Mixing The Mixed Constitution - emptywheel

"Burke's was a broadside that not only excoriated the social upheavals effected by the French revolutionaries and (by extension) commended by Marx, but the continual economic and social instability prized by modern liberal economic philosophy and practice. Against a new class of elites-mainly, an alliance between ideological progressive theorists and a rising financial oligarchy-Burke urged protection of the stability, tradition, and social continuities vital for the flourishing of ordinary people."

The mixed constitution represents a foundational principle of common good conservatism, describing how society's makeup should balance the few (elites) and the many (common people). Classical thinkers including Aristotle, Polybius, Aquinas, Burke, and Disraeli recognized that healthy societies require these classes to be mixed together. Modern elites have abandoned this principle by separating themselves from ordinary people and governing independently. Two mixing approaches exist: complete integration where classes merge into a unified ethos, or partial separation where elites live among but distinct from common people. Burke warned against industrial oligarchs destabilizing society through economic upheaval, while Disraeli attempted to unite the aristocracy with working classes through the Tory Party.

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