You will write a 2-page paper (double-spaced, 1-inch margins, 2 full pages) providing examples of how some facet of “process philosophy” has impacted American government and/or society. You may focus on just 1 example, or you may discuss 2–3 examples..Op

Lecture Notes 4.1

Worldviews from the 1870s to the Modern Era

8: Process Philosophy (1870s–Present)

· Alexander Solzhenitsyn quote: lying and violence are related

· This is the view that has predominated during the last century or so.

· The Abandonment of the Supernatural

1. The intellectual community had moved from the Renaissance Humanism or the Reformation, to Rationalism, and then to Romanticism and Transcendentalism. The latter, with its subjective and pantheist themes, proved a failure as the many revolutions and the American Civil War attest. Rather than return to a more theistic view, many decided the very idea of God was flawed resulting in an even great repudiation of Christianity.

2. Ludwig Feuerbach argued for the non-existence of God and mythologized the supernatural, specifically Christianity, in his book The Essence of Christianity. Whereas Geneva was the intellectual center in the 1500s, England in the 1600s, France in the 1700s, would-be intellectuals flocked to Germany in the 1800s. In fact, Feuerbach profoundly affected Marx and Engels and his ideas became what we now call process philosophy.

3. The consequences of the abandonment of the supernatural:

· Supernatural to Natural (to naturalism)

· Spiritual to material (to materialism)

· Eternal to temporal or historical (to historicism)

· Personal to social (to socialism)

· Objective to subjective (to relativism)

· The Profound Shift from Absolute to Process Philosophy

1. Most intellectuals assumed that reality was immutable or indestructible—either God or natural law or perhaps even presupposed an organological nature with theistic characteristics. Essentially, the unintelligible was unchangeable.

2. Process Philosophy abandoned the absolute and absolutized the process instead. Now, only change, chance, or randomness remained unchangeable. Since everything is in the process of changing, being is no longer even possible.

· Three Revolutions that led to the Modern World:

1. from theocentrism to anthropocentrism

2. from a presupposed absolute to a presupposed process philosophy or view of existence

3. from an antithetical to a synthetic mentality and way of thinking (either-or to both-and?)

· Presuppositions of Process Philosophy

1. Presuppositions inherent in process philosophy are:

· Relativism—nothing is fixed; everything is in a flux; no absolute truth

· Environmentalism—the material constituency is determinative (environment causative)

· Progressivism—change is from lower to higher, simple to complex, primitive to civilized

· Developmentalism—interpret the present by examining the genetic past

· Martin says he minimized class discussion time because students were too greatly influenced by process philosophy. That is, all they had to offer was conjecture and opinions but few based on Biblical premises.

9: The Marxist Analysis of History (1870s–Present)

I. Introduction

A. Marxism – the most impactful expression of the process philosophy

B. To understand the impact of Marxism, one must understand:

i. The Marxist analysis of history

ii. The Marxist-Leninist-Communist faith and vision

iii. The pervasive influence of Marxism in the intellectual community of the non-communist West

C. Karl Marx (1818-1883)(Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924)

II. Karl Marx: His Presuppositions and Analysis of History

A. His triune doctrines

i. Atheism – there is no god

ii. Materialism – man the most evolved animal

iii. Economic determinism – man is the victim and product of economics

B. Dialectical Materialism – the essence of Marxism

i. Hegel’s dialectic + Feuerbach’s materialism = Marx’s dialectical materialism

C. Three Revolutions of the Modern West and World

i. Theocentrism ( Anthropocentrism

ii. Absolute ( Process Philosophy

iii. Antithetical ( Synthetic Mentality

III. Hegelian Dialecticism: Advent of the Synthetic Thought Form

A. Goerg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) – a German philosopher and historian

i. Interests: the history of philosophy and the philosophy of history

ii. New paradigm:

1. Do not think biblically, think historically – historicism

a. Historicism – absolutizes history; imbues “history” with sovereign, irresistible power

