Thursday, November 05, 2015

On Speaking Truth to Freedom and Freedom to Power

In a diabolical subversion, the left has managed to use the power of the state -- which is founded on certain a priori truths -- to deny the truths upon which it is founded.

This has been done in the name of a "liberalism" that now means precisely the opposite of what it originally did. The result is a subversion --> inversion --> perversion of the very values and virtues that are supposed to define us.

I was reminded of this when viewing this awful video of Latino children cursing at Donald Trump. It is perverse on several levels, but prior to the perversion are subversion and inversion. To the inverted person, it isn't perverse at all to abuse children in such a despicable way. The left doesn't know this is inappropriate, nor do they have any moral basis for seeing it as such.

Yesterday we spoke of the baleful effects of the self-esteem movement. To even place children in this position is to transmit the message to them that their opinions are of some consequence. I didn't know much as a ten year old, but at least I knew enough to know I didn't know shit about politics, and that any adult who imagined otherwise had to be dangerous.

I don't get it. Mexicans have already (by definition) made one country in their image. They flee that country in the millions, and now they -- at least the 67% who vote Democrat -- want to remake this country in their image. But to where will they flee if they succeed? They've already succeeded in making California a failed state under one party authoritarian rule, just like their homeland.

Charles cites a passage by James Madison that perfectly encapsulates what I would call the "political metaphysics" of our nation:

"In Europe, charters of liberty have been granted by power." But in America it is precisely the converse: here "charters of power" are "granted by liberty."

This one is worth emphasizing, because it is the key to the whole existentialada. As Charles writes, "the American people were telling the government of their own creation what its powers were, not being told by that government what their liberties were."

It's quite a striking contrast: for the left, liberty is granted by power. But for us, power is granted by liberty.

In order to truly appreciate this, one must again realize that liberty is not mere absence of coercion. It cannot be defined just negatively (which is where libertarians go off the rails).

Rather, it is completely intertwined (as discussed in the last couple of posts) with truth, and before that, the divine love. In other words, while the source of liberty is not in the state, it still has a source. That source is and must be God (as made explicit in the Declaration).

The other great difference from the left is that liberty -- being that it is grounded in God -- is always relational. An abstract and atomized liberty divorced from relationship -- and therefore responsibility -- is either nihilistic or demonic. For example, liberty divorced from truth is just anarchy. Isolated from virtue it devolves to the will to power.

Schindler describes it thus: "recognition of the right of each self in itself to immunity from coercion by others, rightly conceived, needs to be tied from the beginning to the immanent demand within each self to be responsive toward others."

In other words, "rights are protections of the self from intrusive action by others inside what is an anterior responsibility of each self to serve the others." Again: liberty is prior to (state) power, and prior to liberty (or at least coeval to it) is responsibility.

If freedom isn't ordered by truth and relationship, then to hell with it.

It only makes perfect sense, because how would it be possible to have a system of self-rule composed of irresponsible people? The only way is the way of the left: to have these pathetically dehumanized people dependent upon the state, so that on election day they can be relied upon to lick the hand that feeds them and keep the machine going for another cycle.

Thus, these dependent state drones aren't responsible, but they are predictable and therefore manageable. At least until the money runs out. Then you will see their other side, i.e., the animal nature that you forgot to civilize into western values of self-reliance, delayed gratification, impulse control, monogamous marriage, etc. If you think Black Lives Matter now, just wait until they can't be pacified by white liberal cash and other valuable prizes.

9 comments:

Rick said...

If there's any logic remaining in the world, that video should catapult Trump to the presidency.

Rick said...

That video also recalls something David Warren mentioned the other day:

"The beloved British blogger, Father Ray Blake, who must this morning warn readers that his post contains irony, recently patched, for National Cat Day (add it to your missals for 29th October), a sweet calendar picture of four cute, fluffy, expectant-looking kittens, sitting on a log.

“Look at these kittens,” Father writes in his caption. “Would you deny them the Eucharist?”

Gagdad Bob said...

At least the comments to the video are pretty funny. Looks like it is a total fail.

julie said...

Yes, the comments there almost make me want to grab some popcorn. Can't listen with the volume up, though - my kids are near, and would be over in an instant learning all kinds of new vocabulary...

Trump said...

"Looks like it is a total fail."

Not if you're me.

mushroom said...

It only makes perfect sense, because how would it be possible to have a system of self-rule composed of irresponsible people?

Childish brutes must be protected from the consequences of their decisions and impulsive actions.

Gagdad Bob said...

Now youtube is deleting downvotes on the Latino kid video. The left just can't say no to the totalitarian temptation.

julie said...

Yeah but that's, like, bullying, man. Those kids can be as awful and ugly as they like, they're just expressing themselves. To express disagreement might hurt their feelings. That's only allowed if the target is a normal white male.

Maybe they can contract with someone to make their internet a Safe Space...

Joan of Argghh! said...

state drones also work for the State and are slightly more dependable because they've at least managed to jump through the hoops of a public education. It doesn't mean they can leave a purposeful, written account of their civilization, or even appreciate it, but they can certainly feel good about all they did to prop it up artificially.

A state drone bee casually lied about me in email yesterday, when the proof of her lie was in the very email thread she replied to. I delicately pointed it out to her and my boss whom she cc'd, in an email so full of proofs that her only reply was, "Thanks!" If there had been a heart button she would have used that, too. Clueless.

Unfortunately, the civilized contractor agency I work with is chock full of tender hearts full of their own specialness. Great people, big hearts working to make a difference, but the expectation is that we won't really, really, expect them to follow the terms of the contract and the performance measurements found in it. When we do, the replies are in the way of self-defense and deep grieving that they are not perfect. God love 'em but I'd rather work with welders. I need hammers for my co-workers and kid gloves for my contractor.

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