121001 Civil Law vs. Self Control
On another forum, I read the musings of a college-aged anarchist. I followed him because it was refreshing to read someone who understood the difference between anarchism and socialism. Just like a socialist, however, he has a Pollyanna attitude about human nature. Many people throw around these political terms without knowing anything about the them. A great many people seem to believe that these opposites are the same. Anarchy elevates the individual and totally removes all central authority. In a sense, it is total freedom for the individual. It never lasts, because people have wildly disparate ideas of what form their individual freedoms should take. The chaos of anarchy frightens people into agreeing to its opposite: communism. Socialism is the next worst thing to communism, which is total subjugation of the individual for the good of the state. No person has rights, because the State has them all. These are merely the modern terms for systems similar to Plato’s Republic and More’s Utopia. Socialism and Progressivism are not new ideas.
Human nature interferes with any political system. Long ago, Reader’s Digest had a column called, “There Ought to be a Law”. It concerned choices that bordered on the immoral. That’s the point! Laws do not control people. Too many laws limit the usefulness of law. Too many laws mean that not all the laws can be enforced, so they are selectively ignored. Here lies the importance of custom and morality. Without them, it becomes impossible to ‘control’ a population. No outside force can control everyone. The only true control is self-control. Since 1964, mental, moral, and emotional self-control increasingly have been shunned in favor of ‘enlightenment’ and ‘understanding’. Very few remain who remember what is was like to ‘cowboy up’ and ‘get her done’.
This is a cycle. History cycles in sweeps broader than a mere three score and ten years. People always want to do things better than the previous generation. Few see that the previous generation was simply trying to do things better than their own predecessors. That’s why the history that is no longer taught in schools is so important. It is not dates and locations so much as causes and effects. Science changes. Technology changes. Political systems change. Even individuals change, but People never change. We still entertain superstitions, and we are still stubborn creatures of habit. I believe and agree with all three answers to yesterday’s query. They represent different stages of anarchy, which at best is a temporary condition leading into a more organized system - usually totalitarianism.. “Civilization” is an illusion. Too easily, it can be ripped from a population.
There is nothing new under the sun.
Human nature interferes with any political system. Long ago, Reader’s Digest had a column called, “There Ought to be a Law”. It concerned choices that bordered on the immoral. That’s the point! Laws do not control people. Too many laws limit the usefulness of law. Too many laws mean that not all the laws can be enforced, so they are selectively ignored. Here lies the importance of custom and morality. Without them, it becomes impossible to ‘control’ a population. No outside force can control everyone. The only true control is self-control. Since 1964, mental, moral, and emotional self-control increasingly have been shunned in favor of ‘enlightenment’ and ‘understanding’. Very few remain who remember what is was like to ‘cowboy up’ and ‘get her done’.
This is a cycle. History cycles in sweeps broader than a mere three score and ten years. People always want to do things better than the previous generation. Few see that the previous generation was simply trying to do things better than their own predecessors. That’s why the history that is no longer taught in schools is so important. It is not dates and locations so much as causes and effects. Science changes. Technology changes. Political systems change. Even individuals change, but People never change. We still entertain superstitions, and we are still stubborn creatures of habit. I believe and agree with all three answers to yesterday’s query. They represent different stages of anarchy, which at best is a temporary condition leading into a more organized system - usually totalitarianism.. “Civilization” is an illusion. Too easily, it can be ripped from a population.
There is nothing new under the sun.