I was conflicted when I first read this, because it's beautiful and speaks to the actual tenets of ideal conservative thought: preserving and making accessible

I was conflicted when I first read this, because it's beautiful and speaks to the actual tenets of ideal conservative thought: preserving and making accessible the hard-learned lessons of the past. But like real conservative thought, it conflates these with the fear of good things that are new, such as promoting equality and collective action. The strongest rebuttal to this poem is acknowledging that comparing our wisdom and foolishness with foreign wisdom and foolishness can inform us of what is truly fundamental.