It’s fitting that a publisher established the institution since it produced what is arguably the most influential conservative book ever published in America.
Of course, the Boy Scout Handbook is rarely regarded as being a conservative book. That probably accounts for why the Handbook has managed to continuously stay in print since 1910. If it were widely known how masterly the the book inculcates conservative values, it would, like Socrates, be charged with corrupting the nation’s youth.
Cultural critic Paul Fussell once wrote that the Boy Scout Handbook is “among the very few remaining popular repositories of something like classical ethics, deriving from Aristotle and Cicero.” Indeed, it is literally a vade mecum on virtue ethics. Consider, for example, the Scout oath:
On my honor I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country
and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong,
mentally awake, and morally straight.
And then there is the Scout Motto (“Be Prepared”) and the 12 point Scout Law which includes the politically incorrect admonition to be reverent: “A Scout is reverent toward God. He is faithful in his religious duties. He respects the beliefs of others.”
Such an earnest and irony-free worldview is naturally antithetical to the South Park-style mock-the-world moronity that pervades the culture. In a society that combines libertarian Me-ism with a liberal nanny state that suckles “men without chests,” it is not surprising that the ranks of Boy Scouts are dwindling (Scouting is down 11 percent over the last decade). But we should be cheerful that an institution where self-sacrifice and manly virtues are encouraged manages to survive at all.
Fortunately, Scouts and their handbook remain what good conservative institutions should be: deeply, irredeemably, and unapologetically anachronistic.
February 8th, 2010 | 3:26 pm
My sons and I really enjoyed our scouting experiences. They became Eagle Scouts. I became more used to sleeping on the ground.
February 8th, 2010 | 4:03 pm
The Boy Scout Handbook remains at the top of my list of ‘Most Important Books I’ve Ever Read’ and Scouting remains the defenitive experience of my youth. Happy 100 and here’s to 100 more!
February 8th, 2010 | 4:19 pm
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February 8th, 2010 | 4:25 pm
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February 8th, 2010 | 4:53 pm
To learn how Scouting principles apply to the business world, check out
On My Honor I Will: The Journey to Integrity-Driven Leadership
by Randy G. Pennington
(PenlandScott Publishers, 10/23/09)
nonfiction/business, hardcover, 182 pages with index & bibliography,
$21.95, 9780982315217, http://www.penningtongroup.com/books.htm.
February 8th, 2010 | 7:06 pm
Neither the Handbook (nor the program) are what they used to be. I think that a scout could make Eagle and do little (if anything) that involved physical challenge. The program is a shell of its former self: another form of extended day care. Neither of my sons was interested enough to make it past Webelos.
February 9th, 2010 | 1:43 am
Perhaps the scouts aren’t as much of a physical challenge as they might have been in the past – I made Eagle in 1993 and don’t see that much of a difference – but the reality is that the quality of the experience is directly related to the quality of the unit’s leadership. But perhaps the point of scouting is being missed – it’s not about teaching camping skills or improving scouts’ physical condition, though that’s a plus. After all there are scout programs for physically and mentally handicapped youth; the purpose is to prepare boys to be better men. The Eagle is for leadership and service, with the physical and skill aspects being secondary.
Now I agree with Bill that the handbook isn’t as good as it used to be, honestly I prefer the first edition, though some aspects wouldn’t fly now, say its advice on how to deal with a rabid (mad) dog. Some things haven’t changed for the better.
February 9th, 2010 | 7:22 am
The book could be called conservative, but it is interesting that the scouting movement evolved during a period known as the progressive era (think Teddy Roosevelt), when society decided that it could improve itself through social activism, by actively seeking to change youth and make them better. Even today, I think the distinction you are trying to draw between conservative and progressive (liberal is the older term and falling out of fashion) is not as clear cut as you may think. Many progressives seek a return to a former, more virtuous, way of life: for example, the environmental movement is certainly conservative in this way, in advocating ways to reverse global climate change. This is reverence. And a so-called liberal society that tries to acknowledge and accommodate differences, such as sexual identity, is truly being kind to not just some, but all of its people, even those who are politically and socially disempowered. In other words, Scouting’s virtues are progressive, because progressives are conservative themselves. It may be that the beliefs of today’s conservative movement — that corporations should be able to run roughshod over the state that tries to regulate their behavior, that poor people’s safety nets should be pulled out from under them — aren’t actually very conservative at all.
