouting dies; The captains and the kings depart" but that "an humble and a contrite heart" remains the foundation of national greatness .

On this February 25, we might reflect on what endures. Political majorities come and go. Today's outrage becomes tomorrow's footnote. But the principles of limited government, individual responsibility, and reverence for our inherited institutions remain the surest guide through turbulent times.

The conservative does not worship the past. But neither does he imagine that he can build a stable future on the ruins of everything that came before. He knows, with the poet, that "still stands Thine ancient sacrifice" and that the task of each generation is not to discard that sacrifice, but to prove worthy of it.

Sources: Daily Herald (Provo, Utah), February 25, 1954 ; The Spectator Archive, February 25, 1888 ; Provo Dispatch, February 25, 1891 ; Balkinization symposium on conservative constitutional thought .

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