Operation Hope Not

November 18, 2008

Ideas Have Consequences, a book that I read many years ago, is a philosophical work by Richard M. Weaver, published in 1948.

In it the author emphasizes his view that the cause of the decline of Western Civilization is recurrent, unintelligent choice by both leaders and the masses.

Weaver attributed this Western decline to the rejection of the notion of absolute truth — that there are absolute rights and wrongs; that not everything can be assigned to a gray area.

In what has become a classic work, Weaver unsparingly diagnoses the ills of our age and offers a realistic remedy. He asserts that the world is intelligible, and that man is free. The catastrophes of our age are the product not of necessity, but of unintelligent choice.

A cure, he submits, is possible. It lies in the right use of man's reason, in the renewed acceptance of an absolute reality, and in the recognition that ideas, like actions, have consequences.

I happen to believe that the outcome of of yesterday's U.S. national presidential election is a classic example of that unintelligent choice, an exercise in which reality was distorted and blurred as never before in American history.

Granted the alternative to president-elect Obama, was hardly much better. But the entire Obama campaign, executed with such consummate skill, was designed to mask the real beliefs and plans of this little known politician from Chicago.

Taken at his word and on his record, he reasonably can be said to be the most left-leaning person ever elected to the American presidency.

But that radical liberalism did not matter to millions of Americans fed up with George Bush and appropriately freightened by the economic collapse, both domestsic and foreign.

There is plenty of blame to go around for this massive Republican defeat, but I think the core reasons can be asssigned to the systematic abandonment of basic conservative principles by the hapless President Bush and the power drunk Republicans in the Congress — of which there are now many less.

Two Wolves and a Sheep

Obama's election is being hailed as a triumph of "democracy" but we all know that democracy in action is far from perfect. As Benjamin Franklin put it, democracy can be two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. That is one reason America is a republic, not a pure democracy.

A majority can commit heinous evil just as easily, if not more easily, than a minority, and they have done so over and over again throughout history. When most people support an idea that is stupid or evil, which happens quite often, that idea doesn't magically become intelligent or good.

I wish President-elect Obama well in the sense that I wish my country, the United States of America well.

What I fear is that, with large working majorities in both houses of Congress, and a far left occupant of the White House, the tendency will be to spend without limit, regulate without reason and move America far from what I believe is a majority centerist-conservative position, (notwithstanding the 2008 election results).

Obama's election was not endorsement of rampant political liberalism. Indeed he falsely presented himself as a moderate conservative.

The election was instead a rejection of unprincipled Republicans, a wrong-headed and stubborn president and his wars and unconstititional acts. Above all, its was a choice of a promise of some ethereal, undefined "hope" and "change" — prompted by a justified, deep-seated fear for the national economic future — and for the individual futures of millions of Americans.

Now we will find out who Barack Obama really is, whether America made an "intelligent choice." As of today, no one really knows what his fundamental ideas are, if indeed he does himself. We can rightfully fear that the consequences may be terrible.

I am reminded that the great Winston Churchill planned his own funeral in every detail, in a lengthy document he titled: "Operation Hope Not."

Hail to the new chief, and may God bless America. I think we will need His blessing now more than ever.

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