Rick Merkt, former assemblyman and gubernatorial candidate, emails:
“One of the interesting observations I have made over a lifetime: “Liberals” a/k/a “Progressives” believe as an article of faith (Perish the thought!) that the smartest man (or woman) in the world should be charge of everything, because, obviously, he (or she) is more qualified to decide everything than the poor average Joe. They really, actually believe this! It never occurs to them that even the smartest person in the world couldn’t possibly access or process the number of inputs necessary to reach a right decision on most complex matters. This is why the “invisible hand” of the market works, where individual or collective “geniuses” fail repeatedly. To be sure, the market commits its errors — in fact, all the time. Yet, perhaps because it is not hobbled by ego, the market constantly adjusts for its mistakes, disciplines the losers, and rewards the winners, all to the greater benefit of society.
If these folks are smart enough to hold sway at Harvard, et al., not to mention supposedly being intelligent enough to run our world better than anyone else, then how come they are incapable of perceiving and grasping the simple point I make above? Or, could their delicate collective ego be the problem here, leading to an inability even to consider the possibility that the objective evidence contradicts their most deeply held beliefs?
All this persuades me that Reagan was more correct than he knew when he stated that freedom is only one generation from extinction (I know others had said this before; Reagan just made it a staple in his addresses). Yet it still astounds me that people who are apparently so well educated, so sophisticated, and consider themselves to be guardians of the truth, can be so resistent to introspection and re-evaluating their ideas based on a candid examination of the evidence. Worse yet, they react like statists when anyone dares to point out that the Emperor’s new clothes are looking a bit sheer. How painfully thin their “liberal” veneer really is!
They happily mock others’ religious beliefs as backward and unintelligent, but doesn’t their blind adherence to a modern incarnation of the Leader Principle border on a secular version of religous extremism? And the “students” they unleash on society are woefully unprepared to think for themselves or analyze issues back on the facts, because they have been not educated, but indoctrinated.
I truly tremble for the future of our Republic, given the power these people wield in our society. The worst darkness of the 20th Century could well reassert itself in the 21st, unless free people stand up and resist. And the “dumbing down” process advanced by “liberal” educators is having its effect, as fewer and fewer young people seem inclined to resist an ever-encroaching state, much less have the ability to figure out what is happening to the world in which they must live.
I have never felt that our generation really faced a challenge like the one faced by our parents. Now, however, I am having second thoughts. Our parents confronted an undisguised evil, and it was easy to identify the threat. In our time, the threat is far more insidious, and those who would enslave people have figured out that it is easier to get people to forge their own chains by “choice,” than by using military force. I wonder whether enough folks will figure it out in time to push back against this cleverer strategy of subjugation. It really may be the defining issue of our time.”