a conservative doctrine

Rui has been writing extensively with some regret about the lack of a genuine right-wing political party in Portugal. I believe he means a mostly conservative party, a party whose doctrine is in conformity with Portuguese history and traditions and capable of opposing the social constructivism, the egalitarianism, the statism, the crude rationalism and, may I add, the self-styled liberalism of existing left-wing parties.

I am not sure a new party is needed in the country. There are already enough parties, specially parties in need of a doctrine like PSD and CDS. What is needed is a doctrine at which both failed miserably. Between the two, PSD seems to me the best positioned to act as an alternative to PS.

In my view, a conservative political doctrine in Portugal cannot overlook at least two men: Alexandre Herculano and Salazar. The trouble is that Salazar is still a proscribed name among Portuguese intellectuals (although not among the Portuguese population) and Herculano does not fare much better. The reason might be that both men were not great enthusiasts of irrestricted democracy. In this regard, it must be said that some modern intellectual liberals, such as Hayek, were not either.

.

Herculano and Salazar are, to the best of my knowledge, the two modern Portuguese intellectuals who better understood the Portuguese people - their history, their culture, how they think and behave, their qualities and shortcomings - and could project that knowledge into the choice and design of actual political institutions.