Tag: liberalism
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3,535 words
Part 5 of 9 (Chapter 1 here, Chapter 4 Part 1 here, Chapter 5 Part 1 here)
Whereas liberal elites had always harbored a cynical and technocratic rejection of the fundamental premises of popular government, after the Second World War “the highly educated [also began] to deplore working-class movements for their bigotry, their refusal of modernity,” and their apparent instinctual tendency towards nationalism and authoritarian leaders. They became openly and dogmatically hostile towards all forms of “collectivism” and solidaristic political movements because they identified popular social organization as fundamentally incompatible with liberalism’s hallowed individual rights and liberties. Post-war elites embraced anti-fascism and anti-populism as two necessary tenets of contemporary liberalism. (more…)
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3,142 words
Part 4 of 9 (Chapter 1 here, Chapter 3 here, Chapter 4 Part 2 here)
Politically, democracy means the sovereignty, not of the average man — who is a rather narrow, short-sighted, muddle-headed creature — but of a matured public opinion, a very different thing . . . In the forming of this opinion the sage has a million times the weight of the field hand. With modern facilities for mind influencing mind, democracy, at its best, substitutes the direction of the recognized moral and intellectual élite for the rule of the strong, the rich, or the privileged. — Edward Alsworth Ross, Changing America (1912) (more…)
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6,140 words
Part 3 of 9 (Chapter 1 here, Chapter 2 here, Chapter 4 Part 1 here)
Of the things for which I summoned the people to assemble,
was there one I compassed not? . . .
This is how the people will best follow their leaders:
If they are neither unleashed nor restrained too much. — Solon, circa sixth century BC (more…) -
4,909 words
Part 1 of 9 (Chapter 2 here)
There is no doubt: the digital space has incredible power for good. But . . . we’ve also seen the threat it can pose to our democratic values, systems, and our citizens. — Justin Trudeau
I think it [the Internet] is the single biggest threat to our democracy. — Barack Obama
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Greg Johnson was joined by Pox Populi (Telegram, YouTube) on the latest broadcast of Counter-Currents Radio to discuss the intellectual origins of wokeness, with special attention to Paul Gottfried’s recent Chronicles article “Marx Was Not Woke.” The recording of the stream is now available for download and online listening. (more…)
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1,643 words
Tucker Carlson deserves a lot of thanks for being the most outspoken critic of the insanity of America’s ruling family: the demented and abusive husband (the Democrats), the abused and clinging wife who enables him (the Republicans), their spoiled and insane daughter (the Left), and their increasingly aggressive Pitbull that they allow to bite people and befoul their neighborhood. (more…)
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3,236 words
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? — Jeremiah 17:9
Unde malum? Where does evil come from? I first pondered that question as a child, a childhood of full immersion in a fundamentalist, Baptist Weltanschauung. Evil’s origin and its persistence in the world was the central motif in the narrative of the Great Rebellion, the failure of Angel Lucifer’s insurrection against God. The origin of evil came from a titanic battle of supernatural beings. (more…)
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3,782 words
Part 2 of 3 (Part 1 here, Part 3 here)
1. Introduction: Transcendental Idealism as Political Radicalism
In part one of this essay, I covered J. G. Fichte’s moral philosophy, as set out in his 1798 work The System of Ethics. In the present installment, which is largely self-contained, I shall cover his social and political philosophy, chiefly as expounded in The Foundations of Natural Right. Here we will find many ways in which Fichte lays the groundwork for contemporary Leftism, including a surprising anticipation of what Gen Z calls “real Communism.” (more…)
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January 13, 2023 Alain de Benoist
The Populist Moment, Chapter 10, Part 1
The Ambiguity of “Communitarianism”3,903 words
Introduction here, Chapter 9 Part 2 here, Chapter 10 Part 2 here
Translated by F. Roger Devlin
Communities, whether ancient or recent, and whether of a historical, ethnocultural, linguistic, religious, sexual, or other nature, are natural dimensions of belonging. They accompany and underlie chosen forms of identity. No individual can exist without belonging, if only to distance himself from it. (more…)
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January 4, 2023 Alain de Benoist
The Populist Moment, Chapter 9, Part 1:
“Conservatives of the Left” & the Critique of Value, Part 1Introduction here, Chapter 8 here, Chapter 9 Part 2 here
Translated by F. Roger Devlin
The ecologist Fabrice Nicolino, a member of Charlie Hebdo’s editorial board (he was seriously wounded in the Kouachi brothers’ attack in January 2015), declares:
I am nostalgic for a time when people had a place, when men and women were strongly bound. I am nostalgic for a time when rural civilization was not the garbage it is today, a monstrosity that stuffs people with pesticides. (more…)