23 August 2017
The basic tenet of the Progressive Left
in America and elsewhere is that people need trained experts to run their
government and tell the people what is best for them. This political philosophy
has been active and well in America ever since the days of Theodore Roosevelt
and Woodrow Wilson. Today’s Progressives on the left include Lyndon Johnson,
Barak Obama, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren—they, among
many others know how to be good people planners (or…so they think).
There have been other Progressives in
recent history—all of whom knew what would be best for the people, e.g., Adolf
Hitler, Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Mao Zedong, Idi Amin, and most notably
Maximilien Robespierre (leading architect of the French Revolution). They all
claimed special inspiration to plan and run their respective nations. Those
secular Progressives have wreaked havoc on their people. In the 20th
Century, alone, Communism has taken 100 million lives; the Nazis killed 20
million more. The administration of Chairman Mao killed untold millions in
China; and other left-wing utopian progressives have killed even more.
These progressive systems have run
counter to classic philosophers, especially Aristotle, who taught that man is
by nature political, that is, naturally social, reasonable, morally aware, and
that all human beings are equal to others in potential development. He taught
that no human being is any less human than any other. This is consistent with
the biblical teaching that all of mankind is created in the image of God.
The classical and biblical human rights
listed above, comprised the belief structure that described the beliefs of the
neoconservative movement, which were manifested in the early years after the
Second World War. Later, in the 60’s and 70’s, the term “neoconservative” took
on a more interventionist connotation, in that its imperatives advocated a much
more interventionist quality—these interventionist tendencies were incorporated
into the foreign policies of the administrations of George H. W. Bush, Clinton,
and the second Bush president., The “neo-cons,” as they were called pushed for
nation changing activities abroad dedicated to enlightening the foreign peoples
so that all peoples over the globe might enjoy the freedoms and liberties of
present-day Americans. These policies have spectacularly failed in Iraq,
Afghanistan, and Libya. Interventionist policies began to fade in the
administration of Barak Obama; and now, I do not believe many Americans think
that it is possible or practical to try to modify the polities of foreign
nations.
The American founders set forth a system
of government characterized by the statement in the Declaration of Independence
that all men, everywhere are standing in “…the separate and equal station to
which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them….” This document does
not suggest that these progressive ideas of utopia on earth should hold sway
over free men.
William F. Buckley, Jr. (1925-2008 He was
a widely popular conservative TV host and author.) recognized the futility of
progressive ideas of utopian aims; he popularized the phrase: “Don’t let them
immanentize the eschaton.”
This impossibly awkward statement became
so popular that people actually painted it on their T-shirts and campaign
buttons. In translation, the phrase means,” Don’t fall for utopian political
schemes, because they can’t work.”
In closing, remember George Orwell’s
famous aphorism: “There are some ideas so stupid that only an intellectual
could believe them.”
(You might notice that I am still reading
a good book, i.e., “American Greatness, by Buskirk and Leibsohn.” None of the
above ideas are mine; they come from Chapter 7 of this book.)
Posts