2. Abandon absolute or antithetical “either/or” thinking; adopt synthetic approach using “both-and”

3. Prior to Hegel: A versus non-A; Hegel: A plus non-A = B

a. Thesis versus Antithesis ( Synthesis/New Thesis

iii. Impact

1. Intellectual community revolutionized almost immediately

2. Did not impact general European culture until 1919 to 1939

3. Did not impact USA until 1945

a. 1960s – process philosophy, synthetic thinking, words lose precise meaning

IV. Marx Fuses The Dialectic With A Thorough-Going Materialism

A. Hegel was an idealist philosopher – the historical dialectical process was driven by “spiritual” forces called the World Spirit or Destiny

B. Marx was a materialist – a pseudo-supernatural intuitional force is not driving the historical dialectical process (Hegel) but rather materialistic determinism (Feuerbach)

i. Borrowed the dialectic from Hegel

ii. Borrowed the materialistic determinism from Feuerbach

1. Feuerbach: Biblical Christianity is a myth; ontology: naturalism; axiology: materialism

V. Both Marx and Engels Found Evangelical Christianity Wanting

A. Marx the son of Jews who had joined the Lutheran Church before his birth

i. Home and church heavily rationalistic, however.

B. Friedrich Engels, Marx’s right hand man, was likewise raised in a Christian home

i. Introduced to Hegelianism at University of Berlin

ii. Faith tested, reached out to former classmates turned pastors, but neither capable of giving satisfactory response

VI. Three Presuppositions of Dialectical Materialism

A. Progress is inherent in change – change is always beneficial

B. Nature acts dialectically – Marx possessed a naturalistic ontology but did not conceive of nature as mechanical or static nor did he believe it to be the abode of an all-pervasive cosmic mind like the Romanticists. Instead, nature causes history to take two steps forward and one step back, two steps forward and one step back. This is the thesis being struck by the antithesis.

C. Conflict is the essence of change and the dynamic of progress – the thesis clashes with antithesis, the two synthesize, and the process repeats. The process is by nature violent but the conflict transforms and propels history forward.

VII. The Essence of Marxism: Dialectical Materialism Applied To An Analysis of History

A. Marx’s contribution is in applying dialectical to an understanding of history

i. Has even influenced the thinking of many biblical Christians, especially those who adopt a secular-sacred dichotomy.

B. Marxist Analysis of History

i. The force of history material – economics is determinative

ii. The thesis and antithesis – economic classes battling one another

iii. Ages as defined by the class struggle – one class dominates the other class challenges the status quo

1. Primitive communalism

2. Feudalism – dominant class the landed aristocracy versus the rising bourgeoisie

3. Capitalism – dominant class the bourgeoisie versus the proletariat

4. Socialism – dominant class the proletariat eradicates dissenters and ushers in….

5. Communism – the classless society – no property thus no “evil”

VIII. Marxism: Science of Religion

A. Marxism or “Scientific Socialism”

i. Marx considered Hegel’s ideal to be too intangible, too intuitional

ii. Marx wished to distinguish himself from humanistic socialists

iii. Marx, thinking himself to be a scientist who discovered the economic key to the dialectical process of history, referred to his system as “scientific”

iv. Marxism is not scientific; it is a religion that begins and ends with an article of faith

B. Marxism is a Faith

i. It begins and ends with an article of faith

ii. It begins and ends with a utopia

1. a perfect material kingdom is coming

C. Marxist Worldview - isms

i. Naturalism – no supernatural force or being

ii. Materialism – process and progress is inherent in the material world

iii. Historicism – history is an inevitable force

iv. Socialism – collective man is epitome of materialism and the recipient of the historicist process

D. Articles of Faith

i. First Article: all change is progressive – change is always beneficial and moving us toward a utopia

ii. Last Article: the dialectical process will terminate – history will terminate when an international socialist order will usher in communism

E. Marxism Spawns a Movement of Revolutionaries

i. Marx: the process is inevitable and inexorable

ii. Man only need recognize, applaud, and submit to the process

iii. Conflict and violence a natural part of the process

F. Marxist Faith Lately Reexamined

i. New Age intellectuals – challenging rationalistic, “scientific” Marxism and reasserting the more spiritualized, Eastern-influenced Hegel.

