Thursday 15 July 2021

All Men are Created Equal

 Stanford historian Jack Rakove makes the following interesting point.

"When Jefferson wrote “all men are created equal” in the preamble to the Declaration, he was not talking about individual equality. What he really meant was that the American colonists, as a people, had the same rights of self-government as other peoples, and hence could declare independence, create new governments and assume their “separate and equal station” among other nations. But after the Revolution succeeded, Americans began reading that famous phrase another way. It now became a statement of individual equality that everyone and every member of a deprived group could claim for himself or herself. With each passing generation, our notion of who that statement covers has expanded. It is that promise of equality that has always defined our constitutional creed."

This statement in its distorted form has become the basic dogma of the modern world and I would submit that it lies at the root of our rejection of reality. That is to say, it is used as a justification for it, a kind of religious principle that is taken as obvious and good and right, and to deviate from which is the mark of a wicked person. The fact that it is clearly false doesn't stop us from believing or pretending to believe it. For the masses it is a way to get back at those that have been over them or have more than them. For the weak it is a way to cut the strong down to size. For the sentimental it is a way to make them feel they are decent  and kind people. For the demons and their disciples in the world it is a way to bring down real truth and goodness which are necessarily hierarchical. I would suggest a far more accurate statement is one that the Masters made to me which was this. "Men are by no means equal on the earth plane but that is no reason to dismiss anybody." This statement takes care of both aspects of truth. The fact that we are all the children of God, in potential at least,  but there are older and younger children amongst us. If all men are created equal there is then no higher or lower. There is nowhere to go.

10 comments:

MagnusStout said...

Another interesting aside from the article: Jefferson was a race realist along the lines of Vox Day. Merely acknowledging such differences today will get you "unpersoned" (just ask the milquetoast Charles Murray).

If leftism is ultimately corrupting, then the US--deeply bathed in leftist thought--was doomed. I would submit that America has only prospered because the Christianity of her citizens could check her leftist politics. That is no longer true.

Wokeism is now our official religion. Or, as Tom Holland expressed: it is Christianity without Christ. Our banner is the rainbow flag, which is unironically displayed (alongside BLM) on our houses of worship. Our companies are essential partners to the Birdemic agenda. We defend--at gunpoint--levels of industrialized infanticide that would have made the Carthaginians blush. Inevitable collapse would be the least this evil society deserves.

William Wildblood said...

The extraordinary thing about today is the skill at which evil is disguised as almost a moral thing. It's as though in the past evil was obviously bad even though it may have been somewhat justified to a corrupt mind but now it's actively celebrated as a universal good. Which, of course, makes it even more spiritually dangerous, to put it mildly.

Bruce Charlton said...

It is quite extraordinary the degree to which this has gone forward.

Because all are declared equal (i.e. the same) in every way, *any* difference is blamed on those who deny equality - no matter how absurd. e.g. *Every* difference between trans- and biological- woman is seen as the fault of intolerance and hatred from those who refuse to acknowledge the exact sameness of trans and bio.

In practice, this sameness-by-decree is enforced by absolute censorship and control of communications - which is almost certainly the real, evil, demonic reason behind the doctrine of equality.

Because it seems ever clearer to me that the devil proceeds mainly by The Lie; and the more lies which people can be induced to 'believe' and endorse; the greater the triumph of evil.

And few inventions have ever led to more lies than the ideology of equality.

William Wildblood said...

Yee, you have to admit it's a clever ploy. But then it shouldn't be so hard to see through for anyone who is serious about understanding life. The trouble is most people aren't. They just go along with the status quo. When that's evil as now the rot really sets in.

JMSmith said...

That wretched line has been used to justify untold mischief, and we haven't seen the end of it. Jefferson's mistake (or folly) was to justify the independence of the American colonies with the philosophical argument of universal human equality. It would have lacked rhetorical power, but I think he should have argued that independence was justified in the particular case of the American colonies. One thing to bear in mind is that the Declaration was written to win friends in France and Britain. We know that the French elite was drunk with equalitarian moonshine, and would very soon lose their heads in consequence. Many British Whigs were sympathetic to the colonies, and the Declaration encouraged them to do what they could to weaken the British war effort.

History aside, it is insane to justify insubordination on universal grounds since this entails universal insubordination. And independence and insubordination are synonymous in this case. There are many cases where a man is justified in telling another man, "I will no longer take orders from you," but it is lunacy for him to justify his independence with a syllogism in which the major premise is "no man should ever take orders from anyone."

It should be said that most of the Declaration is a much more sensible argument that independence is justified in the case of the American colonies because of the "tyranny" of the British Parliament and Crown. We now know that many of the charges were exaggerated or false, but independence was justified without destroying the principle of legitimate dependence (subordination).

William Wildblood said...

I like it when a comment is better than the post that inspired it. "The French elite was drunk with equalitarian moonshine, and would very soon lose their heads in consequence" is pure poetry. Thanks.

In Jefferson's defence I suppose that to make such a statement in his time of excessive inequality (compared to now anyway) might be seen as restoring some kind of balance. However, to take it literally is almost insane. It's rather like using the true saying that God loves the sinner to justify any kind of sin..

Kirstie said...

Why is it that the Church are snobbish about who they let enter....

Kirstie said...

First, they must reject anybody outside of them. Because only that know, must know. Just like Israel and the infidels, the gentiles.

Kirstie said...

While most Christian and Catholics are clearly good acting humans but they believe in the Institution that still allows and encourages status. They look you up and down, first and foremost. All of them. They don't know any different...

William Wildblood said...

Kirstie, the comment section is not the place to air your personal grievances. I would be grateful if you only commented when you had something constructive to say on the subject of the post. Also, please stop the multiple entries. A single comment suffices. Please forgive me for saying this which I mean well. You do have insights which I appreciate but you need to discipline them.