Utopia

What Could Go Wrong

The academic mind as found in much of academia is subject to the seductive appeal of utopian fantasies. After all, if only they, the hyper intelligent, were in charge they could make all of those nasty little difficulties of life go away. And who better than them? They looked around and didn't see anyone better; and their arrogance allows them to dismiss the ideas and petty concerns of others. Oh well, pride cometh before a fall. Its' not as much of an issue with those engaged in serious academic work, designing bridges or performing surgery for instance, but mostly with those who essentially debate for a living, with maybe a little teaching thrown in.

It seems to utopians that, with a little thought, one could improve on the world and get rid of the difficulties of earning a living; we'll just plan everything and you just do what we tell you. Since they don't know what they don't know, it looks easy, but they are slowly undermining our constitutional protections.

It's not confined to colleges and universities, of course. All manner of people are convinced that they could mend the world's woes if only they had the power to do so. They inhabit government of course since government attracts them, where they mingle with the corruptible who are attracted to power, and where they can hang out with those corrupted by power.

No doubt working to bring utopia gives meaning to their lives, but it seems like they might try to get meaning in a useful fashion. They might have an oppressor versus oppressed mindset, and be thereby subject to manipulation by powerful political actors. Some of my thoughts on that:

Usually their ideas posit some sort of totalitarianism since otherwise people will do what they want rather than what philosopher kings want. I think the ideas appeal to certain types of people, those more concerned with security than freedom, not exactly a new thought.

Utopian thought was the bane of mankind throughout the twentieth century, leading to Communism, Fascism and a general tendency towards allowing an elite to control and plan society. Anywhere that the rights of the individual were sacrificed for “the greater good” people suffered and died.

The U. of Hawaii website concerning their study of mass governmental killings:

https://hawaii.edu/powerkills/welcome.html

And from their site, on the page concerning the twentieth century, is the chart shown below:

Do we see a trend here? The big killers were those embracing a utopian philosophy. Though down the list in total killed, Cambodia gets the first place medal for high per capita deaths. The leaders were full of Communist ideas and wanted to make their country modern and prosperous, and they were happy to charge ahead, reality or no reality. (And it goes almost without saying, though it must be said, that all of these utopian totalitarians almost first act was to disarm the people.)

"The right of a citizen to keep and bear arms has justly been considered the palladium of the liberties of the republic, since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power of the rulers, and will generally, even if these are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them." - Supreme Court Justice, Joseph Story, 1833

Remember the gulag system in the Soviet Union, in which people were wrongfully imprisoned and died like flies;

Needless to say, utopianism appeals to members of what we now call the Deep State as it is self evident to them that they should just make all of the decisions. Speaking of the deep state, all countries are going to have a class of un-elected people with a lot of influence, we just don't want it to get out of hand. Some interesting thoughts on the subject were published by Angelo Codevilla about America's Ruling Class in 2010:

https://spectator.org/americas-ruling-class/

And some background on Codevilla: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelo_Codevilla

Today’s ruling class, from Boston to San Diego, was formed by an educational system that exposed them to the same ideas and gave them remarkably uniform guidance, as well as tastes and habits. These amount to a social canon of judgments about good and evil, complete with secular sacred history, sins (against minorities and the environment), and saints. Using the right words and avoiding the wrong ones when referring to such matters — speaking the “in” language — serves as a badge of identity. Regardless of what business or profession they are in, their road up included government channels and government money because, as government has grown, its boundary with the rest of American life has become indistinct. Many began their careers in government and leveraged their way into the private sector. Some, e.g., Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner, never held a non-government job. Hence whether formally in government, out of it, or halfway, America’s ruling class speaks the language and has the tastes, habits, and tools of bureaucrats. It rules uneasily over the majority of Americans not oriented to government. Angelo Codevilla from America's Ruling Class.

He describes in his essay how our leaders are less and less elected from the middle of nowhere and more and more coming from in insular ruling elite; both Trump and J. D. Vance come to mind. Although Trump did not exactly exist in obscurity, he was not, and will never be, accepted as a member of the ruling class. We have just sort of migrated over the years into a situation where we have a class from which spring our leaders. It seems that our deep state wants to become the rulers of utopia, where they can fix all of those nasty problems that come from the masses.

Where utopianism is advanced through gradualism rather than revolution, albeit steady and persistent as in democratic societies, it can deceive and disarm an unsuspecting population, which is largely content and passive. It is sold as reforming and improving the existing society's imperfections and weaknesses without imperiling its basic nature. Under these conditions, it is mostly ignored, dismissed, or tolerated by much of the citizenry and celebrated by some. Transformation is deemed innocuous, well-intentioned, and perhaps constructive but not a dangerous trespass on fundamental liberties. Mark Levin

So beware the utopians wherever you find them, and help them escape from their philosophical prison. If you find one of these poor souls do what you can for them and help them to beat their addiction. Doing actual useful work might help them recover. Remember, it's a type of mental illness and they need our help and understanding, as long as we don't expect the government to do it.

Stay Brave, Stay Free