10. Marxism-Leninism: Communism (1903–Present)

I. Introduction

A. Communism is Marxism-Leninism

B. The historical dialectical process

i. For Marx it was inevitable. Just jump on board the train

ii. For Lenin it was also inevitable but one could stoke the engine, accelerate the process of history

C. Lenin, born Vladimir Ilich Ulyanove (1870-1924)

i. One of a number of Marxists revolutionaries convened in Brussels, Belgium in 1903. Broken up by police and reconvened in London.

1. Lenin argues a small, disciplined cadre of dedicated could accelerate the process and turn the world upside down. This argument will carry the majority—the Bolsheviks

2. The opposition argues that any could join the enterprise. This position is in the minority—the Mensheviks.

II. The Party of Lenin or the Communist Party

A. The Communist Party – Its Makeup

i. The card-carrying members are visible but the larger body of invisible members—the underground subversives—to do the real work

ii. “Dead men on furlough” – name hardcore communists gave themselves

1. Gave up their individuality and swore allegiance to the party

2. Central control meant instant radical policy shifts

3. Saw themselves as the vanguard or brain of the proletariat, the vanguard of history, or the midwife destined to deliver the international socialist order from the decadent, dying womb of capitalism

B. The Communist Party – Its Objectives

i. NOT to affect communism!

ii. To affect the international socialist order that will in turn naturally give birth to the communist utopia ending the dialectical historical process

iii. One cannot say “communism has failed” or “communism is dead” because there has never been a universal international socialist order and therefore communism has yet to be born.

1. But what about Soviet Russia, Cuba, North Korea, China—is it not obvious that communism does not work? These nations are or were socialist nations. Communism cannot or will not emerge until every other nation becomes socialist too.

C. The Communist Party – Its Phenomenal Success

i. 1903 – about 17 supporters

ii. 1917 – came to power in Russia with about 50,000 supporters

iii. 1960s – overrun more than 50% of the world’s land mass and over 50% of the world’s population

iv. 1991 – the USSR collapsed but Communist parties carry on

v. In Witness, Whittaker Chambers describes his conversion from subversive operative to disillusioned communist to Biblical Christian

D. The Communist Party – Definition

i. A movement of atheists organized for the first time in recorded history on an international scale conspiratorially to drive the very idea of God from the mind of man

ii. Though the USSR has collapsed, this continues to be the goal of revolutionaries worldwide

III. The Leninist Formulation For Global Conquest – Lenin’s 3 Tactics

A. Tactic 1 – Think and Act Dialectically

i. Appear to be moving away from the goal when in fact you are moving toward it.

1. Analogy 1 - recall that history is moving two steps forward, one step back

2. Analogy 2 – the hammer is moving away from the nail but only to return to drive the nail further into the wood; one must have the big picture, the context

B. Tactic 2 – Peaceful Coexistence

i. Though the creation of the international socialist order is historically inevitable, the process may be sped up by convincing the non-communist world that the movement is benign and poses no real threat

ii. Détente – French for “relaxation of tensions”; superficially it appears as though Marxism-Leninism is sputtering out and therefore poses little threat

iii. Perestroika and glasnost – Russian for “restructuring” and “openness”; Gorbachev’s policy of buying the USSR more time. The USSR would appear meeker and invite the non-socialist nations to lend assistance

C. Tactic 3 – Target the United States, the Las Bastion of Capitalism and Freedom

i. Externally encirclement of the United States – isolate the USA by toppling other nations and geographically surrounding the nation

ii. Internal demoralize the United States – fourth dimensional warfare clandestinely carried out by a fifth column the purpose of which is to reduce the will of the American people to resist socialism. This invisible warfare would be paramilitary, economic, and psychological.

