In Australia we have compulsory Superannuation, whereby the company you work for puts money into a retirement fund for you to retire on. Earlier this year I started a new job and yesterday I received my Superannuation statement for the last financial year.
$539.20 Contributions
-$5.55 Investment Returns
-$19.50 Admin Fees
-$135.75 Insurance Fees
-$60.52 Government Taxes
$317.88 Closing Balance.
I feel that it nicely sums up my life, whatever I put in I get less back.
Yesterday I felt quite melancholy and decided I was just tired, but today I have felt the same. To be honest it didn't help that an article I was asked to write was rejected. Thinking about it they should never have asked me to write for them. They wanted Intellectual writing, but thats simply not how I write. I am no Intellectual and I do not wish to be. But if someone who writes about Political Philosophy isn't an Intellectual then what is he?
And theres the issue, what am I?
Well I'm a middle aged, white working class Australian Traditional Conservative man.
But over time much of the things that seemed solid are vanishing. The working class still exists but it is no longer solidly white as it once was. The Institutions that once supported it, now work to destroy it.
You would think being Australian would be something permanent, but with mass immigration I feel less and less that I live in my country. I live in a foreign country and I never moved house.My citizenship is open it seems to anyone. My Ethnicity, that I am a White Australian, is denied. Step by step I am being taken to pieces.
I have felt the full effects of Feminism, of Mass Immigration and of Free Trade. I have spent many years unemployed and unemployment means poverty and loneliness. A job that my Father could have got, instead went to a women because of Feminism. A job that my Father could have got, instead went to an Immigrant. A job that my Father could have got, instead is done in China. As I said I got to pay the full effects.
All of that unemployment meant that I have never married and that I have no children and the truth is I never will.
I grew up in a large family and we were close but over time we have become less close. People move, people get busy, people change and not always for the better. I guess you could include friends in that. And as I have gotten older I have become less tolerant of other people opinions and life choices.
I have always been interested in politics but I was still a teenager when I first saw that "Conservative" Parties weren't that Conservative. But it still took me decades to decide that that was because they were willful not because they were stupid. I went looking for real Conservative voices and I found Mark Richardson. After a while I decided I wanted to do more, I wanted to be active so I started Upon Hope.
My idea was that it was a way of making contact with other Conservatives, of building a Conservative community, a Conservative movement. That together we could try and fight back. instead of fighting alone. But it has failed. I feel as alone now as when I started.
Recently I have realised that I am living a Liberal life, I have no family commitments, I feel less and less connected to my country or my community. While I am currently working I'm as disposable there as I have been in any other job. I have been disposed of in relationships, so I don't have any romantic connections. If anything goes wrong I would need the help of the Government. In short I am an Autonomous Individual.
I am living a Liberal life and to be quite honest with you it sucks.
I have been thinking I might sell off everything I own and move to Mongolia. There I can be a real Liberal and tell the Indigenous Mongolians that just because I don't look Mongolian, or know Mongolian culture (as if there is one!), or the Mongolian language, that I'm every bit as Mongolian as they are.
But the problem with my Liberal life is that Liberalism is supposed to be about choices and I didn't choose any of this.
Upon Hope Blog - A Traditional Conservative Future
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"Recently I have realised that I am living a Liberal life"
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean by this. I have seen this coming since my mid-20s and it has now arrived. I'm living a lifestyle that boils down to working and then, at best, having "lifestyle experiences". It's that outsider/observer/consumer thing that I noticed with alarm decades ago.
Liberalism has a genius for dissolving meaningful relationships and connections.
You're right too about the lack of conservative community but that is partly our fault. Even when liberals were less strong they found ways to congregate in particular neighbourhoods, or churches, or colleges - they have a talent for this that we lack. It's ironic in a way: liberals promote the autonomous individual but are good at forming liberal communities, (genuine) conservatives promote forms of connectedness, but lack the instinct to form conservative communities which could be a launch pad for a larger influence on society.
Mark, I hope your mood bounces back soon (shift work may not be helping). I'm gradually learning to adjust to my new circumstances and will hopefully gradually contribute more. We might between us be able to at least get some small victories happening.
Me too. I can say I'm grateful to you both for your pioneering work. The Fellowship is a bit small at the moment but, "where shall we go?" we all know there is no genuine hope in late-stage liberalism. And "blessed are those that mourn"
ReplyDelete-M
I feel for you and whilst my life is not as liberal as yours, it is only a matter of degrees and there is not much I can do about it.
ReplyDeleteIt is very disheartening and I am thinking of ways to make a change to enable that but the biggest problem as pointed out by Mark Richardson is the lack of community.
Thank you guys
ReplyDeleteYour support helps.
Mark Moncrieff
A lot of this hit home to me. The consolations of culture, ethnic pride and community are needed when things in life aren't going your way. Those doing well in society don't need feel the loss of these things as greatly as others.
ReplyDeleteJust another example of how liberalism works the opposite way from how it's supposed to.
Keep your head up.
I know that this is not necessarily a conservative solution, but read some Psalms; it will do your soul some good. They are at any rate roughly three thousand years old, and therefore not stuck in present day myopia. As I am many thousands of miles away I can offer little more by way of help, but I know what you mean to some degree at least.
ReplyDeleteHi Mark,
ReplyDeleteYou need a good woman to live life with. And yes, she's out there! Just look a little harder. Let our politicians and media run Australia into the ground; there is nothing we can do about it. All you can do is live your life the way you see fit. Pouring too much of your energy into trying to change this cannot be good for you. No wonder you feel depleted. Focus on yourself. Eat well, exercise, enjoy the simple pleasures that each day brings. Everything will turn out okay.
Sincerely, Mara.
One thing I've learnt is that you have to have a balance in life. If you're going to get involved in politics then at times you're going to feel frustrated and disheartened. You have to have something in your life to balance that - something that gives you a measure of pleasure and contentment. It can be anything at all that you happen to enjoy.
ReplyDeleteI have my passion for old movies and for vintage detective stories and thrillers. I don't just watch old movies and read old books, I blog about them as well. It might not be a very useful thing to do but I enjoy it and it keeps me busy. When I feel totally disillusioned by the state of the world I retreat to my old books and my old movies. It's escapism, but escapism is a positive thing - at times everyone needs to escape from reality for a little while. If nothing else it gives you a chance to recharge your batteries.
If you're a conservative in this world of ours you're going to go through times when it all seems hopeless but remember you're not really alone. People do read your blog and get inspiration from it. It is worth continuing the struggle!