I've mentioned several times. The Hanoverian Kings of England were German. They were from Hanover. These kings funded the German university system. Notably, King George II established the University of Göttingen in the province of Hanover! Anyone who studied math or physics should know Gottingen as a leading center of modern thought.
The American and French Revolutions created social upheaval. The result is that the great German universities set forth on a reframing of the thought behind the monarchy as progressive.
This new Germanic thought came in two waves. The first wave was typified by Hegel who created a right-wing conservative philosophy that sought to preserve the social structure and modus operendi of the existing ruling class. I repeat, The Kings of England were German. The rulers of England funded this work and actively worked to spread it. Hegelian philosophy was a smash hit in both the German and English speaking world.
The Young Hegelians loved the radical change of revolution and sought change for the sake of change. This second wave included Fueurbach and Marx. Feuerbach is the philosopher who realized that radical anti-religion can play the same role in the grub for power as radical religion. The Young Hegelians created Communism and radical atheism.
The following quote is a quote from Marx as it appears in Eric Fromm's Marx's Concept of Man:
"Hegel's philosophy of history is nothing but the philosophical expression of the Christian-Germanic dogma concerning the contradiction between spirit and matter, God and the world.... Hegel's philosophy of history presupposes an abstract or absolute spirit, which develops in such a way that mankind is only a mass which carries this spirit, consciously or unconsciously. Hegel assumes that a speculative, esoterical history precedes and underlies empirical history. The history of mankind is transformed into the history of the abstract spirit of mankind, which transcends the real man."
The Monarchy saw Christianity as a tool they could use to rule over the people. Hegel and Marx created an abstract model of the monarchist view. They are saying the same things as the Kings of England said, but with different words. Socialism is not the radical new idea people pretend. It is the view feudal lords had from the moment that the first Feudal lord bound serfs in chains to the revolution. It is just feudalism written in a pseudo-philosophic speak.
Prior to the US Revolution the Kings of England used something that could be called "Covenant Theorty." The kings claimed a Divine Right that rose from an ancient covenant with God that stretched back to Ancient Israel. Prior to the Revolution, the monarchy supported a conflict driven history in which The Covenant unfolded in different ways culminating with the establishment of the English Monarchy.
Covenant Theory is essentially a tool used by a group wanting to claim divine authority for whatever power grab they hope to achieve.
Hegel rewrote covenant theory in philosophical terms. God became a World Spirit. The nations were actors on the world stage with the glorious leaders being the head of the state. History was a great play as the actors competed for dominance on the world stage.
Hegel's Philosophy of History is Covenant Theory written in philosophic-speak.
Hegelian philosophy is not Godless. Hegel's world spirit is "God" processed through an English to modern-pseudo-philosophical-speak translator.
Radical atheists have a shrill hatred of God. Most radical atheists hold group think as a new pseudo-philosophical kollective conscious. It is funny how many people who hate god have a devote belief in kollective conscious when kollective conscious is as abstract as the term they hate.
Hegel was not doing anything new. He simply transformed all of the thinking behind the monarchy that was written in religious-speak into a new pseudo-philosophical-speak.
People in the early 1800s gobbled this up.
A great deal of Hegelian thought involved the master slave relation. Hegel adored paradox. He wrote multiple proofs claiming that freedom was slavery and slavery freedom.
This thinking was immensely popular in the early United States which was dealing with an entrenched slave based social system. People in the early 1800s loved race-based philosophies that justified white slave-owners' dominion over black slaves.
A popular idea was that blacks were descendent of Cain who broke the first covenant with God. The descendents of Cain were smited with the Mark of Cain, justifying their bondage.
The idea that blacks have the Mark of Cain and deserve to be enslaved in the most conservative idea that ever infected this nation.
This new type of thought, which was directly funded by the Kings of England, was the rage in the United States. It was extremely popular among conservatives looking for ways to preserve the social order.
Hegel defined a new right-wing manner of thinking that promised all sorts of improvements if we just returned to the centralized control of the monarchy. The young Hegelians took the false promises to heart and defined a new left wing thinking which is often called socialism, modern liberalism or modern progressivism.
The Left/Right split which dominates every aspect of our thinking today did not come from the US Founders.
The Founders of the United State hated factionalism. Advocates of the left-right split revel in factionalism. This deep intractable factionalism, which is at the beating heart of both the Democratic and Republican parties, developed in the early 1800s. In this period people were simply coming up with new versions of Covenant Theory (The Divine Right of Kings) to justify their political positions.
It breaks my heart that Glenn Beck has taken to pushing Covenant Theory.
Beck has taken to a version of Covenant Theory that appeared in the mid 1800s. This version holds that the Heavenly Father won the war for the US Founders then revealed the Constitution. The goal of the Heavenly Father was to create the conditions necessary for the restoration of the church. The restoration of the church came with the revelation of the Book of Mormon. The new covenant came with the revolution of Doctrine and Covenants.
Please note, Beck's version of Covenant Theory does not include all Americans. This theory splits Americans into factions. The Constitution as revealed by the Heavenly Father for the specific purpose of creating the conditions necessary for the restoration of the Church in the Latter Days. This creates an intractable faction between members of God's true church (aka "The Righteous"). Everyone else is a servant of Satan.
Now, where were we?
The Divine Right of Kings pushed a conflict driven version of history in which the monarchy was the rightful heir of a covenant that stretched back to ancient Israel. The Kings of England were German. They came from Hanover. They directly funded German Universities. A right-wing conservative named Hegel reframed the monarchist view in philosophy speak. Hegel created a conflict-driven view of history in which "God" was a world spirit, and nations vied for dominance on a world stage.
A decade later (when interest in Hegel was very strong in the US). The Book of Mormon presented an extremely racist conflict driven version of history in which God established a covenant with a chosen group that was then pitted in mortal conflict with evil gentiles.
Back in Germany, a radical philosopher named Fueurbach realized that radical-anti-religion could work just like radical religion. Another Young Hegelian named Marx came up with a virulent leftist version of this theory.
The Covenant Philosophy being pushed by Glenn Beck is part of a radical philosophy that has taken on many forms throughout history. It was pushed by the monarchy in feudalism and adopted by the Hegelians and Young Hegelians. It is the heart of the partisan split that is ruining America an possibly the world.
The pattern of this philosophy is simple. The philosophy presents a conflict driven view of history. The philosophy has a group chosen by a supernatural entity who is charged with task of dominate or perish. The system often includes a paradox-ridden logic. The logical system often has really weird definitions of freedom. Hegel loved proofs that freedom is slavery and slavery freedom. We should seek slavery to find our freedom. Glenn Beck's philosophy pushes a bizarre thing called "free agency." Free agency says that you are free to do as you are told or be damned.
The different philosophies used different languages and different words, but the pattern of the philosophy is the same. Beck seems to be saying that Communists were evil because they used the term "World Spirit" instead of "God." I contend the problem is with the pattern. The pattern that there is a chosen group in society with a Covenant that entitles them to rule over others leads to deep factionalization regardless of the terms.
BTW, the pattern is not unique to Christianity. In my personal interpretation of the Christian tradition, the theory that one must dominate or perish is counter to the teachings of Christ. I see the desire to dominate others as a form of evil even when a person uses religious rhetoric to justify domination. I fear that Beck is doing more harm than good with his "Covenant Tour."
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