tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759178030677978044.post2121392757412389571..comments2024-02-19T07:24:42.397-08:00Comments on Anglican Curmudgeon: Big Brother Is Watching YouA. S. Haleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05108498446058643166noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759178030677978044.post-36319956499849652212011-06-11T11:16:26.835-07:002011-06-11T11:16:26.835-07:00ALLtoJesus - the Mark of the Beast, perhaps?ALLtoJesus - the Mark of the Beast, perhaps?Carolynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10848579024671146771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759178030677978044.post-16247494852733906792011-06-11T10:02:47.232-07:002011-06-11T10:02:47.232-07:00Absolutely terrifying intrusions into the privacy ...Absolutely terrifying intrusions into the privacy and lives of United States citizens.<br /><br />We are truly losing control of our own individual destinies on every front as well as losing control of the destiny of our beloved nation.<br /><br />It is about time Patriots rose up and stood together against this unconscionable tyranny.<br /><br />Pray to the Good Lord it is not too late.bluebird272https://www.blogger.com/profile/01138572507411756160noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759178030677978044.post-31493179052549781992011-06-10T13:43:39.788-07:002011-06-10T13:43:39.788-07:00Next the mini version of the black box, a chip emb...Next the mini version of the black box, a chip embedded in your forehead or hand to monitor your whereabouts and identify you.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759178030677978044.post-45004663243934090412011-06-10T12:04:26.707-07:002011-06-10T12:04:26.707-07:00Dear Mr. Haley,
I don't find it remarkable at...Dear Mr. Haley,<br /><br />I don't find it remarkable at all that "<i>the developments toward (an Orwellian nanny state) should parallel in time the impending arrival of a similar state in the Episcopal Church!</i>" Rather, I would suggest that it was almost predictable, at least in the past few years. The U.S. has been moving quietly in that direction for some time, certainly longer than your or my lifetime. And it has been steadily advancing in the Episcopal Church since the 1930s, since the acceptance of divorce and of artificial contraception. Looking back in time, it seems to have been all of a piece.<br /><br />The political conservatives of my high school years, <i>et. seq.</i> (some 50+ years ago) are not the political conservatives of today. The earlier generation was of a more Burkean, or <i>Old Whig</i> bent, something closer to a Hayekian understanding of political economy. <br />Even many of the Democratic elected officials of that era were more principled and more interested liberty than today's number.<br /><br />Today's are no longer <i>liberal</i> in the sense of being devoted to liberty, they are devout <i>progressives</i>. Since Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover and FDR, they are people committed to a vision of humankind, most particularly of themselves and their supporters, which assumes unquestioningly that human history is the story of human progress, <i>i.e.</i>, that we know so much more than those who went before us, and to what has been called the <i>progressive fallacy</i>, that is, to the idea that if the best experts are assembled and given all of the available data pertaining to any particular socio-political (or economic) problem those experts can arrive at <i>the one best solution</i>.<br /><br />They completely ignore even the possibility that different solutions to a problem may be required because different people have different problems, priorities and preferences. And they have elected as President an empty suit who pointed out to them that "Yes, we can change," ignoring that solely because we are able to change, it is not necessarily the case that we ought to.<br /><br />In many ways, this is little more than one more re-enactment of the Original Sin of our first parents. To the extent that <i>progressives</i> share any traits at all, it is the trait of arrogance, of thinking that "we can be like God, knowing good from evil" that characterizes the breed. And it has been on public display from them, to one degree or another, since the early 20th century Presidents I named above.<br /><br />I think Eric Blair was likely conscious of the direction in which Western history appeared to be progressing when he wrote the book to which you refer. It was only the specific time frame of his prognostication that was in need of adjustment.<br /><br /><i>Pax et bonum</i>,<br />Keith TöpferMartial Artisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11679584221923893460noreply@blogger.com