Russell Kirk and imagination in arts & politics

"If he was a reactionary, it was of a decidedly forward-thinking kind." So writes Gerald J. Russello describing the political approach of Russell Kirk in this short essay over at The Imaginative Conservative: A Forward-Thinking Conservatism. Kirk stood not just for tradition and custom, but also the rightful place for imagination in arts and literature, law and polity. Conservatives of all stripes would do well, in the challenging times in which we live, to embrace imagination more.  Conservatism is not hide-bound allegiance to the past, it includes the prudential embrace of imagination in the tasks of renewal and reform. Russello's essay is a nice place to start to get a better idea of Kirk's imaginative conservatism.