Yet the restraints which, say, Louis the 16th had on his power are eliminated. Traditional moral codes are gone. The church is gone. Tradition itself is gone. The second, third and fourth Estates are gone.
Rather, power of and for itself is the only true dominant principle.
Pondering this, I got to thinking of a recent series of assaults I endured from a thoughtless Leftist, who was telling me how awful America is.
And it occurred to me that the essence of conservatism–when the word is used, as it currently must be–as a synonym for a true Liberal–is conservation. It’s reasonable to ask what is wrong with our nation, what we are doing wrong, or have done wrong, but it is also worth asking what WORKS, what is going right. What, in other words, needs to be changed, AND what is worth keeping?
There is nothing in any liberal democracy which requires complete destruction. All of us, all modern liberal nations, have evolved. There is no historical nation these people can point to who are blameless. Certainly no European nations who are or have been powerful, and certainly no Asian or South American nations. Anti-Americanism depends entirely on ignorance, a reckless disregard of facts, and an absolute spatial and historical decontrxtualization.
Then it HIT me. The dominant emotion of the Left is disgust. Disgust, unlike resentment, is a primary emotion. Sade was addicted to the feeling of disgust. This feeling is what connects all this. Leftist do not feel pity, say, for blacks, but rather disgust with people they NEED to be hateful, so their disgust makes sense.
I may have said this before,but if so I forgot. There is something deep and relevant here.