It has been some time since I have last written here at the
Geek’s Guide to Christianity. Much has happened in my life, most of which has
been been positive, and now I am back just in time to weigh in on the current
excitement in Great Britain and Europe. Of course, I am speaking about
Brexit.
First, I would like to start with a little critique of an
article from the magazine Foreign Policy entitled
“The
Collapse of the Liberal World Order” by Stephen M. Walt. As one can
imagine, the collapse of any Liberal Order and the subsequent article covering
that disintegration will definitely pique my interest. However, I find that
while I agree with some of the conclusions, the author has not identified the
correct reason for this downfall. For too often, the article identifies that
the liberal democracy of Europe and the United States is under attack by
tyrannical forces and fundamentalists fighting the the liberal agenda (i.e.
tolerance, acceptance, and equality).
This is a gross trivialization and outright disingenuous
view of the current anti-establishment, anti-globalist climate sweeping the
West. To really dig deep into the current issues one must have a fair and
objective look into the real issues of the day and not be swayed by the labels
placed on certain people and groups. The first thing that has to be done is to
define what we are talking about when speaking of “democracy.”
Dictionary.com (2016) defines democracy as, “government by the people; a
form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and
exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral
system.” Today, individuals like
to think of the United States as a “democracy” which according to the
definition, it pretty much is. However, this was not always the case. The
Founding Fathers were very keen to delineate the differences between their
newly minted Republic and the traditional view of democracy.
It might come as a surprise that initially, the general public
had a limited ability to elect their federal officials. Of course, the members
of the House of Representatives were elected by popular vote, but the president
was elected via the electoral college which has defied the direct popular vote
on a number of occasions (Hanke, 2011). Additionally, senators were appointed
by each state which was changed to election by popular vote by the Seventeenth
Amendment (United States Senate, n.d.).
It is no surprise as time continued and crises manifested
themselves that the federal government granted itself greater and greater power
with a push toward a more democratic system being the result. However, just
because the United States is more democratic, does not mean the people are more
free, it is actually quite the opposite. In 2012, it was estimated by the
Census Bureau that at least 52.2 million Americans are participants in a
government assistance program. Add a staggering 43.3 million Americans with
student loan debt (much of which is federal) (Student Loan Hero, 2016), 6.8
million on long-term unemployment (Long, 2016), and a myriad of government
subsidies for a wide-range of individuals and companies and the freedoms
brought about by a democracy really becomes a tyranny of dependency.
In addition to be ruled by our subsidy dependency, the
modern day Westerner is subject to a regulation on acceptable rhetoric. The
days of “I don’t agree with what you say, but I’ll defend to death the right
for you to say it” are gone and replaced with public shaming, career
destroying, and opening individuals and groups up to being targeted by
terrorists and psychopaths. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR),
which has its own questionable ties to terrorist
organizations, released a list of individuals and organizations who they
deem as Islamophobic.
What is interesting to note is that just about every prominent conservative,
Republican, and Christian organization is found within this list. Regardless of
your thoughts on the matter, a list like this only exists to shut these groups
up by publically shaming them and by placing a big target on the back of
everyone associated with these groups. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)
which, all things considered, is a hate group
identifying “hate groups,” has created a list of “Islamophobic” individuals
called “The
Anti-Muslim Inner Circle.”
Organizations such as CAIR and the SPLC either recklessly or
intentionally endanger lives and use scare tactics to quiet those who don’t
agree with them. What the so called “tolerant” liberal thinkers (so touted by
Mr. Walt) behind these and similar organizations could care less about who they
hurt and if their rhetoric leads to death and dismemberment. In August 2012,
the Washington D.C. headquarters of the Family
Research Council was attacked by a volunteer at a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
and Transgender (LGBT) community center because it was placed on a list of hate
groups by the SPLC. On June 2, 2015,
police in Boston killed a suspected terrorist who had originally plotted to
behead Pamela Geller, who is listed by CAIR and SPLC in their lists about
Islamophobia.
It is no wonder after looking at these examples, that a
trend away form the so called “liberal democracy” as outlined by Walt has
little to due with individuals having too much freedom within a democratic
society, but are sick of having every aspect of their lives regulated and their
opinions deemed “hateful” and “intolerant.” This brings us back to Brexit which
demonstrates that, “yes,” we are definitely seeing the downfall of the “liberal
world order” in a political climate we have not seen in at least 200 years.
But, it has little to do with too much freedom or an appeal to fundamentalism,
but a thirst for independence from regulation and government dependency.
Fortunately, this time it seems that politics and votes are winning the day
instead of the multiple cases of revolutionary and civil wars that reared their
ugly heads in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Brexit
vote is just the beginning for a Western populace who cares more about the issues
of sovereignty, vast government overreach, immigration, economics, and public
safety rather than who’s feelings they are going to hurt.
References:
Dictionary,com. (2016). Democracy.
Retrieved from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/democracy?s=t.
Hanke, S.H. (2011). On democracy versus liberty. Cato Institute. Retrieved from http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/democracy-versus-liberty.
Student Loan Hero. (2016).
A Look at the Shocking Loan Debt
Statistics for 2016. Retrieved from https://studentloanhero.com/student-loan-debt-statistics-2016/.
United States Senate. (n.d.). Direct Election of Senators. Retrieved from http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Direct_Election_Senators.htm.
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