I want to discuss, in the brief space I have, the roots of modern Leftist philosophy, and why they believe government and force are the essentials to a more perfect society. There is an inherent contradiction in their system which would nullify it, but the Leftist’s fundamental understanding of human nature is in error, and thus any arrangement based on it is doomed to failure. And has.
Modern leftism has an interesting history, but one I cannot fully elucidate here. Though it has predecessors (Locke, Helvetius), its current manifestation is rooted in Darwinian materialism (one foundation of Marxism). According to this hypothesis, humans evolved, naturally and by chance, from “lower” forms of life. Pure, undiluted Darwinism, thus pure leftism, is atheistic—no God created or controlled the process. That means human beings are nothing more than blobs of matter in motion. The only difference between you and a cockroach is a different configuration of molecules, and that’s totally by chance. You can no more help being a human than a cockroach can help being a cockroach. There is, of course, some verity to this.
However, since humans are nothing but groups of molecules in motion, we can react only to whatever environmental forces surround us. There is no freedom of choice in such a system. And no free will implies we are not responsible for what we do. Criminals aren’t guilty of “crimes”; it isn’t their fault, they respond exclusively to environmental factors. Also, poverty has been said to be a root cause of crime. Thus, by changing the environment (a “war on poverty”), human behavior can be modified. Put an apple tree in an environment of good water, soil, sunshine, etc., and bigger, tastier, juicier apples will be produced. The apples have no “choice” in the matter, they only respond to their surroundings. Since humans are, like apples, only molecules formed, by chance, into what we are, then, like apples, we will react only to whatever external stimuli we receive. People thus aren’t “good” or “bad” except as their environment dictates.
Leftist intellectuals believe that humans (especially them) have evolved to the point where they can control the evolutionary process, if only we will give them power. They will create a Utopia, by good laws and education, so that everybody can be in a “good” environment and respond accordingly.
This philosophy is, of course, contrary to Christianity and many world religions, which believe that man is, in some ways, the offspring of a Divine Creator, given freedom of choice by that Creator on how they choose to live. Most conservatives believe in a philosophy like this, whether they are “religious” or not. People are not just naturalistic, materialistic animals, with nothing but instinct and response to environment. Some environmental forces are obviously evident in human behavior (culture, tradition, etc.); no one can, or should, deny this. But, in the conservative mind, humans have free will, and can choose to rise above their circumstances and form their own destiny. Not so, says the liberal, people only do “good” or “evil” in response to their (“systemic”) surroundings, whatever stimuli they receive from without. Again, change the stimuli, change the environment, and behavior will automatically be modified. It’s “science.” When people do evil, it’s the fault of the system (capitalism is usually blamed, or now, “white supremacy” and “racism”), not the fault of the individual.
The difference between liberalism and conservatism is thus based on a fundamentally different belief about human nature. Liberals want power so that they can create an earthly paradise. They believe they can now control all environmental factors, including the climate. Conservatives believe in freedom, but a freedom that has boundaries based on eternal principles of right and wrong. Humans can be, must be, incentivized and disciplined towards virtuous conduct, and thus to use their freedom for good, not evil. Family and religion best do this, not government.
Socialism is a prime example of liberal failure. The government, top-down, controls the economy. It never works because it denies humans the freedom to choose their needs and desires, rather than what the elite thinks is best. Nobody can control what another person wishes to purchase. Only the free market fits with human nature.
Liberal morality also is disastrous. Let Edmund Burke explain: “Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere; and the less of it there is within [freedom of choice], the more there must be without [government tyranny].” People must use their freedom to control themselves—self-government. Or government will have to do it for them. Freedom or tyranny. The Right vs. the Left.
Thus, liberal politicians’ fundamental mistake is believing that human beings can be transformed by legislation, in effect, by force. But they are wrong, and that is why political systems, nations, and dynasties rise for awhile and then collapse. They fail in the most basic concept, viz., that freedom is in the human heart, not produced by government laws. And forcing people to outwardly conform will only lead eventually to resentment, rebellion, and revolution. That is why religion has always existed. Christianity, for example, has survived for 2,000 years through every kind of political system and upheaval. Jesus knew that humans can only truly be changed from within, in the heart, not by external laws. Therefore, religion has always existed, and will continue long after current political tyrannies have either disappeared completely or devolved into something else, something as useless and reprehensible as what they had replaced.
But, religion remains the greatest threat to the self-serving, elitist politicians who lust to control others and create the Shangri-la that gives them totalitarian power. The only people more pitiable than such politicians are the people who believe their lies, lies that have been repeated countless times throughout history, and have cost innumerable people their lives. For, what do you do with the rotten apples, the apples that don’t respond to the perfect environment you created for them?
You destroy them. As many as necessary.
Kamala Harris needs to travel to China and find out the “root causes” of Communist death camps and mass graves. It’s all about the Marxism, baby.
