The Proud Remnant
by Vince?Daliessio
Butler Shaffer had an excellent piece on LRC the other day about people like us, what Albert Jay Nock called "The Remnant", referring to those who have awakened from (or never succumbed to)the hypnosis that the media provides re the major political parties. Shaffer really says it beautifully;
"Neither am I impressed by those who try to balance their sense of political pride and moral propriety by placing bumper-stickers on their flag-adorned cars that read ?peace is patriotic.? Peace is not patriotic! Peace transcends patriotism. According to one dictionary, a ?patriot? is ?a person who loves his country and defends and promotes its interests.? So considered, patriotism is inherently divisive, and division is the soil from which conflict arises. Against whom is a patriot to ?defend and promote? the ?interests? of ?his country?? Is it not the patriots of other countries against whom he will take action? And who will determine the identity of these other countries and beat the drums for ?defense??
?Peace? is indivisible. One can no more live in peace with his neighbors on a selective basis than he can allocate degrees of love for his children. One either learns how to live without conflict and division, or is destined to the normally-neurotic life of constant contradiction. But to live in perpetual ambiguity proves costly to the human soul, which seeks integrity and wholeness...
Nock?s desire to protect the Remnant had nothing to do with extricating mass-minded people (H.L. Mencken?s ?booboisie?) from the adverse consequences of their unfocused living. He knew that the political parties would continue to keep the morons in a state of dependency ? such is the nature of their symbiotic relationship. Nock was concerned, however, with protecting that minority of persons ? the Remnant ? whose efforts provide the creative culture and material prosperity of great civilizations...
Hopefully, the Remnant will include our children and grandchildren. What are the conditions under which they will be able to rebuild a society that our generation ? which egoistically likes to refer to itself as ?the greatest generation? ? helped to destroy? One of my favorite quotations in this regard comes from a person whose identity I do not recall: ?a man has a moral duty to not allow his children to live under tyranny.? These words provide a good starting point."
Hear Hear, Professor Shaffer.