IV. Marxism and Death

A. Marxism presupposes that all change is progress

B. Death is therefore progress

i. From 1917 to 1991 the Soviets put to death between 100 and 150 million people

ii. Chinese communism (late 1940s to present) is responsible for a minimum of 150 million deaths

iii. Cambodia communism (1975) is responsible for 2 million deaths or about one-third the population

11. Marxism in America and the West: Fabian Socialism (1883–Present)

I. Fabian Socialists

A. Most Marxist in America and the West are Fabian Socialists not Marxist-Leninist

B. Marxism appeals to Western intellectuals because

1. it is evolutionary, assumes man is improving, and looks forward to an inevitable classless utopia called communism

2. believing economics is causative and therefore could be revolutionized in order to bring about that utopia

C. Marxism-Leninism does not appeal to most Western intellectuals because

1. it presupposes dialectical conflict, force, violence, and bloodshed; these intellectuals seek revolution from within (reform), not revolution from without

i. Socialism achieved democratically and legislatively; rely on education and coercion by law

II. Fabian Socialism or Democratic Socialism, 1883 to Present

A. Predates Marxism-Leninism

B. Leadership: leading intellectuals of the time such as Beatrice and Sidney Webb and George Bernard Shaw

C. Agreed with Marxism and Marxism-Leninism

1. the need for “revolution”

2. the need to implement socialism

D. Disagreed on method, on how, which explains the name Fabian Socialism:

1. Named after a Roman senator, Fabius Maximus. During the Second Punic War he counseled that, rather than take on Hannibal directly, the generals utilize guerrilla tactics and harass the invader’s supply lines. The strategy proved effective.

2. The use of the democratic and legislative institutions explains why Fabian Socialists are known as democratic socialists and their system as democratic socialism

III. Fabian Socialism Dominates Western Power Centers: 1900 to Present

A. 1900 to 1930 – came to dominate European centers of power

B. 1930s – came to dominate US centers of power

1. Academia, media, mainline denominations, labor unions, courts, bureaucracies, legislatures, and often the executive

C. How Fabian Socialism Came to Dominate the United States

1. Intercollegiate Socialist Society – ineffective student campus movement because Americans generally did not respond well to “socialist”

2. League for Industrial Democracy – new name, euphemism “democracy” replaced “socialism”; much more effective in infiltrating the power centers; has dominated the Democrat Party since the 1930s

3. Labor unions like the United Auto Workers and Committee for Industrial Organization

4. Americans for Democratic Action – a leftist academic group

5. Students for a Democratic Society – 1960s student campus movement

a. More radical faction, the Weatherman, resorted to bombing and violence

D. Fabian Socialism has been the dominant and driving movement shaping the West since 1900, not Marxism-Leninism

IV. The Relationship Between Fabian Socialism and Marxism-Leninism

A. Tension between the two movements as a result of different methods and approaches

B. Fabians have attempted to civilize the Marxist-Leninists with foreign aid which the latter are more than happy to accept

C. Marxist-Leninists have viewed the Fabians with disdain as weak, naïve, and compromising

D. The Cold War

1. The Fabians came to power in Russia in the spring of 1917. That revolution was hijacked by the Marxist-Leninists in the fall.

2. The Cold War is not really communism versus anti-communism but really a struggle between the Fabians and the Marxist-Leninists to determine how the international socialist order would be implemented.

a. Both oppose anti-communism or anticommunists like Barry Goldwater or Ronald Reagan

b. Marxism-Leninism may have failed with the fall of the USSR but Fabian Socialism is alive and well

E. A Similar Attitude Toward War

1. Marxist-Leninists clearly favor war as an aspect of the historical dialectical process

2. Fabian Socialist are more pragmatic favoring wars the advance international socialism and opposing wars that impede that advance

a. Favored war against Nazi Germany because Nazism is not international socialism but national socialism

b. Against the Vietnam War because the objective there was to contain international socialism; US failure in Vietnam would mean socialism throughout Southeast Asia

c. Opposed to arming the anti-communist Contras in Nicaragua because the Cuban-backed Ortega brothers would export socialism throughout Central America

V. A Biblical Christian Response to the Ideological Drive for International Socialism

A. Not to hide our heads in the sand; we must be salt and light proclaiming liberty in Christ and self-government under the Holy Spirit

