Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Quote of the Day: the Peril and Power of the "Morally Superior" Directive

Quote:
Of the two great societal goals—freedom and "the good"—freedom requires a conservatism, a discipline of principles over the good, limited government, and so on. No way to grandiosity here. But today's liberalism is focused on "the good" more than on freedom. And ideas of "the good" are often a license to transgress democratic principles in order to reach social justice or to achieve more equality or to lessen suffering. The great political advantage of modern liberalism is its offer of license on the one hand and moral innocence—if not superiority—on the other. Liberalism lets you force people to buy health insurance and feel morally superior as you do it. Power and innocence at the same time.
Read the whole editorial. That's right, oppressing us for our own good. Or something.

Let me also remind you of this great and relevant observation by C.S. Lewis:
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive ... those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
TRUE DAT. The tyrannical nanny-bully.

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