Putting the Common Man in His Place: Part 4
Collectivism's war against human value is not about policy, it's about deity
As we transition from individualism to collectivism, it’s important to understand that our entire cultural foundation is being replaced, and the accompanying destruction will be terrible.
Because they do not regard the common man as valuable, those responsible for this transition will fuel their ambitions with our blood.
This conflict begins with a disagreement about God, and is therefore essentially religious, not political. As such, collectivists are not fighting for different policies, they’re fighting for a different deity.
People matter more than ideas.
In Part 1 of this series, I discussed the clash of worldviews that is driving us toward a third world war. In short: the world is split between those who believe that human beings are both inherently and equally valuable, and those who do not.
In Part 2, I provided an overview of individualism — the belief that human beings are inherently and equally valuable.
In Part 3, I discussed collectivism’s rejection of inherent human value, and the effects that has on a society.
In this final installment, I’ll provide a brief summary of what we stand to gain/lose in the transition from individualism to collectivism.
I think it’s best to end this series by briefly contrasting individualism and collectivism so that we understand what we are losing in this transition from liberty to tyranny and freedom to slavery.
Because these competing worldviews take opposite approaches to nearly every issue, their contrast is most apparent when they are shown side-by-side. Unfortunately, Substack doesn’t provide me with the ability to create a table in which to perform such a comparison, so what follows is my attempt to achieve the same result in a vertical rather than a horizontal orientation.
Morality
Individualism: Morality is a set of fixed, eternal principles reflecting the nature of God. It is an absolute standard immune to human input.
Collectivism: Morality is a set of shifting diktats reflecting the nature of man. It is relativistic and subject to change without notice. Ends justify means and good deeds make up for bad.
In practice, it is merely pragmatism masquerading as principle.
Righteousness
Individualism: Righteousness is a matter of precision, in which each individual is independently measured against the absolute standard of morality.
Collectivism: Righteousness is a matter of balance, in which good and evil offset one another, and the final determination is graded on a curve.
Human value
Individualism:
You are inherently valuable
You have the same inherent value as every other human being
This value was given to you by God
Collectivism:
You are inherently expendable
You are only as valuable as you are useful
Your value is determined by what those in power can get out of you
Government
Individualism: Government is a tool created by men to provide them with safety and liberty.
It is subservient to man.
It has no legitimate power except that granted by the citizenry. This power can and should be amended or revoked when government fails to fulfill its duties.
Its jurisdiction is purely physical. It has no authority whatsoever in the metaphysical realm.
Collectivism: Government is a replacement for God.
Man is subservient to government.
Government is the source of all power.
Government is the ultimate authority on all matters physical and metaphysical, including morality and the value of any given human life.
Policy
Individualism: Good policy is that which delivers lasting societal benefits (as determined by the citizenry) while respecting the inherent, equal value and rights of all citizens.
Collectivism: Good policy is that which is deemed beneficial by the policymakers.
Agendas vs. people
Individualism: The agenda serves the people. If it fails to do so, it is replaced by one that will.
Collectivism: The people serve the agenda. If they fail to do so, they are replaced by those who will.
Conclusion
What we are witnessing is not an argument within Western Civilization, it is an argument about it. The “new normal” we are moving into is really just the old normal that dominated the world for nearly all of human history.
Rush Limbaugh often reminded us that “ours is a world governed by the aggressive use of force.” We in the West needed this reminder because the safety and prosperity of our founding principles insulated us, for a time, from this harsh reality. But having abandoned those principles and thus lost their protection, it is now becoming increasingly apparent that we’ve been living in the eye of a storm.
The liberty we’ve enjoyed for most of our lives was the exception to history, not the rule. Murder, slavery, torture, and rape, which we find abominable, are actually man’s default behavior. As such, he doesn’t need a reason to commit them, he needs a reason not to, and we are nearly done removing all vestiges of that reason.
This is not being done only at the government level. Believing that your life is put to better use by “enlightened” experts than it is by you, collectivists in all fields are leveraging whatever power is at their disposal to strip away whatever power is at yours. Just a few prominent examples:
Banks voluntarily reporting their customers’ gun purchases to the federal government
Credit card companies effectively doing the same with firearms-specific transaction codes
Investment firms leveraging their customers’ money against their customers’ interests by pursuing the collectivist Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) agenda
Corporations of all sizes sacrificing their own solvency on the altar of wokeness under the banner of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
NGOs colluding with Western governments to strip citizens of their sovereignty
Media companies promoting collectivist propaganda while simultaneously censoring opposing views
Hospitals and doctors abandoning patient-centered healthcare for collectivist one-size-fits-all medicine
Schools, employers, and businesses enforcing immoral, unscientific, and harmful masking and “vaccination” mandates
All of this is to say nothing of the corruption within Western governments, which are now so compromised as to be arguably considered vassals of the Chinese Communist Party.
The uncomfortable root of this conflict is a disagreement about God, which means this is not essentially a political dispute but a religious one. It’s no wonder that collectivists are so zealous in their pursuits, uncompromising in their demands, utterly convinced of the rightness of their cause, and willing to undergo all forms of martyrdom be they financial, political, or even physical (e.g., taking deadly COVID jabs). They aren’t fighting for different policies, they’re fighting for a different deity.
We cannot peacefully talk out this difference because there is no common ground on which to do so. One side must win and the other must lose, and right now the wind is at the backs of the collectivists.
God will ultimately triumph, of course, but the battles leading up to that time will make for increasingly unprecedented bloodlettings. We cannot sit idly by with a dismissive “God wins” mentality as if the carnage in the interim is of no concern. If we can mitigate or delay that destruction, we ought to do so using whatever means are at our disposal, within the confines of morality and wisdom.
Finally, in this time when everyone is allegedly some kind of “ist” or “phobe,” we need to remember that what’s primarily important is not the labels we attach to one another but the value. Human life is truly sacred and worthy of protection; a reality that applies to friend and foe equally. Unfortunately, this belief is facing increasing opposition.
In his book “Intellectuals,” Paul Johnson notes that many of the cultural luminaries now favored by western society were collectivists whose passion for “The People” was outdone only by their disdain for ordinary persons. This preference for an abstract collective over flesh-and-blood human beings is common to collectivists, which is in part why they consistently prioritize their agendas over our lives.
Johnson finished his study by noting something we would all do well to remember as we see the common man being readied for auction blocks and guillotines:
Above all, we must at all times remember what intellectuals habitually forget: that people matter more than concepts and must come first. The worst of all despotisms is the heartless tyranny of ideas.
No matter how appealing the collectivists’ utopia may sound, what ultimately matters is not the alleged nobility of their agenda but what they are willing to do to human beings in order to achieve it.