B. Not to adopt a blind faith that what has happened elsewhere cannot happen here—the more the Christian foundation of our nation crumbles, the more likely we are to suffer similar experiences

C. Adopt a Biblical Christian Worldview

a. Jettison the sacred-secular dichotomy and acknowledge God as sovereign over all of life

b. Proclaim a revolution which is reformation through love overcoming evil with good

c. Be wary of labels such as right, left, conservative, liberal and instead think authority, power, liberty, law, and jurisdiction

12: The Institutional Structure and Procedure of Process Philosophy

· While chapter 8 addressed the root of process philosophy, chapter 12 outlines the impact or fruit that philosophy has on institutions.

· Specifically, what impact has process philosophy had on the structure of our families, legal system, economic order, international relations, churches, schools, and so forth?

· Martin will call the influential relativistic thinkers of the latter nineteenth century the “neo-intellectuals”.

· Presuppositions of the Process Philosophy “Neo-Intellectuals” (1875-1900)

1. Neo-intellectuals reached three conclusions about God

· He does not exist

· If he exists he cannot be known

· If he exists he has no personal relationship with man and existence

2. Thus neo-intellectuals are deistic at best, agnostic or atheistic at worst.

3. They have a naturalistic ontology and a materialistic axiology.

4. Because of that ontology and axiology, the solution to human problems is found in rearranging the environment

5. They believe that the most effective way to rearrange that environment is to grant power to the state. Because problems like poverty, disease, ignorance, and war are global, only a global mechanism for rearranging the environment will do.

· Activist Disciples: A Shift in Approach to Man and Life

1. Activist disciples have accepted the neo-intellectual presuppositions and are attempting to shift us from a spiritual, individual, and personal approach to man and life to a material, collective, and social approach to man and life.

2. Without the biblical God, man is simply the product of some impersonal materialistic process. The best man can be is a social animal.

3. Whereas Christianity says all men are endowed with God-given rights and are thus equal before the law, process philosophy reduces all men, equally, to merely the result of time and chance.

· The Categorical Imperative of Process Philosophy

1. If everything is equally material and thus nothing is inherently valuable, then the imperative becomes the egalitarian society. [Note that egalitarian refers not to equal before the law or endowed with equal rights or equality of opportunity but material or economic equality or equality of results.]

2. Diversity is considered a myth or illusion while unity is absolutized. Since everything is equal then no status can be considered superior—homosexuality is not to be considered depraved but instead celebrated as an equally valid lifestyle. Indeed, it is considered ontologically normal.

· The Three Revolutionary Methods

1. How do we achieve that egalitarian society?

1. The educational method. Education and the schools are vested with messianic qualities. [Note the Greek mindset. Ignorance is the problem. Knowledge the cure. No mention of sin or the will.]

2. The political method. We must use coercive state power to impose egalitarianism. The progressive income tax is supposed to reduce income disparity. Compulsory universal education—everyone must attend school. The recent housing debacle—we want universal home ownership.

3. The military method. Not just coercive state legal power but coercion by arms. If reform is revolution from within, this method calls for revolution from without.

· The Religion of Non-Theism: What is Substituted for God as Sovereign

1. Question: if there is no God or supernatural, what is to be sovereign?

2. Answer: the state. Stat-ism, the absolutized state, will redeem mankind and lead him to the Promised Land. [Tower of Babel again.] Nothing is outside the jurisdiction of the state.

· What is Socialism?

1. Superficial definition of socialism—a system in which the state owns and operates, whether directly or indirectly, all the means of production. But that is a manifestation of socialism.

2. Actual definition of socialism—the absolutizing of the social approach to man and life. Society, the collective, is absolutized.

3. Socialism is the natural consequence of proclaiming human autonomy and denying the sovereignty of God.

· The Institutional Arrangement: The Civil-Social Area is Central

1. The civil-social area becomes central now that man is understood primarily as a social animal.

2. The state is the facilitator of that social relationship.

· Civil-Social Area

1. The socialist system is pragmatic , freewheeling, limitless government wherein the state-god has the prerogative and the imperative of assuming any and all powers deemed necessary to effect the egalitarian society. [See footnote. Pragmatism is government by a principle: the ends justify the means.]

