The Truth Will Set Us Free

by John R Morgan, MD

Although the paleo-conservative and libertarian movement has almost no official political lineament, I share Lew Rockwell's sense of optimism.

There seems to be a powerful paradigm forming on the horizon from the timely interaction of social failures and scientific advances. Independent and (often) seemingly antinomial phenomena are now simultaneously expanding within the restrictive confines of our cultural/political/ideological system. Something must give – I pray it will be statism.

Our current predicament can easily be characterized.

We live in a time called the post-modern era. This designation does not refer so much to what we believe in but to how we think. The postmodern man is unable to justify good ideas or reject deleterious ones because he begins with the assumption that there is no objective truth; all values and ideas are equivalent and merely culturally conditioned.

This value relativism is essentially nihilism – nothing can be known. This position is (and has always been) unacceptable to human nature. Nietzsche arrived at this position only to invent his own system of right and wrong based in the ethics of nobility and slavery.

Likewise, our cultural elite has invented its own rigid code of morality often called Political Correctness.

After several decades of relatively unopposed leftist propaganda permeating every aspect of our society via public schools, television, movies , and other pop culture, value relativism defines the mindset of postmodern man. Although he is now helpless to refute the destructive premises of Political Correctness, he has not actively embraced this morality – yet.

Eventually,postmodern man must truly embrace some set of values.

It is this certainty that has caused despair among conservatives for some time. How could we ever compete against the cultural elite's overwhelming domination of technology based information and images? Until recently I was sure that the fate of postmodern man was the same as the protagonist in Orwell's 1984: he would love Big Brother.

Now I am not so sure.

One only has to look at LewRockwell.com to see the powerful incipient paradigm. At its very core is the understanding that decentralization of information provided by the Internet serves as the nidus on which the new mental framework is crystallizing (much as the printing press was the nidus for the Reformation and the media in the hands of the liberal elite was the nidus for post-modernism)

Leftists fear this new technology. Even as you read this, control freaks in governments around the world are attempting to limit free speech on the Internet. They are working hand in hand with self-proclaimed anti-defamation groups to defame and control anyone who challenges their ideological and political hegemony. (At this point I would like to parenthetically say hello to those who monitor inappropriate websites such as LewRockwell.com. Lighten up. Quit fighting the future. Everything will be OK.)

See the power? The tired old socialists don't seem so progressive anymore, do they? Curbing free speech on the Internet is like trying to televise Elvis from the waist up – people want the entire show!

This medium was tailor – made for freedom lovers and it certainly came at a great time.

The perpetual remaking of society in pursuit of the egalitarian dream has become a nightmare. The impermanence is oppressive. Postmodern man subconsciously knows that he is not an isolated piece of clay waiting for government to mold him. He has roots. He desires basic dignity – dignity that is sacrificed every day on the altar of Political Correctness.

This, ultimately, is the answer to post- modern man's nihilism.

If values are culturally conditioned, then human dignity requires that distinct cultures be given meaningful self-control; otherwise, the ethos of self-destruction and ever-lasting caprice guides life. There is, therefore, only one logical and humane answer to our current philosophical problem. Man can know one thing: he can know what his ancestors believed – and he is morally justified in attempting to preserve their way of life.

The settlers who founded this country yearned for a sublime life based in capitalism, anti-statism, and Christian morality. Their beliefs were hammered out on the anvil of European history. Our most recent presidential election has revealed that these beliefs (albeit attenuated) remain a shibboleth of their descendants. LewRockwell.com seems to document the schizophrenic intellectual journey to once again place primacy on the sublime life and search for the pragmatic conditions necessary for its realization.

This intellectual journey takes an honest look at the bowdlerized tales of American icons such as Lincoln, FDR, and MLK. The South receives special emphasis owning the distinction of being the second group of people ever to be forcibly reconstructed by a modern political state (the first being the French). The importance of Christianity in our political tradition is analyzed. The hypocrisy, brutality, and failure of the Left are exposed. Science is once again recognized as a structured method of gaining knowledge from the empirical world as opposed to a hubristic metaphysical philosophy claiming to understand everything (and coincidentally never at odds with Political Correctness).

Where will this intellectual journey take us? Who knows?

Maybe America will return to its revolutionary idea – restriction of the central government. Maybe the Southern (or Western) states will secede. Maybe intelligent design theory will replace the myth of macroevolution ushering in a spiritual renewal. Maybe, after 50 years of failed social engineering, neurotic guilt will be replaced with a healthy respect for the principle of parsimony concerning demographics.

Whatever happens, I am already enjoying the ride. I am enjoying the freedom of the Internet. Whatever happens, I am optimistic that the truth will set us free.

John R. Morgan, MD, is a practicing physician in Atlanta.