This is the short version of a rather lengthy essay I might begin work on…
Conservative and libertarian activists today like to speak in revolutionary language. Head to the tea parties. Head to the Ron Paul forums. Watch the Glenn Beck program. There is a common theme: a return to the values of 1776, to the values that define Americanism, at its core. Some have dismissed it as a temper tantrum, since there aren’t really any practical solutions involved, but it seems to signal, at the very least, a sea change in activist thought toward anti-statism away from general conservatism.
And they have taken up the right theme — but alas, the wrong message.
If there is to be a revolution, it will not be political in nature. It must start at the very root of everything: it must be, as America’s first revolution was, and be philosophical in nature. It must signal a return to the rights of man, individual achievement, self-reliance, and the counting of one’s blessings.
America today is utterly obsessed with what it lacks. The entitlement mentality has instilled an ethic of counterfeit individualism that tells every man, woman and child that he or she is special — that, by the virtue of his birth, they are entitled to comfort from, as the saying goes, cradle to grave. That he needn’t work for his labor. The fruits of one’s labor come from a magic tree in the sky — or, rather, in the White House, the State House, and the halls of Congress. And if the tree isn’t producing enough to eat, water it with the dollars of The Rich.
As a culture, we have an unprecedented standard of living, but we’re obsessed with the next fix.
We seek what entertains us, rather than what brings happiness.
We are utterly obsessed with celebrity and showbusiness, but not with work, philosophy, or self-improvement.
We refuse to make hard choices: we want Social Security to survive, but we’re unwilling to either partially privatize it, raise taxes, or cut benefits. And our spineless politicians refuse to make the tough choices that inevitably must be made, because they’re more concerned with saving their own skins.
Worst of all, We glorify victims and seek to become one: everyone likes to be persecuted. It’s how you get attention. Who’s not a victim nowadays? Women are victims. Gays are victims. Hispanics are victims. Blacks are victims. Christians are victims. White men are the victims of the victimhood of the rest of them. We’re a nation of helpless little victims.
This is the ethos that kills nations. Or, rather, it is the ethos of a dying culture. It is the one of a culture that wants to take its ball and go home, retreat into its own shell, and rest on its laurels. It is lazy, it is cocksure without being wise, and it is philosophically confused. Someone must provide all of these goodies for the receiver. But by all means, let’s not let it be the receiver, himself.
As author Mark Smith pointed out: a century ago, the rich drove while the poor walked. Today, the rich drive Jaguars while the poor drive Hyundais. That is not such a big difference. In this current health care debate, counting our blessings might be a great place to start. We’ve eradicated polio. The infant mortality rate is incredibly low. Men and women who live a healthy lifestyle can expect to live to 80-100 years of age. We have pills, vaccines, and medicines for virtually every problem under the sun. A century ago, most of these solutions did not even exist. Now, instead of celebrating the fact that they even exist — and considering just how incredible that is — we obsess over the fact that every person in the country can’t have access to them whenever they are wanted. The quest for utopia goes on.
If we are to return to the values of 1776, we must return to an ethos of self-reliance, individualism, and the conviction that we really do have the potential to live the good life — and that the good life comes from within our own capabilities, not the power of government, our neighbors, or pop culture. It comes from a commitment to virtue, productive work, and constant self-improvement.
That is not a political agenda. Politics do not arise from a vacuum. That is a philosophical commitment that we must get back to, if we are to survive as a nation.
August 3rd, 2009 at 8:52 pm
Good piece. The lament of the maligned Christian has always struck me as particularly detached from reality, not to mention inconsistent with conservative principles. Adopting a defensive crouch of victimhood is undignified and infantilizing.
August 3rd, 2009 at 8:58 pm
Bravo!
August 3rd, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Speaking of high-brow philosophy I present . . .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1P0WBlVAIA
(posted nostalgically for the benefit of newcomers to Mitt . . . this was posted to YouTube the day AFTER SuperTuesday when the writing was on the wall that McCain had won it . . . and it subsequently never made the rounds . . . but is very well done compared to a lot of stuff I’ve seen)
Enjoy
August 3rd, 2009 at 9:06 pm
Oh yeah . . . and good stuff Alex. DEFINITELY expand it into a lengthy essay with citations/links/ . . . but keep this short version too (since that’s all that most people will read).
August 3rd, 2009 at 9:09 pm
Great job, Alex. And you don’t need to do the long version.
August 3rd, 2009 at 9:30 pm
Sorry for posting links . . . but I never thought I’d post anything from the ACLU and it’s just too funny.
http://www.aclu.org/pizza/images/screen.swf
August 3rd, 2009 at 9:34 pm
A great piece Alex.
What’s sad is that we’ve fallen into the same flaws, vanity and all the resulting harm it causes the spirit of the nation, that cause the decline of ancient Rome.
What’s important to remember is that by our actions, we write history – there is no such thing as a destined event. It’s up to us, as Americans, to return to our senses.