February 9th, 2010 | 9:30 am
[...] An important conservative book noted. [...]
February 9th, 2010 | 9:33 am
[...] An important conservative book noted. [...]
February 9th, 2010 | 9:57 am
Nice to see Mr. Carter’s copy (I assume) looks rather tattered, and well-used. By the way, this cover, featuring the Norman Rockwell painting “Come and Get It”, was in use from 1979-1990, which covered my last 4 years as a Scout.
One thing Mr. Carter does not mention is that the contents of the Handbook have varied greatly over the years.* But perhaps that was not necessary in this brief tribute to the book, as the central tenets remain, always.
Nicely done, Mr. Carter. Thank you.
* For example, the original, 1911 text of the “Handbook for Boys,” a reprint of which I keep in my office and page through occasionally, has chapters on “Tracks, Trailing and Signaling,” as well as a wonderful chapter on “Chivalry.”
February 9th, 2010 | 11:03 am
I always liked the fact that the late Gerald Ford often said he was prouder of being an Eagle Scout than he was of his entire career in politics.
February 9th, 2010 | 1:48 pm
I was always pleased to have been a part of The Boys Brigade, which was started some 25 years prior to the scouting movement. It was more overtly Christian than the Scouts and was started in Scotland. I attended at my church in Canada. Did the Boys Brigade ever venture beyond the Commonwealth? Is it found in the USA?
February 9th, 2010 | 6:44 pm
Mr. Balzer:
“It may be that the beliefs of today’s conservative movement — that corporations should be able to run roughshod over the state that tries to regulate their behavior, that poor people’s safety nets should be pulled out from under them — aren’t actually very conservative at all.”
Yes, that’s exactly what conservatives believe. It’s refreshing to see a “progressive” try to make a point without resorting to an intellectually lazy strawman argument. You must be very proud of yourself.
February 10th, 2010 | 7:00 am
Some say RBP was a pedophile. I don’t if this is true, but I learned it in a BU history class, so I do not necessarily believe it.
One of my best friends was a scout. The integrity instilled in that program persists to this day, as he is a successful business student, an American soldier and all-around standup guy.
February 10th, 2010 | 2:50 pm
[...] The Most Influential Conservative Book Ever Produced in America- First Things Unfortunate how Boy Scounts and other institutions are falling by the wayside. I particularly enjoyed this excerpt: [...]
February 10th, 2010 | 9:08 pm
I cannot mention the Boy Scouts among evolved company here in southeastern Michigan without a disapproving comment or a wrinkled nose. The Boy Scouts protected their charges and that’s unacceptable. If only the Archidiocese of Detroit in the 1960s had been so vigorous. Michigan is hopelessly provincial in its progressivism — and we have the schools and economy to prove it. Scouts are also an English invention and that’s bad too. But there was a book not long ago that celebrated the presidents, astronauts, military heroes, businessmen and other high achievers who had been in the Scouts. Now males are a minority in our colleges. Even the wonderful documentary CARRIER, depicted women pilots as somehow victims of the uniformed world and male pilots as insensitive cads. To be a Navy or Marine pilot is a privilege of merit no matter what your sex. One senior male pilot saved the lives of male and female pilots during a treacherous storm at sea. I’m betting he was a Scout… I don’t see the Scouts as “conservative.” Like the Church, the values and beliefs are universal and absolute. Which is why Scouts and Christianity are global. Maybe it’s time to stop appeasing the grammar of ideological orientation.
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