A Republic of Reason

posted at 11:59 pm on May 5, 2010 by Doctor Zero

Everyone prefers the government to conduct its affairs with reason.  We live in a lawful republic, rather than suffering at the mercy of an emotionally unstable monarch.  Faith in law demands the supremacy of reason, because law is discipline, the opposite of uncontrolled passion.

Big Government programs are presented to the public as triumphs of intellect, designed by men and women of genius.  The Left always worships its leaders as great thinkers, despite mediocre academic performance and foolish behavior.  We’re a couple of years past the point where anyone could keep a straight face while calling Al Gore a genius, but remember that during the 2000 presidential campaign, he was touted as a human supercomputer.  Hillary Clinton was purportedly the smartest woman who ever lived.  Barack Obama was hailed as a new step in evolution, a Lightworker whose mighty intelligence defied the imagination of science-fiction writers.

This religious devotion to the mind-power of its leadership is crucial to the Left, and not just because it flatters their vanity to see themselves as demigods marching behind Olympians.  If you believe America’s affairs are best addressed by controlling the citizens through trillion-dollar government programs, it follows that you must believe these programs are brilliant.  Brilliant programs must be the work of great minds.  Our current Administration has created the largest and most expensive government in American history, so it must be the most intelligent Administration to ever occupy the White House, and its programs must be works of great inspiration.  For a leftist to doubt this would introduce the first cracks into a suddenly fragile view of the world.

I strongly agree that government programs should be carefully drafted, and taxpayers’ money spent in the most intelligent manner.  Big Government isinherently unsuited to this task.  Only a small government is fit to serve a republic of reason, because the larger government becomes, the more it abandons logic for emotion.

Politics are deeply emotional.  We live in a representative republic, so we don’t vote directly on national issues.  We vote for representatives.  When government is small, the voters can reasonably expect to understand the issues of the day, and make rational decisions to support candidates who reflect their positions on those issues.  You’ll never find a candidate who agrees with you on everything, of course, but you can cast an informed vote for those who generally see things your way.

When the size of government expands, this kind of rational voting becomes impossible.  The voters can’t possibly understand the huge range of issues at stake, or the fine points of legislation covering thousands of pages.  Thecandidates don’t understand them either, as you can see from the charming habits of the current Congress, which votes on bills it hasn’t read, or even fully written.  When representatives exert control over hundreds of issues and billions of dollars, you can’t review their positions the way you’d examine the specs of a computer system at Best Buy.

This causes the process of electing representatives to become entirelyemotional.  It always contains an element of pathos, and successful politicians are generally good at inspiring (or manipulating) passionate responses, but voting for the stewards of Big Government is a metaphysical process.  Voters concern themselves with perceptions of character and elements of biography.  They focus on intentions, rather than detailed proposals.  They vote for legends, not humble servants of the Constitution.

For example, note that defenders of President Obama almost invariably excuse his failures, and ignore his vicious treatment of critics, by saying he’s “trying to do something good.”  This was the explanation recently offered by comedian Marlon Wayans, and director Judd Apatow, for why it’s so hard for them to make jokes about the President.  It’s absolutely foolish to cut the author of staggering deficits, a fantastically corrupt government, and double-digit unemployment the kind of slack you’d give to a well-meaning but inept family member.  A huge central government should be assessed with merciless and dispassionate logic.

Emotional politics quickly become bitter politics.  If your vote is based largely on your ability to judge character, then criticism of your candidates becomes an insult to your wisdom, not a debate against your reasoning.  Tribal loyalty coalesces around political leaders.  Voting becomes an act of spiritual expression.  Look at the poor souls who think voting for Obama meant voting for “free” health care, or some mystical wave of love rolling from overseas to break gently upon America’s shores.  They’re not going to view people who vote against him in 2012 as a loyal opposition, engaging in a spirited contest of ideas.  They’ll be the opposite of someone who’s trying to do something good.

As the government grows, politics seep into every aspect of life, turningeverything into another sour exchange in an endless argument.  These days, you can’t even go to a basketball game, or watch the trailer to a sillyexploitation film, without getting slapped across the face by partisan politics.  Note that the Phoenix Suns and the makers of “Machete” are making no attempt to present a reasoned argument, or appeal to logic.  They don’t havereasoned arguments.  They have attitudes.

The grand illusion behind progressivism, fascism, communism, and all the other metallic hues of collective politics is the hope for an intelligent, virtuous super-State, applying total power to the construction of a just society with the precision of a master engineer.  It’s a dream captured by H.G. Wells in The Shape of Things to Come: an enlightened tyranny of scientists, using their genius to conquer the world for its own good.  In reality, the super-State will always be a creature of passion, terror, and frenzy.  Total power can only be secured by whipping a few loyal constituencies into line, rather than making reasoned appeals to an entirely respected electorate.

It will require a combination of passion and intelligence to sustain the momentum of the Tea Party movement, and rebuild a republic of reason from our dying central State.  Maybe then we can all calm down, and think clearly.

Cross-posted at www.doczero.org.

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