Only a finite number of ideas are right. All else is what’s left. We live in a world where right-handedness is typical, and left-handedness isn’t. That may be why we tend to think there is something good about right, and something suspicious about left. This imbedded notion is reflected in correlative words from several languages. The Latin word for left is sinistra (in English, sinister). The Romans used the word plainly for left, but they also used it as we do for some quality of lurking malice. The French word, gauche, means both, left and improper. The German word, linkisch, means both, left and awkward. Right, on the other hand, implies good, true, and proper in most languages.
The use of left/right as political designation has a long history. In fact, all the way back to the first meeting of the post-revolutionary French National Assembly (1789). The triumphant revolutionaries had one large question to consider. How much power should the new republic concede to King Louis XVI (1774). Some, none, or not much? Those who thought the now impotent king should be allowed at least veto power sat on the right side of the president. Those who thought the king should have no power at all, sat on the left. Those on the right tended to be conservative. Those on the left tended to be reckless.
They also tended to be: 1. Secular 2. Totalitarian and 3. Collectivist. They rejected God, they thought the state should control everything, and they thought group rights mattered more than individual rights.
The Left was born in the tumult of the 18th century “Enlightenment”. The first product of their untethered thinking was the French Revolution - distinguished by raging mobs, 17,000 guillotined heads, financial ruin, and finally, the rise of Napoleon.
First, they called themselves Jacobins later, Bolsheviks, later still, Communists, National Socialists, Democratic Socialists, and so on. Now, they call themselves Progressives. Tomorrow, who knows? Anything that will sound like something new,
Their name changes; their ideas do not.
When their recycled policies fail, they never seem to realize that the destruction was caused by the foolish unreality of their basic assumptions. It’s always something else: the time wasn’t right; outside interference; faulty execution; something – anything except acknowledging that foolish ideas stay that way. No, they just change the name of their brand and propose the same tried-and-failed solutions, over, and over, and over, and over.
“There are none so deaf as those who will not hear. There are none so blind as those who will not see”. (Paraphrased from Jerimiah, 5:21}
Edmond Burke proclaimed the principal problem with most revolutionary ideas, is, “deafness to the thunder above Sinai”. He was referencing God’s proscriptions to Moses - revealed through the burning bush on Mt. Sinai - accompanied by thunder from on High - thus punctuating the absolute unchanging verity of God’s word.
Secular thinking does not admit of God.
Nothing good proceeds from a false premise.
Every Leftist plan, from the French Revolution to the social/political proposals of modern day progressives begins with the assumption that God is not relevant. God is always relevant. That is the first, and most important reason, why Leftist plans fail.
The second great mistake of Leftist theorizing is the assumption that the best way to manage human affairs is by addressing the needs and desires of groups. These groups are generally characterized by skin-color, sex, nationality, or religion. All of which are worth considering, but all of which have little to do with the actual ideas of the individuals in these artificial collectives.
Individuals have needs and desires. Groups do not. Any group that can be invented will necessarily be composed of individuals that do not necessarily share the same point-of view. Leftist ideas are based upon the notion that all groups are comprised of like-minded people.
This confuses the literal meaning of compose and comprise.
Too often, people fall for the deceit. They start thinking that the Leftist designated group to which they have been assigned is more important than themselves - or human decency. In former times this led to mass mayhem and mass killing. In our time it has led to local riots and personal property damage. The only reason it is less bad now is because we are still coasting on what’s left of our past culture of shared humanity.
It won’t last.
Every day, groups are prodded to greater stupidity and violence by the Leftist cheerleaders in news, education, entertainment, politics, and social media. Without intervention, the Progressive agenda will end, as all left-wing agendas do, in blood, financial ruin, and national failure. Witness: Venezuela, North Korea, Rwanda, and every other Hell-hole on Earth. They all have one thing in common: secular collectivist totalitarianism.
Curiously, “The People”, the egalitarian collective of the proletariat, are not all quite equal. George Orwell wrote in his book, Animal Farm, “All pigs are equal, but some pigs are more equal”. This refers to the inevitable rise in any Leftist State of an elite class of talented, ambitious individuals who will preach collectivist orthodoxy, while lining their pockets with whatever wealth they can appropriate. Outside of their elite class, they will have no competitors. The proletariat, the peasant, the collective of any name know their place. They do not protest. On the other hand, in a system of Free-Market Capitalism, the opportunity for wealth is open to anyone with gumption, ideas, and the probity to be trusted with a business loan.
Free-Market Capitalism has improved the lives of everyone, everywhere it has been practiced. The Leftists dismiss it as selfish. They’re right in a narrow, short-sighted way. The people pursuing wealth are doing it just for themselves. But, in the process they must produce a thing, or a service, that someone else is willing to pay for. If they succeed, they will have to hire other people to help them produce this thing, or service. Everyone is better off than they would have been when the Collective was only taking what others produced to distribute to those who did not.
As Margaret Thatcher once remarked, “Socialism works until you run out of other people’s money”.
Leftist States do not tolerate dissent. If they allowed criticism of their intellectually unsupportable ideas, they would soon fall. Political correctness is their first line of defense. People who dare to question Leftist orthodoxy are quickly, and publicly shamed. If that fails, the next step is prosecution. Prosecution doesn’t require that any law be broken. Endless legal expenditure is sufficient. Another technique is impugning The mental health of the critic, as in: racist, sexist, homophobic, Islamophobic, white supremist, and so on. The extreme example of this is the seemingly endless expansion of the LGBT-XYZ Community. Any opposition is labeled bigotry. The fact that these sexual choices are aberrations of nature, and an abomination before God, is not considered pertinent. Opposition may result in prison, or asylum interment.
When dissent cannot be crushed by the methods described above, then armed force will get the job done; first with police, then with tanks. We haven’t reached that stage in America, yet. This is undoubtably due to fact that American citizens are protected by the Second Amendment. They are armed, and they intend to stay armed. Leftist States typically start with licensing firearms, then confiscating them. The attempts to do the same in America are relentless.
The left knows that Big Brother cannot be overthrown with sticks and stones.
Nonetheless, Leftist (secular, collectivist, totalitarian) States always fail - eventually.
When they do eventually fail, they leave behind a wake of destruction as their legacy. The remains cannot be repaired. They can only be replaced.
Even when a new, non-leftist State successfully replaces a Leftist State, it’s future is not assured.
People forget.
The siren song starts again: a chicken in every pot; free health-care; guaranteed income; free everything. All you need do is vote for the newly formed Blah, Blah, Blah Party which will be a Leftist Party with those old familiar failed ideas - but, with a shiny, brand new name.
So, it goes.
America’s Progressive Left haven’t quite progressed to totalitarianism, but it’s not for want of trying. Americans are independent. They don’t like being pushed around and told what to do and think. We began with resistance to the King; we will not end with surrender to tyrannical socialism. The proximate problem is insufficient recognition of the problem. We’re busy. Our day-to-day concerns consume our lives. We don’t really pay much attention to the ongoing loss of freedom all around us.
But, there’s hope in this quote from Winston Churchill: “Americans always do the right thing, but only after they’ve exhausted all the other possibilities”.
What’s left? Everything that isn’t right.