2. Biblical Christianity acknowledges the sovereignty of God and thus recognizes that the state is to be limited in power and jurisdiction. The state is to secure man’s God-given right to life, liberty, and property.

3. Statism can be overt—the totalitarianism of fascism or communism—or it can be indirect as with modern day social democracies which regulate thoroughly and tax heavily.

4. Despite the existence of any compassionate motives, social welfare programs tend to create dependency among recipients. All classes are subject. The rich receive subsidies and/or tax breaks. The poor receive welfare assistance. The middle class receive social security or become the bureaucratic agents of redistribution. [Consider: could or would the middle class ever relinquish social security benefits or countenance the complete privatization of education? Both are virtually inconceivable.)

· Marriage by Man’s Standard: Anarchy or Hierarchy?

1. Without the absolute standard of God’s Word, marriage becomes a social contract between two presumably equal individuals.

2. Sometimes well-meaning believers reacting to this anarchy adopt a hierarchical view of marriage; one party is deemed to be subordinate to the other.

3. In a sense then, anarchy or liberty without responsibility is met with hierarchy or responsibility without liberty. The biblical position is unity with diversity, liberty with responsibility.

· Economics: A Planned Economy

1. Egalitarianism or the equality of results is antithetical to liberty. Thus, the free in free market is suppressed and the state-god now begins to meddle, direct, control, and plan the economy.

2. One major method the state uses to manipulate the otherwise free market is monetary policy. By inflating or deflating the money supply the state is able to manipulate prices and favor creditors or debtors. This is akin to theft or to using dishonest weights in trade, which is an abomination to the Lord.

3. The state uses environmental and other regulations to destroy or devalue private property or to bring land, labor and capital under its control.

· Law: Sociological Jurisprudence

1. Law was once presupposed to be absolute and changeless; now it is relative. There is no law until it is posited by man (legal positivism). Man is the source of authority for all law and thus has become god.

2. Lawyers and judges were once thought to be “finding” the applicable universal law. Previous findings were weighty. That approach was called precedential jurisprudence.

3. The modern sociological jurisprudence looks to sociological data for a rendering. Recall that environment is considered causative and thus guilt loses its firmness as a concept.

4. Just as planned economies have been politicized, sociological jurisprudence politicizes justice.

· Consequences of Sociological Law

1. As penalties become more lenient, crime increases.

2. Progressive nations [social democracies] presumably have less crime but this is deceiving; much behavior has been decriminalized.

3. Deviancy. No longer criminals but social deviants who deviate from the norm. (Society dictates what is “normal” and thus tolerated. Humanity is the source of law and therefore becomes god.

4. Again, the system devolves into anarchy which in turn results in a pendulum swing to absolutism.

· Area of International Politics

1. The process philosophy leads to collective security.

2. The Biblical View – in Christ there is there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female. That said there is nothing inherently evil with national-ity; nations were formed by God at the Tower of Babel. National-ism does, however, absolutize the concept. Nationalism is mindless devotion which says “my country right or wrong”. Patriotism, despite the –ism, may be permitted IF the paters, the founding fathers, were by and large biblical theists. (Paul said “follow me as far as I follow Christ”.)

3. The biblical view of war – there are just wars and an unjust peace. Defensive wars are imperative.

4. Pacifism – unjustifiably separates life into sacred and secular instead of righteous or unrighteous. The sacred-secular dichotomy is unbiblical because it assumes God is sovereign only over that which is sacred but not over that which is secular. But partial sovereignty is not sovereignty at all. Moreover, the state is not inherently wicked but a divinely ordained institution. Likewise, civil rulers, though often tyrannical, will be held responsible as ministers or servants of God.

5. Responsibility: to maintain a disciplined military under God. [On the other hand, the admonition against multiplying horses in Deuteronomy 17:14-20 is an argument against militarism.]

