., American Conservatism: Reclaiming an Intellectual Tradition OPTIONAL READINGS 1) Michael Oakeshott, On Being Conservative, parts 1, 3, 4 (superb discussion of conservatism as a "disposition" and its relationship to politics) 2) Edmund Burke, Excerpts from Reflections on the Revolution in France; Letter to William Elliot, May 26, 1795 (canonical discussions of conservatism) 3) Francis Fukuyama, Liberalism and its Discontents (discussion of modern challenges to and criticisms of… [read post]