Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Graham Cunningham's avatar

My only quibble with this essay is the first sentence. Equalitarianism didn't spread through college campuses and bureaucracies in the last five years. It has been dominant in academia since the 60s and in bureaucracies since the 80s. It took root in the intelligentsia in the 20s. What is true is that it only started to be widely apparent to a mass public in recent years. The reason why it is important to stress this historical timeline is that we in the West have deluded ourselves for too long - ever since WW2 - that there were two equally valid political perspectives....a 'Left' one and a 'Right' one. This was never true. The Leftist equalitarian perspective has always been bogus. We are now living with the consequences of indulging an intelligentsia mind-game that was always sooner or later destined to lead to the civilisational mess we're in now. Maybe it was ultimately unstoppable but calling things by their right names all those decades ago might have reined it in considerably. This is not just a five year, a ten year or even a twenty year old malaise and it's important to always be clear about that.

Expand full comment
Glenn Ellmers's avatar

The information presented here is very useful. The recommendation, not so much.

What does it mean to kill the seeds of equalitarianism? Maybe some things are better left to be inferred. Ok. But it would be helpful to spell out what the author is NOT suggesting.

To be specific, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison wanted a political equality of natural rights, under the rule of law, which rejected the double standard of serfs vs. nobles in medieval Europe.

The woke Left is abandoning the rule of law and returning to the old double standard: Your speech is violence, our violence is speech. Our protestors are heroes, your protestors are criminal insurrectionists.

Where does the author stand on THIS meaning of equality?

Expand full comment
82 more comments...

No posts