Amerika

Let us start with a human reality: people believe what makes them feel powerful. They disregard any other details and zero in on the argument that makes them feel like they are in control, since this bestows upon them a stable mental state and allows them to keep existing. The first goal of life is to become adapted, after all.

This makes us understand humanity differently. Instead of people in pursuit of truth, we see people sieving truth for what makes them feel good. While this seems cynical, it is also accurate, so it makes more sense to pursue this instead of anything else.

While most humans oppose a recognition of the literality of reality, usually expressed as “might is right” or Darwinism, this reflects their fear of insufficiency. Modern society plays into this by depriving people of power by making them follow means-over-ends rules, eliminating much of their choice, creative process, and learning.

In the end calculus, people believe what makes them feel powerful. For liberals, this is the sense of being in control and understanding all; for conservatives, who recognize that humans are neither in control nor understanding much, it is relying on what works and surrendering the need to be in control all the time.

Conservatives take great comfort in knowing how things will turn out because of how they have turned out in the past, and leaving everything else up to detailed inspection. Leftists want power over the unknown, so they manufacture theories that make them feel as if they are in control of those unknowns.

In the end, everyone wants to feel powerful; conservatives do it by relying on what can be reproduced, and liberals seek the sensation of power through theories. Any next-generation political system has to find another way to make people feel that they are in control of their future and that it will turn out well.

Tags: conservatism, leftism, power