6. A Rationalist View – each nation-state is sovereign. This approach assumes a balance of power system which acts as a check and balance. Post-Napoleonic Europe is an example of this. Great Britain was the great balancer nation during the Pax Britannica of the 19th century.

7. The Process Philosophy View – asserts pressure to create international socialism, the goal being to eradicate poverty, disease, ignorance, and war. Instead of a nation-state system, a world-state or global system is erected. Fabian Socialists have attempted to assert this approach internationally since Woodrow Wilson. Not all are content with reform, however; some like the Marxist-Leninists resort to force, violence, and bloodshed.

· The Difference Between Communism and Nazism

1. While some view Communism as the Left and Nazism on the Right, consider the term Nazism. It is a combination of National Socialism. Thus, it is socialist (leftist) but with an emphasis on nationalism (rightist). Communism emphasizes class and is globalist in outlook. Thus, economically at least, both Communism and Nazism are on the left and ultimately both are totalitarian.

· Successive International Political Arrangements in Western Civilization

1. The historical development in the West – from the city-states in the ancient world, to the imperial state of Rome, to the feudal state during the Middle Ages, to the nation-state of the rationalistic era, toward a world-state system as an imperative of process philosophy. [New Agers presuppose a final cosmic state of human spiritual perfection.]

13: Consequences of the Institutionalization of Process Philosophy (1920s–Present)

· Process philosophy is the established order in the West.

· The Fabian socialism version of process philosophy became the institutional norm in 1920s Europe and in 1930s USA.

· The Term “Liberal”

1. Classical liberalism of the 18th century was for generally for liberty with law and equality of opportunity. A limited state was to protect life, liberty, and property.

2. During the 19th century (Romanticism-Transcendentalism), liberalism meant apply state force to enforce liberty. That is, liberalism began to absolutize liberalism yet was not against using the state to obtain those ends. For example, using the federal government to set slaves free.

3. Since the 20th century, liberalism has become a euphemism for the left which is no longer content with equality of opportunity or with the libertarian absolutization of liberty but is instead pursuing equality of results. In other words, modern liberalism absolutizes equality to the detriment of liberty.

4. In Europe, socialism does not carry the negative connotation it does in the US. Thus on the continent you have the Social Democrat Party and in England either the Socialist or Labor Party.

5. Socialism has always had a negative connotation in the US and so socialists call themselves populists, progressives, or liberals. [Libertarians and Christian Constitutionalists are co-belligerents in the struggle against statism but they are not truly allies. The former absolutize liberty and see the state as a necessary evil; the latter recognize that God is the author of liberty, empowers man to use liberty responsibly, and ordained the state to punish the lawless.]

· Process Philosophy Dominates European Power Centers 1900-1930 to Present

1. Process philosophy thinkers and Fabian socialists came to dominate in Europe during the first three decades of the 20th century. Note that in nations possessing a modicum of freedom and representation, the change generally occurred from within (reform). Russia was ruled by a dictatorial czar and thus requiring violent change from without (revolution).

2. Reformers relied on allies—intellectuals and academics, the media, the courts and bureaucracies--and utilized legislatures.

· Process Philosophy Dominates US Power Centers 1930s to Present

1. Prior to the 1930s, process philosophy thinkers were only influential in education, religion, and the arts. The civil, economic, legal, and international spheres were still operating on the capital of the former Biblical Christian base. Seeds were planted during Teddy Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson’s presidencies but would not bear much fruit until FDR.

· The New Deal: The Second American Revolution 1930s

1. The process philosophy thinkers and Fabian socialists seized the opportunity presented by the joint crises—the Stock Market Crash and Great Depression—to implement their agenda. [To understand how federal and Federal Reserve policy caused and exacerbated both crises, read Great Myths of the Great Depression by Lawrence W. Reed]

2. FDR’s New Deal ushered in an era of near unlimited federal power. The sovereignization of the federal government which began under Lincoln now culminated with the sovereignization of the national executive. [See The Revolution Was by Garet Garrett]

· The Semantics of Socialism

1. A change in presuppositions and worldview means a change in definitions. Some words are considered archaic, some new words are coined, and other words are redefined.

