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Whack the Bob

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It’s a truism in politics: the pendulum swings. Now, around the world, we see a deep swing rightward:

  • Brexit, and the collapse of Britain’s Labour Party;
  • Donald Trump, and the routing of the Democrats;
  • German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s turnaround on Muslim refugee acceptance; and,
  • in France, the rise of the National Front’s Marine Le Pen.

Over the weekend, the Washington Post reported on events in Poland. There, the Law and Justice Party is not only making sweeping changes of a pro-​family, religious conservative nature, it has also grown in popularity.

Fearing an anti-​intellectual “neo-​Dark Age,” the Post finds cause for that worry in the fact that the Poles are downplaying evolutionary science in government school curricula.*

Before the big freak out, note the why of this: the dominant progressive-​left paradigm has proven itself incapable of dealing with the challenges of the present age — most being caused by their own policies. Worse yet, those on the vanguard left have become moral scolds and petty language tyrants.

Yes, political correctness is one of the big offenders, here.

So, of course there’s a backlash.

But, turnabout being fair play, if the move to the “right” goes too far — as it probably will — we can expect another swing leftward.

Isn’t it time to give that pendulum bob a whack, to initiate something like an equilibrium position? Many of today’s problems are caused by partisans trying to force their kind of change down others’ throats. There is an alternative: limit government, setting it to just a few tasks, letting society evolve naturally, without forced central planning.

That would be “evolutionary,” and thus neither rightist nor revolutionary-​left. Call it neo-Enlightenment.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

 

* Poland’s new government has become scary, by reducing transparency, limiting press access, purging the government news network of anti-​rightist journalists, hiking subsidies to traditional families and the elderly, shelving the gay marriage issue and allowing local governments to cut back on granting public protest permits. Not all of these are equally frightening, of course. Why should any government be allowed to maintain a government-​run news agency? (Ideological purges come with the territory.)


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pendulum, noose, politics, left, right, change, Republicans, Democrats

 

6 replies on “Whack the Bob”

Freedom and liberty, with the reverent respect for the same in others, is indeed the ultimate solution. It will only be possible with an absolutely limited government as it is the excess power of the government “for the common good” which is always the first excuse to commence in the path to tyranny. 

Blessings, John and Merry Christmas. You’re on the right track alright, but as for “ultimates” I’ll stick with the One True Ultimate, the diligently applied word of God in one’s personal life, in inter-​personal interactions, in families and in the civil sector side of community life. Man’s experiments haven’t really worked out at all, so now’s the time to dig into the Bible for its adult level alternatives. Kind of corny some would say, but there it is.

I like this by you; kind of. “There is an alternative: limit government, setting it to just a few tasks, letting society evolve naturally, without forced central planning.” But “letting society evolve naturally” is too susceptible to needless, wasteful wheel reinventing when all the while we have Bible basics upon which to build the better foundation you seek. Just in one small area —  libertarianism — the Bible admirably covers much of that philosophy; namely, thou shalt not steal. Since that’s about 95% of what governments do, it’s pretty obvious that the Bible at least leans libertarian. Except for supporting the epistemological foolishness of libertarian atheists.

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