August 3rd, 2009 at 9:35 pm
It not only has to be philosophical, but it has to be metaphysical. A commitment to virtue has no logical underpinning otherwise. Virtue would take a back-seat to survival.
August 3rd, 2009 at 9:54 pm
Even the quintessential constitutionalist Ron Paul alluded to the “contract” made with our seniors. Privatizing which in any way throws these folks under the bus would be in direct opposition to our right to property, the basis of all our other rights as well as contract law.
To accomplish this we must also give up the idea of running an empire in order to save enough to fulfill our contract with those who have paid in, while allowing the freedom of future generations to provide (much more efficiently) for themselves. This would entail putting the genie back in the bottle, and like returning to a true free market healthcare (which we haven’t had in decades), would be a nearly impossible task today.
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:01 pm
In retrospect, it should be noted that throwing seniors and disabled under the bus is exactly what obamacare will do – to the benefit of big finance and illegals, not to mention the medical-pharma-insurance complex.
All this while they raise our taxes….
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:13 pm
Even the quintessential constitutionalist Ron Paul alluded to the “contract” made with our seniors. Privatizing which in any way throws these folks under the bus would be in direct opposition to our right to property, the basis of all our other rights as well as contract law.
It was a system built on a lie, sustained on faulty premises.
We need to slowly phase out Social Security. The Bush plan was actually a fantastic start, but he marketed it very poorly: it was to give people an option of investing 25% of it. It would lead to greater growth, start us off on the road to fuller privatization, and give seniors what they expected, all at the same time.
To accomplish this we must also give up the idea of running an empire in order to save enough to fulfill our contract with those who have paid in, while allowing the freedom of future generations to provide (much more efficiently) for themselves.
What empire do we run, precisely? Where have we colonized? Where have we taken over? Don’t be silly.
Our foreign policy isn’t even using up much of our GDP. The Iraq War has been about 1% of our GDP over the past years, on an annual basis. Most of our GDP is being drained by Medicare and Social Security.
August 3rd, 2009 at 11:37 pm
South America will be lost. Ecuador is pulled a Chavez and taking over free media. Communism is back…
August 4th, 2009 at 1:53 am
Alex Knepper Says:
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:13 pm
Our foreign policy isn’t even using up much of our GDP
Over 700 bases in over 130 countries. When they crash the dollar, Any argument you provide won’t matter… The game will be over. We don’t hardly manufacture anymore and worthless FRNs won’t buy anything abroad either. All bets will be off.
Can you say Zimbabwe economics?
The Iraq War has been about 1% of our GDP over the past years, on an annual basis
The real price has been in lives lost though.
Regarding Social Security:
I say fulfill every dollar in social Security before ONE CENT goes to banks or Wall Street to cover their bad investments.
August 4th, 2009 at 3:32 am
Alex is right though – our foreign engagements require almost no real investment in manpower and resources, because they arent in any sense of the word large-scale conquests. Iraq and Afghanistan themselves are primarily ordered by local forces, not our army, with the exception of that troublesome Taliban corner in the southeast.
We are overstretching ourselves in domestic conquests that we can no longer afford – Social Security and Medicare – rather than in foreign ones. No one in America has much taste for extensive foreign engagement anyways.
August 4th, 2009 at 4:26 am
I recently read that around 27 million Americans are on anti-depressants. While those drugs probably have their place, something tells me that 27 million is just a touch high. Our grandparents and great-grandparents working on their farms and in the coal mines didn’t have enough leisure time to be depressed. But as our culture has hadn’t itself over to materialism and hedonism, is it any wonder that people are feeling a bit empty?
August 4th, 2009 at 7:13 am
MWS,
Right. Liberalism and the values it instills are a luxury only the rich can afford (in more ways than one). It destroys everyone else by diminishing their productive capacity, tearing up their homes, and leaving them without a meaningful way to live.
August 4th, 2009 at 11:03 am
Great article Alex. I agree with your analysis very much. I have been railing against pop culture and entertainment for years but have only converted my wife and no one else. Our families and friends think we are nut case wierdos because we have not desire any more to go see movies. If America has to overcome pop culture and the entertainment mentality then I fear it is doomed to fail.
August 4th, 2009 at 11:37 am
While I agree with a lot of what you’ve said, I think Americans as a whole do this daily, the news just doesn’t cover it, so we don’t see it. The GOP and the values it instills are a luxury only the rich can afford (in more ways than one). It destroys everyone else by diminishing their productive capacity, tearing up their homes, and leaving them without a meaningful way to live.
August 5th, 2009 at 12:37 am
[...] medical records to electronic form. Finally, there has t0 be a fundamental push to highlight self-reliance, restraint and preventive [...]
August 5th, 2009 at 12:50 am
[...] medical records to electronic form. Finally, there has t0 be a fundamental push to highlight self-reliance, restraint and preventive [...]