ACL Live at the Moody Theater
Loved Romney's Speech: 'Deluded by Fashionable Philosophical Ignorance'
RECEIVED Mon., Feb. 11, 2008
Dear Editor,
The difference between conservative philosophy and so-called progressive, liberal ideology was dramatically highlighted by Mitt Romney’s speech announcing the end of his presidential run. In the manner of George Washington and Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, he sacrificed himself for liberty and America.
Conservatives champion the greater principle of a free humanity. In conservative thought, individual liberty of opportunity and moral clarity are the only means by which mankind will progress. Indeed, this mature concept of freedom is a preordained natural right of humanity. Moreover, these rights do not originate in any social structure, e.g., political dogma or single ego per se.
These sublime realities are lost on the left. That ideology does not accept personal liberty where destructive appetites are prohibited by rational moral responsibility. Instead, it desperately reaches for the superficial easiness of moral relativism, mass collectivist consensus, and the amoral dead hand of governmental fiat to move forward. It takes no account of how dependence monstrously destroys human dignity and achievement. And it enshrines class envy, simplistically dictating that in the name of fairness it will take from producers and award the spoils to undeserving users.
Conservatism represents how most people raise their children – independent, just, grateful, courageous, striving for excellence, and rejecting envy, resentment, and licentiousness. Ironically, most leftists practice this at home but not in public. They can’t, because they have been deluded by fashionable philosophical ignorance. They have been driven into an ideological trap of false sophistication where the vain, lower pleasures of humanity, e.g., dependence, nihilism, narcissism, and moral mendacity are perniciously indulged.
Republicans are conservatives. They have grasped the realities of evolutionary freedom. Unfortunately, Democrats have succumbed to leftism. In this time of world war against genocidal and humanity-enslaving Jihadi tyranny, the responsible choice is clear.
The difference between conservative philosophy and so-called progressive, liberal ideology was dramatically highlighted by Mitt Romney’s speech announcing the end of his presidential run. In the manner of George Washington and Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, he sacrificed himself for liberty and America.
Conservatives champion the greater principle of a free humanity. In conservative thought, individual liberty of opportunity and moral clarity are the only means by which mankind will progress. Indeed, this mature concept of freedom is a preordained natural right of humanity. Moreover, these rights do not originate in any social structure, e.g., political dogma or single ego per se.
These sublime realities are lost on the left. That ideology does not accept personal liberty where destructive appetites are prohibited by rational moral responsibility. Instead, it desperately reaches for the superficial easiness of moral relativism, mass collectivist consensus, and the amoral dead hand of governmental fiat to move forward. It takes no account of how dependence monstrously destroys human dignity and achievement. And it enshrines class envy, simplistically dictating that in the name of fairness it will take from producers and award the spoils to undeserving users.
Conservatism represents how most people raise their children – independent, just, grateful, courageous, striving for excellence, and rejecting envy, resentment, and licentiousness. Ironically, most leftists practice this at home but not in public. They can’t, because they have been deluded by fashionable philosophical ignorance. They have been driven into an ideological trap of false sophistication where the vain, lower pleasures of humanity, e.g., dependence, nihilism, narcissism, and moral mendacity are perniciously indulged.
Republicans are conservatives. They have grasped the realities of evolutionary freedom. Unfortunately, Democrats have succumbed to leftism. In this time of world war against genocidal and humanity-enslaving Jihadi tyranny, the responsible choice is clear.
Vance McDonald
