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Saturday, September 01, 2012

Modern Liberals and Modern Conservatives

I need to recap the posts on the Hegelian Right and Left.

The Left/Right split which dominates modern politics did not come from the US Revolution.

Contrary to what the GOP claims, Modern Conservatism does not trace to the revolution. It traces to the royalist reaction to the revolution.

The Modern Liberal movement is even more ugly. It traces to efforts to make the royalist position look progressive.

The Constitution did not anticipate the two party system. The founders despised the factions they saw in European government.

In the post called The Pendulum Swing, I argued that the two party system has created a mechanism that systematically clamps down on individual liberty. Both parties play the game in which they use freedom rhetoric when they are out of power, but clamp down when they are in power.

Since that post, we saw the Republican Party encourage the rise of the Tea Party after the Democratic win in 2008. They are now muzzling and silencing the patriots of the Tea Party.

After the Democrats lost in 2010, the Democrats responded by creating the Occupy Wall Street movement which used their paradoxical freedom message.

To actually achieve a restoration of the American Experiment in self rule, Americans need to realize that the party system is the problem.

The left/right split came from the French Revolution. The left wanted radical social change and the right wanted to preserve the social order and custom of the ancient regime. Both were corrupt.

The logic of the two party system that emerged in the early 1800s is exemplified by the royalist Hegel. (I know, I know, Hegel was German. How could Germans be influential in defining the royalist position??? Unless, of course, the Hanoverian Kings of England were from, say, Hanover.)

The Founders of the United States were a great generation. The generations that followed were pathetic in comparison. Partisan intellectuals sought to frame the revolution to their advantage. The slave owners sought to preserve the institution of slavery.

The whole mess of corrupt thought from 1800-1860 led to the Civil War.

The problem is that the generation following the founders was the generation that wrote the history books.

The enemies of freedom have created traps that continue to undermine the freedom movement. People who are sincere in their desire to restore the concept of self rule must watch for the trips, else we will continue along the path to servitude.

1 comment:

  1. You pose some interesting ideas, however, it is almost impossible to classify American politics into the recepticles of Euopean politics. While our Constitution did not 'anticipate' parties, the split between Federalists, Anti-Federalists, and Monarchists was already creating the party dynamic. And Hegel, if alive today, would most definitely be comfortable in the Democratic Party.
    @TiTusks

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