Posted by
voice_of_reason on Thursday, June 28, 2007 8:55:00 PM
Disclosure: I was tempted to title this post "Free Willy", but refrained from doing so. I didn't want to attract a disproportionate number of animal lovers or pornography seekers -- not that there is anything wrong with those weirdos, of course!
We are given free will, and simultaneously told about the unlimited virtues of selflessness and sacrifice.
This sets us up for a contradiction, which is usually resolved by saying that "we should be selfless by our own volitional choice, otherwise it doesn't count".
That, unfortunately, is the first step towards accepting a philosophy of self-sacrifice.
Socialism's biggest victory (albeit a Pyrrhic one) has been the voluntary acceptance of the producers that they should live for the sake of their parasites.
In America, many hardworking people who are not of the looter / moocher persuasion routinely vote for entitlements, or for politicians who support ever-expanding programs such as Universal Health Care, Public Education and Welfare.
Those benevolent souls are convinced that they are 'doing the right thing' and 'levelling the playing field' by their charity - hey, if it's voluntary then it must be a good, charitable impulse, and who are we to argue? In fact, they would argue that it is the baser nature of conservatives that makes us oppose such impulses!
So, can American conservatives ever turn the tide against Leftists?
Not without eliminating the jujitsu of Leftist rhetoric. The first step is to recognize that Leftists are using the concept of altruism (which many conservatives revere) against us - that is the very essence of jujitsu. Once the terms are identified, we can do battle, armed with the proper intellectual and ideological ammunition.