‘The politicization of science is a terrible thing. In the Stalinist period, the ideological pseudo-science of Trofim Lysenko destroyed Soviet genetics research. Lysenko’s fraudulent scientific theories about plant genetics coincided with Soviet ideology, and received Stalin’s full backing. Russian geneticists opposed to Lysenko stood denounced as ‘human haters.’ Many were fired from their jobs and sent to prison. Though Lysenko fell out of favor after Stalin’s death, Russian genetics research still has not fully recovered from its ideological ruin. It remains to be seen whether or not America can avoid a similar fate.’
‘Cultural Christianity is not enough. Nor is voting for pro-Christian conservatives. Without a return to the faith, the sad, sorry state of Britain at Eastertide today is going to be Hungary’s fate tomorrow. You can’t have the benefits of Christianity without making the sacrifices necessary—on Sunday and every day—to make the faith live in the hearts of the Hungarian people.’
‘The fact that Hungary has to fight like hell for its right to be normal is a sign of the times. So is the fact that in America, as in almost every Western country, the borders are a fiction, our heroes are hated, our free speech is taken away from us, scientists proclaim the desirability of sculpting the genitals of children into works of art—and these things barely make news. We have grown accustomed to decadence.’
‘With Donald Trump in the White House, the abusive relationship between Washington and Budapest will end. U.S. Ambassador David Pressman will be replaced by someone who actually understands the need for an ambassador to be diplomatic. And with the European Union having reduced itself to being a vassal of the Greater American Empire, Hungary will likely be able to count on support from Washington in its everlasting disputes with Brussels.’
‘This scandal is a self-inflicted catastrophe for Fidesz. The prime minister plainly understands this, and is taking concrete steps to reform. Yet the idea that the political and cultural Left in Hungary is trying to capitalize on this crisis to sell itself to the Hungarian people as the real protectors of children is a farce—and a dangerous one.’
‘Allowing a diversity of opinion to inform one’s judgment really can be a source of strength. And, to paraphrase Cicero, taking history seriously is necessary if you wish to be a grown-up on the world stage, not a child, stomping around looking for somewhere to bomb, and somewhere else to bully.’
‘In this country, the left accused the Orbán government of being alarmist and bigoted on LGBT questions, and of holding back progress. But in America, we have seen that almost every warning that social conservatives gave about where the LGBT movement was going—in particular, that it would target kids—was mocked at the time, but eventually came true.’
‘What should Hungarians do? The question—and Orbán’s visionary answer—has meaning beyond Hungary, in ways that Americans and other Westerners only dimly recognize now. And it goes back to the prime minister’s 2014 advocacy of “illiberal democracy” for Hungary.’
‘It is one of history’s great ironies that Budapest, from which hundreds of thousands of European Jews were shipped to their deaths by the Nazis and their Hungarian collaborators, Jews can walk the streets this dreadful autumn without fear. This is an achievement for which Hungarians can and should be proud. Don’t expect European leaders to give Orbán credit. In fact, they will probably increase their public odium directed at him.’
It can’t be doubted that gays and lesbians have been badly treated. It is real and welcome progress that gay men and women can walk the streets of Budapest holding hands and face no harm. In a liberal society, people have a right to be wrong. But that right is not unlimited…Only a few years ago, if one had said, ‘They’re coming for our children!’, one would have been denounced as a bigot and an alarmist. Now, in 2023, a gay rights march chants the same thing, proudly, in America’s cultural capital.
It would be too much to say that Viktor Orbán has seen the future. But he has indeed seen the dark future that awaits all of us if the globalists, the gender ideologues, and the other servants of the woke Machine triumph. On the American scene at the moment, only Ron DeSantis shares both Orbán’s vision, and Orbán’s focus and policy skills to transform that vision into reality.
Ambassadors are supposed to represent their country’s interests in overseas capitals, including advocating for their government’s policies. But they are also supposed to be prudent and, well, diplomatic. Do the American people understand how David Pressman, Washington’s man in Budapest and the chief cosmetician of swinish policies, is coming off like a ham-fisted bully?—An opinion piece by Rod Dreher.
‘Conservatism is Progressivism driving the speed limit,’ Mark Granza, founder and editor of IM-1776 reminds, adding that so far, the conservative movement has failed to reach out to the younger generations.
Among the rising generation of conservatives in the US and Western Europe, both Hungary and its capital are becoming synonymous with intellectual conservatism.
‘I am convinced that if Christianity—not only Catholicism, but all forms of Christianity—is to have a future in the secularizing West, it will have to be Benedictine’
‘Even the spy agency has embraced left-wing identity politics. So has the US military. There is no place to hide from it’
Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political, philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective.