As one would expect to accompany the ongoing Fall of the American Empire, the obvious fall of the Republic, probably the failures of any and all forms of self-government, knowledgeable people are casting-about for the whys and wherefores. What about our philosophical past led us here?
Does liberalism contain and nourish the seeds of its own destruction?
Was the Enlightenment the beginning of the end of Western Civ?
Where should we look for answers to our condition? Plato? Aristotle? Aquinas? Other traditions such as Islam or Hindu or Buddha?
Will written creeds, such as the Bill of Rights, lead, logically and always, to the destruction of those rights?
I see these discussions as merely tangential to the foundational issues, issues that, in my view, fall into two areas, habit, and laws, rules and excuses, and do not rely for their destruction on any philosophical tradition.
Habit.
Think of how often we say some version of “when I was a kid.” The cost of a coke or a car or a house. Nixon Vs law. Etc.
IMO vanishingly few people - EVER - rethink the decisions they made as children - by the time they graduated HS @ 17-18 years of age, their opinions and foundation of their worldview were set. A coke cost a quarter, a land yacht cost $3K, gas was $0.27, Republicans all were the Top-Hat guy from Monopoly, Democrats all were Grapes of Wrath. Even though Ds started Vietnam, by the time I was in HS (‘69-‘72), Rs were the “war party.”
In our parent’s & grandparent’s generations, FDR saved democracy & put two chickens in every pot.
Little of this was true then. But their childhood years are the foundation of how nearly every adult has voted since. No one opens their mind.
Laws & rules & excuses.
Ideology is not the problem. The unwillingness to enforce rules, standards, law is the issue. We - and Anton & others - get lost looking for some theology or philosophy or tradition to get us out of this mess we have made.
I disagree that the problem is anything they’re yakking about. Even if there were a base out there somewhere - a faith, a creed, a philosopher or philosophy that one could say, “Hey! Silver bullet!” It wouldn’t work.
Why? Because we’d take the easy and empathetic way out. We’d find some excuse or situation in which enforcing the rules was too hard or too mean. This has nothing to do with governing philosophies.
I don’t really care about the moral or theological or philosophical foundation of the Constitution or our laws; it is what it is. Once we decided to be self-governing, the only things that mattered were the thoughts of those we chose to legislate for us… and our desire to enforce or change (and then enforce) what they legislated.
We don’t have carve-outs in our laws, but we sure as hell do in our enforcement. And it’s not just laws. We pretend we have a federal government of limited powers, when, in reality, we accept - and this is on governors - a federal government of unlimited powers. And the taxation to pay for idiocies they ARE NOT AUTHORIZED TO DO.
As long as we choose not to enforce whatever our self-government laws demand, we will arrive where we are, having ridden the train to this destination. And gotten off
We might base our government on Plato or Aristotle or Aquinas or Buddha or Joe Bag O’Donuts from the Boston phone book. But if we don’t enforce the rules, standards, laws, no other destination can be arrived at other than Chaos, which is where we are now.
God made the rules. And threw us out of the Garden for breaking them. Not for being intelligent. Not for recognizing the world around us. Not for self-awareness of our condition.
For breaking the rules.
Nothing has changed. The Bible is 5,000 years of wisdom, encapsulated. We ignore it at our peril: look around.
Until we accept the rules, regardless of their philosophical foundation (which will inform their making), our situation cannot change for the better.
And that’s the problem.
Matthew 13:15
For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’
Was true when originally stated and true now. Not everyone will hear or see- ever! I believe it lends credence/support to predestination and the elect. I watched a sermon the other day by a well known Reformed preacher. He remarked that contrary to some denominations, you don't get to walk down the aisle, say a prayer, and be saved forever. That's just the beginning. Living the life is a day by day struggle for the rest of your life. Then you are judged. My 2 cents.