The peristence of ideology

Maybe I don't need to write that book. This sums up a lot of my thinking.

The Persistence of Ideology

"Ideological thinking is not confined to the Islamists in our midst. The need for a simplifying lens that can screen out the intractabilities of life, and of our own lives in particular, springs eternal; and with the demise of Marxism in the West, at least in its most economistic form, a variety of substitute ideologies have arisen from which the disgruntled may choose.

Most started life as legitimate complaints, but as political reforms dealt with reasonable demands, the demands transformed themselves into ideologies, thus illustrating a fact of human psychology: rage is not always proportionate to its occasion but can be a powerful reward in itself. Feminists continued to see every human problem as a manifestation of patriarchy, civil rights activists as a manifestation of racism, homosexual-rights activists as a manifestation of homophobia, anti-globalists as a manifestation of globalization, and radical libertarians as a manifestation of state regulation.

How delightful to have a key to all the miseries, both personal and societal, and to know personal happiness through the single-minded pursuit of an end for the whole of humanity! At all costs, one must keep at bay the realization that came early in life to John Stuart Mill, as he described it in his Autobiography. He asked himself:

'Suppose that all your objects in life were realized; that all the changes in institutions and opinions which you are looking forward to, could be effected at this very instant: would this be a great joy and happiness to you?” And an irrepressible self-consciousness distinctly answered, 'No!' At this my heart sank within me: the whole foundation on which my life was constructed fell down. All my happiness was to have been found in the continual pursuit of this end. The end had ceased to charm, and how could there ever again be any interest in the means? I seemed to have nothing left to live for.

This is the question that all ideologists fear, and it explains why reform, far from delighting them, only increases their anxiety and rage. It also explains why traditional religious belief is not an ideology in the sense in which I am using the term, for unlike ideology, it explicitly recognizes the limitations of earthly existence, what we can expect of it, and what we can do by our own unaided efforts. Some ideologies have the flavor of religion; but the absolute certainty of, say, the Anabaptists of Münster, or of today’s Islamists, is ultimately irreligious, since they claimed or claim to know in the very last detail what God requires of us."

I would recommend the entire article.

John Stuart Mill represents the kind of liberalism that I take seriously. I have even become persuaded, as of late, as he believed, that though we should be very careful of its, the death penalty may be necessary in some cases where hardened murderers are not likely to change their ways (we may, perhaps, never be careful enough to use this final and irrevocable penalty and thus should lose the power of its use, but I am open to the idea that there are some people who will not ever allow themselves to be redeemed, at least to the prohibition on murder).

This I am sure of. Ideology is often a false lense that artificially creates a sense of certainty in an uncertain world.

And a more understanding liberalism and a more clear and genuinely compassionate conservativism is the kind to which I subscribe. Independent thought and a commitment to moderate impulses that do not try to substitute ideology for uncertainty is the general commitments that animate my life.

What I know is that the persistent manipulation of democracies by ideologues, terrorists, and others of far too certain perspectives must end if we are to have a world that does not rationalize murder for whatever ends and which does not give young people confidence that the world is a generally good and decent place where bad actors must be dealt with but not at the expense of creating space for good actors to come out of many different places we never expected.

And that world would be one of which we could be proud.