Progressivism and Relativism

The subtitle to this blog reads "A look into the heart of political philosophy" and that is what I would like to do. I know that not everyone looks at politics in the way I am going to outline, but I think it is important. There are deep philosophical assumptions that lay the foundations of both conservatism and liberalism. If we don't understand these roots, we won't really understand what means to be a conservative or a liberal, and furthermore we won't understand where these political philosophies will ultimately lead us.

Put as simply as I know how, liberalism is rooted in progressivism which is rooted in relativism. Relativism denies absolute truth which therefore makes it the enemy of all religion. Our founding fathers explicitly stated that religion was absolutely necessary to the success of this country. Following this train of thought, one can only conclude that liberalism, left unchecked, will ultimately destroy this country.

Let me explain. Modern liberalism is a branch of progressivism. Progressivism believes that a society can only improve by evolving and changing into something better. This has nothing to do with productivity and technology. Instead, it refers to economic policy, morality, political structure, and the definition of rights. It defines successful progress based on equality of outcome and not on equality of opportunity. It for this reason that collectivism and progressivism go hand in hand. The only way to improve our society is to make everyone equal, regardless of individual input. The individual is second to the collective, and therefore individual rights may be sacrificed for the greater good. It is easy to understand why the extreme version of liberalism is socialism. Progressivism ascertains that change is inevitably a good thing and that the "old" ways of doing things go quickly out of date and become detrimental to the development of a society.

All of these philosophies require a fundamental belief in relativism. Relativism proclaims that there is no absolute right and wrong. Instead, right and wrong must always be framed in the context of a specific perspective and in a specific time. What's right for you may not be right for me. And what was right for me yesterday may not be right for me tomorrow. The obvious danger of this is that we are all left to make up our own rules. This is why liberalism constantly challenges the moral status quo and even supports the moral decay of our society. Since everything is relative, we can't look to the past for any sort of guidance and we certainly can't encourage any one particular brand of morality. With relativism, we must simply live in the moment and tackle today's problems with whatever feels right today.

Now, it doesn't matter which religion you are associated with, if you are religious in any way, shape, or form you are immediately offended by such thinking. Our founding fathers understood that religion would be the glue that holds our society together because there is an absolute right and wrong. And even if you don't believe in any religion, there is an undeniable natural law that holds everything together. Nature teaches us that there are consequences to every action and that those consequences are universal. Gravity works the same for every person, from every perspective, and across all time. Shouldn't that mean something to us?

I believe I have sufficiently digressed into the realms of philosophical thought that it is time to sum things up in terms that relate to the real world. You see, the beauty of conservatism is that it is so simple. It is founded on principles and values that are held as self-evident and universal. It Is rooted in natural law and a belief in an absolute right and wrong. Change is not always a good thing, and progress doesn't always mean improvement. The individual will always be more important than the collective.

Conservatism is the belief that our founding fathers got it right, and that to stray from what they established will inevitably destroy what they built. I truly believe that the overwhelming majority of Americans are conservative in they way the live their lives, in the fundamental political and social philosophies that they subscribe to, and in the principles and values that they hold dear. Unfortunately, too many have been successful tricked by a power hungry government and a corrupted media.

What do you think?