In that vein, Kamala Harris (and the Left in general) ought to get to the root causes of gun violence. Gun violence is rooted in cultural decay brought about by leftist/socialist policies, not by law-abiding citizens bearing arms. Destroying the Second Amendment does nothing to curtail gun crimes; what it does do is usher in unbridled government control, a.k.a. Totalitarianism.
Hear, hear! 🍻
(You know you’re correct when Sleepy Joe talks about rifles when the perp used a pistol.)
Detroit & Baltimore have been run by flaming democrates for decades. Detroit is bankrupt, literally & Baltimore is a trash dump 3rd world cesspool.
Any city run by idiot democrats is guaranteed to fall into absolute ruin.
The Democrat Donkey needs beat over the head with a club or mallet to make them listen
An insatiable lust for power and money and sex is what guides them. They clamor for their communist utopian global vision for humanity while sparing no accolade for each other on the way. Their hatred for “good” rules them and all that they do. Their lust for evil and destruction is the fodder they exist upon. They murdered the elderly and those who fell from their injections.. they destroyed cities… education… governments… land… unborn… healthcare.. still they are unfinished in their debauchery for now the innocence of children to satisfy their lusts. May God have Mercy on us all..
You put your finger squarely upon my one objection to this excellent article. “Liberals want power so that they can create an earthly paradise.” NO. Liberals want power for its own sake, so that they might live upon the labors of others and flatter themselves that:
1) They alone are fit to rule; and
2) We should be grateful for such enlightened masters.
“Liberal” “leaders” want power for their personal reward. “Liberal” followers want to feel valuable and influential, and fill the hole in their souls with the delusion that following “liberal” prescriptions (i.e., the mandates of secular humanism) makes them good people. The “leaders” use big lies to induce the followers to conform.
While I agree that leftists want power for power’s sake, the promise to attain said power comes with a sales pitch, i,e. the promise — rooted in classic Marxist ideology — of a utopian vision of paradise on earth for the proletariat. That utopia, of course, has been, and always will be, the Big Lie. The end-result is always human misery and death.
The idea that not believing in free will is some fundamental part of atheism is complete nonsense.
Freedom is messy. Totalitarianism is neat, just like true poverty is neat – because there is lack, and therefore nothing to waste. The inevitable product of totalitarianism, when people are not filled with God’s grace, is poverty of the spirit. God gave us all freedom to choose, and only when the dead hand of our “betters” robs us of the last choice will mankind submit to the nostrums of the left.
Happily, God’s Holy Spirit reaches into our hearts and minds, strengthening us to resist the evil of those who believe society can be perfected, and that law will transform our world. Leftists actually know this, which is why they claim that we voluntarily comply with tax law, that we must embrace perversion, and that we must agree to sacrifice our health and freedom to protect others from the latest disease. They leverage the good instincts of decent men and women to include them to tolerate the intolerable.
Nevertheless, our history makes clear that God raises up a Solzhenitsyn and a Wojtyla to set examples for the victims of evil and lead His sheep into real freedom, freedom of the spirit. As Gerald Crabb wrote in “Through the Fire,” “He never promised that the cross would not get heavy, And the hill would not be hard to climb, He never offered a victory without fighting, He said help would always come in time.”
Well, there is truth that children can be affected by their home life, specifically, FATHERLESS HOMES. “I hate divorce” says the Lord God of Israel, in Malachi 2:16.
Important statistics about how well children do in school, their emotional wellbeing, etc. always show they do better coming from intact families. It’s a no brainer. Of course,the left always chooses to ignore these facts as they use excuses like poverty and white privilege to further their twisted logic.
Want to know why the black community is a mess and at the bottom of the heap? 70% illegitimacy rates and fatherless homes! This is up from 25% in 1960. The destruction of the black family has been a byproduct of welfare and constanty blaming whitey for one’s failings. Instead of holding Clarence Thomas and Ben Carson up as role models, they are accused of being Uncle Toms.
This hits home personally for me. I was a divorced single mother and I can tell you the fastest way to poverty is no man in the house. While I have always been a hustler and never on welfare, I have come to appreciate men A LOT. In fact, I love men and despise feminists. God never intended for women to kill themselves working and raising kids. In fact, he created us to be a helpmate to our husbands, starting when he took a rib from Adam and created Eve.
The article – one of the best I have read in a long time – presents a marvelous message, and one with which I wholeheartedly agree. My only objection is the use of the word “liberal” in the piece. What historian Jacques Barzun calls the GREAT SWITCH is the hijacking of the term ‘liberal’ since the 1930s. Its meaning has been reversed. Liberal originally meant Individualism – that individuals should be liberated from government interference to do as they please (as long as what they pleased to do was not evil). Liberalism meant ‘the best government is that which governs the least’—the exact opposite of what American Liberals push today: massive regulation, enormous entitlements, gigantic confiscation of wealth, colossal social welfare programs, and a Totalitarian State sticking its nose into every nook and cranny of American life—policing every act done, every word spoken, every thought thunk.
The left rules with Woke ideologies that are a total and complete failure, they are upside down on every issue which leads to the decline of this nation. They do the opposite of what is beneficial to a prosperous, moral, and secure society.