The false center cannot hold.
In France, President Emmanuel Macron has now lost his majority in the National Assembly; his party holds 245 seats in the lower house, but the Right holds 150 and the Left 131. In Colombia, former M-19 guerrilla and Marxist Gustavo Petro has now become the president of the country, replacing more establishment, Keynesian liberal rule. In the United States, the supposed center within both parties has been increasingly supplanted by anti-establishment forces on both sides.None of this should be shocking, given the destruction of institutional trust throughout the West. And the destruction of that institutional trust has been well earned: It represents the natural result of policy elites lying to those they supposedly serve. Our policy elites maintain that they favor free markets while simultaneously battling against free markets on behalf of a world-changing ideology; they proclaim that they value traditional religion while fighting to undermine its most fundamental foundations; they argue that the world order must be maintained while shying away from the reality of international politics.
Klaus Schwab, the head of the World Economic Forum, supposedly a repository of free market thinking, declares that he and his friends will "serve not only self-interest, but we serve the community"; he then proceeds to leverage economic power on behalf of their preferred ideological outcomes. The result is both economic failure and ideological failure. Take, for example, the Biden administration's simultaneous demand that oil companies ramp up production and that we completely undermine oil and gas development over the next few years in order to fight global warming. Or, more immediately, take the German attempts to "green" their own economy while quietly outsourcing energy production to Russia -- a policy so egregiously stupid that it has now resulted in Germany firing up coal plants again, now that Russia has cut off the oil supply.
On the social front, our institutional elite declare fealty to traditional institutions -- church, family, localism -- and then simultaneously insist that society remake itself in the most radical possible image. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declares her fealty to Catholicism in the same sentence in which she militantly maintains her support for abortion-on-demand; President Joe Biden proclaims his own religiosity while simultaneously deploying his Department of Justice to target states that seek to prevent the confusion and mutilation of children based on nonsensical gender theory.
On the foreign policy front, our institutional leaders tell us that we must uphold the world order, then refuse to accept the consequences of that leadership. They rail against the evils of the Saudi Arabian regime while simultaneously intoning that the West must sign a deal with the Iranian terror regime, then end up visiting the Saudis to beg for more oil production. They declare their undying support for the Ukrainian government, then become wishy-washy about providing either the support necessary for its victory or an exit plan in case victory is unachievable. They look askance at the Chinese threat to Taiwan, then teach proper transgender pronoun use to members of the Navy.
In short, our institutional elites rely on the power of civilizational foundations that long predate them -- free markets, religious values, military strength -- to prop up failing ideas that undermine those foundations. The result is failure. The Left looks at the prevailing elite consensus and declares it dishonest: If the elites' principles mattered, they would fight free markets, religious values and military strength. The Right looks at the prevailing elite consensus and feels the same way: If the elites put aside their ideological commitments to leftism, they'd cement our civilizational foundations rather than keep eroding them.
Perhaps the center isn't holding because it shouldn't hold. That center has sought to enshrine its own power by taking from both the Left and the Right; it has no coherent ideology of its own. And that false center is now coming apart with centrifugal force, torn between those who believe in the fundamental institutions of the West and those who wish to see them supplanted.
Ben Shapiro, 38, is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School, host of "The Ben Shapiro Show," and Editor-in-Chief of DailyWire.com. He is a three-time New York Times bestselling author; his latest book is "The Authoritarian Moment: How The Left Weaponized America's Institutions Against Dissent." To find out more about Ben Shapiro and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
COPYRIGHT 2022 CREATORS.COM.
6 comments:
Perhaps the center doesn’t hold because the nut jobs on either extreme have hijacked rational discourse. See Scripture, Old, New and Book of Muhammad. Not exactly anything new. The Dark Ages weren’t only because of a plague. It was the period before the Enlightenment. Check back in a couple of centuries.
May Peace find all, and especially those who stir hatred such as Ben.
The problem is the vast majority of people have been conditioned to rely on professional leaders to think for them. These political leaders actually think only for themselves but pander to docile masses to perpetuate their authority. They inflate the differences between people and create factions so that they can pretend to represent the interest of a particular faction.
It's all a con game and the whole country is being played for suckers just so that a few can be modern day kings and queens. One day we will see we're all in the same boat and the "leaders" will disappear. That's when it will be too late.
What Ben Shapiro is , is an absolutist, perfectionist, and theoretical believer who sees color only in skin tones.
What Ben is not is a sociologist, pragmatist,student of human behavior or historian.
It's true that poor minorities and poor whites have more common with each other than with the wealthy. They have actually only ever bonded together to storm the Bastille or charged up the steps of the White Palace or overthrow the Shah or establish a military government in recent history.
Most of the time, they become either " the hordes" or follow a dictator with no clear alternative to the existing governmental/power structure except they get to run it.
But, oh yes, they will force the rational and intelligent to pick sides, flee,be forced to comply or die.
Again, the new rulers will be imperfect and make terrible mistakes and enrich themselves and gain more power but their followers will excuse and rationalize and justify their behaviors until they are once again on the bottom of the economic and social ladder and no longer feel better about themselves and hopeful just by being a " loyalist" and being part of a "tribe". The men will find again that " life isn't fair" and not all men are equal when it comes to winning in the status game at play. Women will find again that they and their children will not be honored and cherished and allowed to excel but property and valued only as an asset based on beauty and our ability to satisfy a man's ego and needs. The expendable will be more expendable as we destruct.
Every religion warns us of our human flaws and urges us to be honest and benevolent towards those unlike ourselves, but we just can't overcome being dazzled by those who seek wealth and power or beauty of charisma and believe that somehow, we will be accepted and appreciated as part of their "group". Our religion of choice will bring nirvana once all adhere. And, those who don't can suffer Inquisition in one form or another.
We never accept absolute power corrupts absolutely so we allow it to occur again.
We again seek one political concept or religious set of beliefs to bestow a " Father" government and believe all "Father's "sons and daughters" will look after us and we don't have to hold them accountable. We will excuse their shortcomings over time, no matter how egregious until again we must start over. And, we can't seem to " start over" without losing any gains made. When you " throw the baby out with the bath water",the baby dies.
Our new " father(s)" might not rise to deity status but they will be our disciples and prophets and God, by any name given in a culture will weep.
And, again, history is repeated.
What @8:59 is is an egotist.
What @8:50 is not is an expert at anything.
Marxism by any other name is still Marxism. It’s never worked anywhere it’s been tried and yet they just can’t let it go!
This word salad by Ben can be easily explained people. The world at large is screwed.
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