"Can you think of any area of life that isn’t impacted by politics these days? Everything from what you know to how you raise your children to how you die is affected by politics, which is the true god of the age."
The always thoughtful Paul Rosenberg has written a terrific essay on the way politics has become a proxy for actual virtue in the modern age and how this might end. ~ Kevin Massengill
Free-Man's Perspective, Aug 14, 2018
"Righteousness” is a seldom heard word in modern life, but the concept is still very much with us. In fact, political arguments all through the West focus on shows of righteousness.
So, how does someone show themself to be righteous without ever coming near the word? It’s done with a simple trick that you’ll recognize immediately:
Rather than declaring ourselves righteous, we show ourselves to be the enemy of unrighteousness, gaining the same result without ever having to utter the R-word.
Here are a couple of examples:
- If you’re an American left-winger, you talk about the monsters who tear children from their parents, who collude with enemies to steal elections, and who’d support the KKK if they could.
- If you’re an American right-winger, you talk about the insane defenders of cop-killers who want to destroy our civilization and who violently attack anyone voicing a contrary opinion.
By raging against the evil of your adversary, you take on the gleam of righteousness – you’re defending the world from evil, after all – but you stay far from religion or even an obligation to behave well.
The trick has worked exceptionally well, and the voting public sees politicians as agents of righteousness, even if the word is never used.
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