Dear Editors,
In a recent editorial [on Jan. 28], your columnist Mr. Potter stated that “like all good conservatives, Americans are fearful of the concentration of power.” Now, in past articles, Mr. Potter has tried to define what a ‘true conservative’ is. The statement, even by his previous definition, misses the mark completely. A conservative afraid of concentrated power could not be more opposite the philosophy of the original conservatives: men like Prince Metternich of Austria and King Charles X of France. On the contrary, they favored the tradition of concentrated power in the hands of the monarchy, the nobility and the clergy. The conservatives described in the article are in much closer to classical liberals, like those who authored the Articles of Confederation.
Ian Williams ’12
