The Search for an Honest Liberal
Vanishing American has a great essay on the logical contradictions, moral confusion, and pent-up rage found in post-modern liberals these days.
For my part, I believe that at the foundation of post-modern liberalism these days is an inherent denial of the Fall of man. They think that there's no such thing as sin and that man is born basically good, but makes bad decisions for lack of "opportunity." I think if we're to look for the cause of the spread of the post-modern liberal ethos, we should really look no further than Christian liberalism in the 1920s and 30s, which was developed roughly around the same time as The Origin of Species was published and promoted in Europe. It just took 50 or so years to jump the Atlantic.
PRCalDude
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Reader Comments (7)
I think that is pretty much true, I also think the secular humanist belief that man is "fundamentally good" and denial of human nature, needs to be used to frame Foreign Policy for Christians that aren't that well versed on the subject. To keep them away from siding with "Fortress America" type thinking as it creeps into conservative thought again, that if we "just leave them alone" and "set an example" the evil of the world will return the favor and then we sing kumbaya. To me, you have to beleive mankind is fundamentally good and deny sin, to beleive that. and of course be ingorant of 1300 years of islam.......anyway, I could be wrong but I don't see how that isn't at the root of modern thinking on the subject. Of course, most of the Christians that side this way are probably just un-informed more than living out this sort of liberal thought.
Do you think that Prohibition was as a consequence of Christian liberalism in the early twentieth century? I ask because the prohibition of smoking has made such leaps and bounds in varying degrees in all Western countries in the last few years. Your state of California bans smoking in restaurants, I think? Fjordman wrote an interesting essay at GoV a few months ago opining that secular humanist thought was in many ways a parody of Christian ethics with the eternal truth cut out and discarded, leading to incoherent attempts at compassion.
I think prohibition was ultimately linked to it, it was the rise of the feminist and they being allowed to vote that got that done. after that was over with, the american breweries started making Lite beer to sale to women, which is partly why America has light, watered down beer.
jp, I recall a Dr. Seuss cartoon from the 1940s warning not to let your grumpy old aunt bring back her fussy anti-drinking laws that showed a middle-aged woman yielding a rolling pin. Even in the midst of war the good doctor saw fit to campaign against the worst excess of nanny statism. Watered down or not my main objection to American beer is the emphasis on coldness as a kind of virtue. Below a certain temperature you cannot taste the flavour of your favourite beverage. They tried to bring in ice-cold Guinness here in Ireland. It failed miserably. Alcoholic ice water is fine for tourists but a good beer/ale/cider depends on how it tastes.
here is an article about beer and that issue at Douglas Wilson's publication: http://www.credenda.org/issues/11-2recipio.php
its interesting, I still think there is a market for Lite beer because American's are fat as much as anything. It's not like Lite Beer is all that sweet like blush wines or anything.
I've been saying this about the left for quite some time. They come in two varieties - the compassionate without cause (Christian ethics sans eternal truth), and the cynical users (those that would wield Marx as a means of empowering themselves).