The Paradox of the Autonomous Individual and the Expanding Government
Many people have noticed a paradox, if Liberals support the Autonomous Individual how is it that each "reform" seems to give more power to the Government. Here's why:
Liberalism believes that society is made up of autonomous individuals. But everywhere Liberals look are groups of people, in families, in street gangs, in Church congregations, in Nations. People who rely on each other for support and protection. The Liberal doesn't have time for such nonsense after all he knows there is a better organisation for all that, the Government.
The Government can take over the function of them all leaving the autonomous individual free to do what ever it is that autonomous individuals do. This is why Liberalism is so hostile to the family, religion and the nation-state, even to some extent business (Left and Right Liberalism disagree on this point). Because in their heart they believe that Government can do it better, be more efficient and more ethical.
A truly Liberal world, one without Unprincipled Exceptions, would be made up of numerous autonomous individuals and one massive and powerful Government. I for one cannot see how this could ever go wrong!
Upon Hope Blog - A Traditional Conservative Future
Well put Mark!
ReplyDeleteWhat would be different if the Left openly said the goal was to destroy the family, the nation, and religion, instead of covertly doing so under the pretense they love freedom and autonomy?* Would the attacks on these institutions be less intense and relentless?
ReplyDeleteNothing, and no.
The Right is stupid to grant the Left the benefit of supposedly acting from "good intentions". The Right should act as if the Left wants to obliterate the Right completely and uncompromisingly.
Because it does.
* By the way, it is not hard to find prominent Leftists openly saying such things!
This is a good insight. Here’s how I would word it.
ReplyDeleteWherever two or more individuals interact, whether directly or mediated through the groups of which they are a part, liberals want the government to make sure it’s done right. Only when the individual does his own thing is he to be given freedom.
There are, of course, apparent exceptions. The individual, for example, is not allowed to discriminate, for example by failing to support homosexual rights or by failing to welcome immigrants or by failing to regard his own religion as no better than others. But notice that “discrimination” is always the individual who discriminates interacting with at least one other individual, even if only in his mind. Therefore the government must insure that discrimination does not occur, even in the privacy of the individual’s own thoughts.
There are the two camps of liberals: those who know, and those who are naive/don't want to know. The former is worthy of our scorn and all efforts to combat them; the latter are like children.
ReplyDeleteWhether they know it or not, the goals are the same.
Nah
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that there are those who talk openly about destroying the family, religion and us. But they are the spear point of Liberalism not the mainstream. Many mainstream Liberals like to hear such things but they like to think of themselves as more balanced. But beyond those who are listening most of these things are not heard, if they were heard and believed, most people would be outraged. So a lot of effort is made to keep the more extreme thoughts away from the public. You can find it if you look but most people are too busy living their own life to look. I would love it if Liberals said what they believe and stood behind it. Why? Because it would destroy them and they know it, which is why they hide behind being reasonable and try to achieve their means by stealth.
Alan
Your point is a good one but I'm not sure if I agree or not, I tend to think Political Correctness is a tool or weapon that will be discarded when it is no longer needed. But if I understand you correctly your saying that it is a logical extension of Liberalism. The individual can only be trusted when he does things by himself, otherwise he can fail in his Liberal duties and as it would be wrong of Liberalism to let him fail it must intervene before he get the chance to fail. Is that what your saying?
Jason
ReplyDeleteAgreed
Mark,
ReplyDeleteYou've understood me correctly. Ultimately, Liberalism cannot trust the individual to interact with others correctly. He must be controlled.
Probably the liberal lust for power originated as an attempt to make things more "fair." Just the need to tweak things a bit here and there. But it’s taken on a life of its own, as people stubbornly refuse to stop discriminating.
Alan
ReplyDeleteI'll have to think on this one as I'm not convinced either of us is wrong, but they seem to be in opposition to each other, which is a problem.