tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post5855619110236443769..comments2024-03-27T03:19:11.216-04:00Comments on Assistant Village Idiot: National SocialismAssistant Village Idiothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-56789990566227074532015-08-19T23:13:11.871-04:002015-08-19T23:13:11.871-04:00We've known for a long time that the left-righ...We've known for a long time that the left-right split is orthogonal to the libertarian-statist (or, as I would call it, freedom-totalitarian) split. Socialism is hard to separate from statism, so for those of us who are particularly sensitive to the dangers of totalitarianism, there's not much to choose between a communist and a fascist. The distinctions strike me as trifling and legalistic. Both claim to be looking out for the People, and both do it by concentrating control of the economy in the hands of a few government apparatchiks, using as much force as necessary in light of the level of resistance of the Enemies of the People.<br /><br />While I detest statism with a passion, there are countries where they pull it off without the evident excesses of the worst communist and fascist regimes. I'll always be suspicious and want nothing to do with their experiments, but, oddly enough, we want the same thing, in a way: people to pull together for each other. It's just that I want them to do it only to the extent they can agree voluntarily, and I favor starting with small, intimate groups, expanding only when possible without compulsion.Texan99https://www.blogger.com/profile/10479561573903660086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-72820727736720544692015-08-19T08:48:16.854-04:002015-08-19T08:48:16.854-04:00Re the fairness of the Instant-Man's running &...Re the fairness of the Instant-Man's running 'National Socialism' gag<br /><br />I find it entirely fair.<br /><br />The Left in this country (Democrat, liberal, progressive, what every the flavor of the moment) has been not too subtle about claiming they are the only thing preventing conservatives from arranging jackbooted marches down Pennsylvania Avenue while building up an array of social, political, and legal instruments to enforce the kind of conformity they are always claiming to be against. In the last few years they've even dropped the pretext of being against enforcing conformity so long as it is conformity with their preferred values.Christopher Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00396671757183163171noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-16617589674784882232015-08-18T21:55:54.283-04:002015-08-18T21:55:54.283-04:00Yep. And if someone sneaks in barely under the LCD...Yep. And if someone sneaks in barely under the LCD, they're ours. And we own that, regardless of the pain.<br /><br />In this I am both more conservative and more liberal than what one would find in popular religious culture. The secular religion, which tells us we have equal obligations to Neighbor A and Neighbor B, I reject entirely. We owe the same kindness and generosity to both. We owe acceptance to one but not the other. But here's the pain: we owe entire acceptance. It is beyond our ability. We must have grace.<br /><br />Practical example, stated in extremes for illustrative purposes. Neighbor A, who is a sociopathic criminal whose grew up in the church, made a profession, attends prison Bible study in hopes of getting parole, and has a mother who intercedes for him daily, absolutely belongs to me. Neighbor B, who is a local Muslim who I chat with and like seeing in line on election day, is not. Church-raised but long departed Little League coaches - I don't know.Assistant Village Idiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-8478871081541102882015-08-18T21:00:21.713-04:002015-08-18T21:00:21.713-04:00"I see no evidence that human beings are curr..."I see no evidence that human beings are currently equipped to go farther down the road of expanding their de facto definitions of "who is my neighbor," whatever their ideals. [...] Christians have a responsibility to get there somehow. Whether it comes naturally to us by upbringing and personality or whether it comes only by grace, we are under orders that our tribe is the Christian tribe, regardless of what original tribe each of us came from."<br /><br />It goes further than that. The answer to "who is my neighbor" was the parable of the Good Samaritan. Samaritans weren't co-religionists with the Jews. They were heretics as well as foreigners; they were traditional enemies.Earl Wajenberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03972213104063301125noreply@blogger.com