This hits home with me because, like the author, I do not believe in the perfectibility of man. We are flawed vessels. This brought to my mind William Butler Yeats' poem, "The Second Coming."
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;Derbyshire unloads on the liberals, but I must note that conservatives fall prey to unreasoned optimism as well. Here's the money quote:
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Today, however, American optimism has got completely out of hand. A corrective is needed. The corrective must come from conservatives, the people who understand that "human nature has no history." We must revive the fine tradition of conservative pessimism. In this age, optimism is for children and fools. And liberals.
Some children will be left behind. You cannot "remake the Middle East" or "defeat evil." The poor will always be with us. Black and white will never mingle together in unselfconscious harmony. Corporations will not research and explore without hope of profit. Russia will not become Sweden. Forty million immigrants speaking a single language will not assimilate.
He makes a very good point. Conservatives used to be against not just risky schemes, but any "scheme" at all. Proper pessimism would keep us out of dubious overseas enterprises and prevent hundreds of billions of new government spending.
4 comments:
Great post. Optimism is a doctrine that the world is the best possible world it could be. No doubt that one of the seven deadly sins reigns in Wall Street these days. Their world was perfect before last week. So greedy are some that wealth and riches are not enough. But they ae optimistic!! That intense passion to create riches has no end. Dante blamed avarice on the ethical and political corruption during his time. Just think, the second poorest man in Congress makes $245,000 a year, but that's only because Sen. Joe Biden was elected at the old age of 29! bquick
Thanks. I agree with your comments. Many may scoff at talk of Dante's Inferno and sin, but human frailties and the damage they do are timeless.
Greedy ignorant liberals have a very special circle in hell where deathly starved are only inches away from a piece of chicken they will never get to eat....
Nietzsche is Dead!
Yeah, and it's from the chicken in every pot they keep talking about!
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