Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. You’ve heard that before. Unfortunately, most people take that to mean that habits are bad. But if you were to read Emerson, you might see this misquote in a different light:
“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. ? ‘Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.’ ? Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.”
In other words, people who say the same thing day-in-day-out simply to be consistent are oxygen thieves. What Ralph Waldo Emerson is saying in Self-Reliance is that events change, situations evolve. So should your view of the world.
I get a grin any time I hear Democratic zealots claim to be “progressive” or “non-conformist.” Nobody on the face of this Earth, except maybe bin Laden, is more conformity-conscious than operatives in the Democratic Party.
Diversity is one of their favorite words. But their definition applies only to skin color or sexual preference. And within those parameters, everyone is expected to act and believe the same. I believe I could fill a room full of white males or Asian females and have Terry McAuliff fill another room with what he terms a diverse group. Mine would be made up of people from a wide variety of economic and intellectual backgrounds, with people who worked in the home, in offices, and digging ditches. His would include whites, blacks, hispanics, males, females, old, and young–all would be lawyers. Which would really be more diverse?
Bogey is a great guitarist, and has become a first-rate mandolin player. About once a month he meets to jam with a group of musicians in Austin. They are all white males. But you won’t find a more diverse group anywhere. There are truckers, cowboys (the real kind), college students, old men with no teeth, bikers, and professionals. They get together to play music, the only thing they really have in common except skin color. By Democratic definition, they are not a diverse group because they do not include “people of color.” If they did, it wouldn’t be a valid diversity because the black would be playing “white” music, and therefore be an Uncle Tom. Kinda like Colin Powell.
Think of any program initiated by the Federal Government which has not accomplished what it was supposed to do. Any. Head Start? Well, it was a good concept, supposed to help those kids whose parents were of no help to them educationally. The idea was to have them get six months of class work to catch up with other, more fortunate, children prior to starting school. It became a year. Then two. It is now not much more than a baby-sitting service–child care for the poor. Is there something wrong with the program? Not according to “progressives”, unless you think “inadequate funding” is the problem. The program is more than 20 tears old, and the education level of that group continues to fall rather than rise.
How about welfare? The intent was to give someone down on their luck the chance to lift himself up. Great idea. It hasn’t worked.
Job training? There is virtually unlimited opportunity for education and training. High schools offer traditional coursework in preparation for college, and technical/vocational courses leading to real skills. Free. Community colleges abound, and offer the full range at very limited cost. Those who cannot pay even this small amount are eligible for financial aid. The drawback is they’ll probably have to work at least parttime to pay for school. “Damn! I wanted to go to college at Big School U and major in partying! How can I do that if I stay home and go to the local community college?” We continue to fund job training for people, but there is a void in technical jobs–ones that require math and science skills. Job training won’t fill those, only someone willing to make the effort on their own can succeed. You can lead a horse to water….
Yet all these programs are deemed essential, regardless of success. “If even one person has been helped it is worth it.” A wonderful sentiment, but not valid logic. How about trying something different which might help three? Progressives don’t believe in progress, and don’t tolerate non-conformists.
Liberals once decried the desire of conservatives to return to the values of the 1950s. Liberals are stuck in the 1960s, and conservatives and libertarians have passed them by.