Thursday, February 14, 2008
Pseudo-rebels Who Remain Pseudo-rebels (It's a Kid Thing)
One of Winston Churchill's most insightful political observations was that (I'm paraphrasing), "Anyone who isn't a liberal when young doesn't have a heart...and anyone who isn't a conservative when old doesn't have a brain."
Anyone with intellectual inclinations remembers the times during childhood and adolescence when we made the snappy observation in class or among fellow students or friends (i.e. "communism is good in theory" or "Mao did a lot of good for China." Inevitably it was what we would now call a "liberal" statement; something critical of "the system," corporations, the military, or conventional religion. Intellectuals are no different than "jocks" or the many other personas people seek to embody – we all want to be cool. But, somewhere upon gaining a degree of self-honesty, those of us who had later become conservative realized that simply mimicking the ideas of our teachers, the media, and entertainers was not really the act of a cool rebel with wise insight but merely the stale parroting of resentful snobs who despise decency and reasoned thought.
Anyone can now become a "rebel" and be happy to know that they are among millions of other "rebels." One need only hate America, hate democratic open society (and, of course, the free market) and hate the individual thoughts, actions, and successes of others. By doing so we can remain cool.
But, ...some of us eventually grow up.
