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The problem with altruistic socialism is that it is not altruistic. It is the most vile form of selfishness obscured by language. It is a system in which each demands servitude from others, and hence ownersip of others. What evolves is a system under which each has ownership of others, but nobody has ownership of themselves.
From an RLK essay published elsewhere.
Good t ohear from you, sir. You are correct, especially with respect to the Left's use of language to obscure their real meaning and intent. In fact, the treal triumph of he Gramsci-inspired Left is their success in hijacking the very terms of debate, rendering any any attempt to reason useless. As Revel said, they have enthroned falsehood in the very centerof thought. That understanding, above all others, clinched it for me. I am certain that we will all pay a terrible price in blood and misery before we see the restoration of the Republic that the Founders bequeathed to us. When reason is no guide to action and the truth doesn't matter. all that's left are guns and whips.
"Altruistic socialism" is an oxymoron. Peikoff gets this right, as far as it goes IMO. But IMHO, he also gets a whole lot wrong in this piece. We don't need a new rationalist philosophy. We need to understand how American culture came off its moorings -- a culture whose roots are classical (i.e., Athens, Rome) and Judeo-Christian, "separation of church and state" notwithstanding.
Left Progressives have nothing but contempt for the Christian conception of the human individual -- which is the historical source of the ideas of personal responsibility and autonomy, the inviolate dignity of the person, and liberty.
The Progressive Left has nothing but contempt for the cultural matrix of historical American greatness. And I suspect, so does Dr. Peikoff.