The Mouse on "Conservatism" (Part IV)
If Hayek were alive today, and still in command of his reason, maybe he could demonstrate to these modern corporatists the errors of their ways. But I honestly doubt that he would succeed. Any group so perverse as to call itself and apparently to believe itself Christian, while doing everything possible to rob the poor and to enrich the wealthy, is probably beyond redemption, even by Hayek’s beautifully reasoned arguments. Rest in peace, Friedrich. You meant well, just as Jesus did. It’s not your fault nor his, that selfish men have picked and chosen from your words to implement the opposite of the ideals you cherished. The fault is theirs.
“But I would nevertheless try to reform them,” the spirit of Hayek murmurs from its grave. “I would remind them of the legitimate functions of government, remind them that nations are made of people and their dreams, not flags and oaths. Hitler had those symbols by the carload. I would remind them of my own existence as only a man, no different at the base from those whose ideas I found untenable. I would remind them that all of us were about the business of doing our best to discover and to live by those precepts we found most supportable by reason.” [Long pause, and then, fearfully…] “Is it true what you have said, that some people have taken to criticizing the human mind itself? Oh, Lord, I pray you are wrong.”
And so do I, Friedrich, so do I, but I fear that I am not. Today, we find among us a strange coalition of religious fundamentalists (posing as Christians) and lock-step corporate shills (posing as libertarians) denigrating the human mind as a source of happiness. The fundamentalists have asked us to suspend reason when we commit our lives to that which is the ground of our ultimate goodness, while the fascists demand that we march in mindless opposition to any use of the powers of government to restrict the desires of the corporations, a demand that, if obeyed, would remove all barriers from the onslaught of the so-called “conservatives.”[1] The “Christian right” (which a wag has correctly pointed out is neither “Christian” nor “right”) does not seem to realize that a rational world cannot be built upon an irrational foundation, that if we cannot get our minds around a notion of God that makes sense to us, we will never find a way to clearly and distinctly relate our everyday actions to any God. The TV evangelists and popes of the world seem to believe we can live with “mystery” at the deepest levels of our ultimate concern. It does not excuse their actions that they take that position only because they cannot make sense of the God of their choosing, but must be content with “the mysteries of the faith.” And it is certainly not to justify those who have chosen to accept groundless notions as their religion, for they have, for the most part, believed with passive minds. But my purpose here is not to disabuse the shepherds and their flocks of their spiritual vacuum. I wish only to point out a road by which the American people, and any other people, can retrieve their government from those who have co-opted it as an instrument of personal ambition, for serfdom is the certain destiny of those who have accepted the notion that government is by definition evil. They have given over their “evil” government into the hands of pirates.
[1] As we speak, the government is firmly in the hands of the corporations and their political hired hands. But so long as we remain a democracy, hope remains. Honest and noble Republicans need to take back their party.
[To be continued]
“But I would nevertheless try to reform them,” the spirit of Hayek murmurs from its grave. “I would remind them of the legitimate functions of government, remind them that nations are made of people and their dreams, not flags and oaths. Hitler had those symbols by the carload. I would remind them of my own existence as only a man, no different at the base from those whose ideas I found untenable. I would remind them that all of us were about the business of doing our best to discover and to live by those precepts we found most supportable by reason.” [Long pause, and then, fearfully…] “Is it true what you have said, that some people have taken to criticizing the human mind itself? Oh, Lord, I pray you are wrong.”
And so do I, Friedrich, so do I, but I fear that I am not. Today, we find among us a strange coalition of religious fundamentalists (posing as Christians) and lock-step corporate shills (posing as libertarians) denigrating the human mind as a source of happiness. The fundamentalists have asked us to suspend reason when we commit our lives to that which is the ground of our ultimate goodness, while the fascists demand that we march in mindless opposition to any use of the powers of government to restrict the desires of the corporations, a demand that, if obeyed, would remove all barriers from the onslaught of the so-called “conservatives.”[1] The “Christian right” (which a wag has correctly pointed out is neither “Christian” nor “right”) does not seem to realize that a rational world cannot be built upon an irrational foundation, that if we cannot get our minds around a notion of God that makes sense to us, we will never find a way to clearly and distinctly relate our everyday actions to any God. The TV evangelists and popes of the world seem to believe we can live with “mystery” at the deepest levels of our ultimate concern. It does not excuse their actions that they take that position only because they cannot make sense of the God of their choosing, but must be content with “the mysteries of the faith.” And it is certainly not to justify those who have chosen to accept groundless notions as their religion, for they have, for the most part, believed with passive minds. But my purpose here is not to disabuse the shepherds and their flocks of their spiritual vacuum. I wish only to point out a road by which the American people, and any other people, can retrieve their government from those who have co-opted it as an instrument of personal ambition, for serfdom is the certain destiny of those who have accepted the notion that government is by definition evil. They have given over their “evil” government into the hands of pirates.
[1] As we speak, the government is firmly in the hands of the corporations and their political hired hands. But so long as we remain a democracy, hope remains. Honest and noble Republicans need to take back their party.
[To be continued]
posted by Benedict S. at 9:30 AM
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