2. Words whose meanings have changed include—liberal, conservative, democracy, public welfare, public interest, public funds, civil rights, and common man. [Consider that taxes now are, or are at least for the purpose of, investments.]

· Democracy

1. Prior to WWI, the word republic was used. Democracy had a negative connotation.

2. Democracy means majoritarianism; rule by the state educate majority. It means the rule of man not law.

a. In a democracy the people exercise their powers directly whereas in a republic the people exercise their powers indirectly through representatives.

3. The USA was founded on the notion that government is of God, by God, for man under God—a holy commonwealth. During the 19th century it became government is of, for, and by man. Today the view is that government is of, for, and by the state. Thus, the word democracy today means socialism or statism.

· Public Welfare

1. The public welfare or interest has replaced the general welfare or interest. Once upon a time proper state action was to enhance or protect general welfare. In other words, the general welfare indirectly but naturally benefited from legitimate state action. Today the state specifically seeks to act for the public’s benefit.

2. Indeed, when the state acts in the public welfare or interest it is actually acting in its own interest. [Consider education policy the purpose of which is to improve the nation’s competitiveness. The agenda or policy is supposed to benefit the collective, not the individual.]

3. Biblical Christianity benefits the general welfare and is opposed to special interests. [As the economy becomes politicized, special interests line up at the public trough. While a free market is not finite, a planned economy is. Therefore when one special interest wins another loses.]

· Public Funds

1. Biblical Christianity does not see public funds but rather individual taxpayers’ dollars.

2. As a disperser of “public funds” the legislator places himself above his constituents; he has been empowered as a civil Santa Claus who uses other peoples’ money to purchase loyalty.

3. [Note that vouchers and education tax credits have been unsuccessful in separating school and state. In the first instance, vouchers are tax dollars that are given back to citizens to spend on education. Wherever state money goes, regulation—control—is sure to follow. Tax credits means the money stays in citizen hands and in turn are spent on schooling. The problem is that under the current mindset the federal government views tax credits as money it has a right to collect but forsakes. Because it has a right to collect that money, it believes it has a right to regulate how that money is spent.]

· Civil Rights

1. Framers of the US Constitution interested in God-given rights and civil liberties. Civil rights imply government-granted and what the government grants it may deny.

· Human Rights

1. Natural rights or human rights are ideological constructs. [I disagree with Martin here. While man has no rights vis-à-vis God—the clay cannot make claims against the potter—God has endowed men with unalienable rights vis-à-vis man. God may require individuals to lay down their life, liberty, or property but no man can require it of another. Again, vertically speaking, man has no rights. Horizontally speaking, man has unalienable rights. And this is what I take as the definition of natural rights.]

· Common Man

1. While true that there are universal human commonalities, there exists definite diversity. No two individuals are alike. The common man is a collective term that depersonalizes humanity.

· A Renewed Mind Renews Our Vocabulary

1. It is imperative that we define words as God would have us define them, according to universal unchanging truth. It is equality imperative that we consider how a particular person is defining the word used so that we are not deceived. What “sounds good” superficially is often deceptively antichrist.

· The Process Philosophy Egalitarian Liberal Establishment in the US 1930s to Present

1. A summary of what this group presupposes

a. Deism at best which is essentially non-theism

b. Materialistic origin of man; human problems are similarly materialist in nature

c. Centralization of power in the state in order to ameliorate, alleviate, or eliminate human problems; they are statists (authoritarianism or even totalitarianism

· Labeling the Opposition: What is a “Conservative”

1. [Note that in purely ideological terms, a conservative favors the status quo; he is said to want to preserve or conserve that which is. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, conservatives generally favored the monarchy, aristocracy, and a state church usually the Roman Catholic.]

2. [In the US, a conservative would prefer to return to an era of limited constitutional republican federalism and free markets. As it pertains to the status quo then, a conservative is actually a reactionary desiring to return to a previous status quo.]

3. Today, the egalitarian liberal establishment uses the term conservative to label its opponents. A conservative is purportedly archaic, anachronistic, against progress, and an obstructionist.

4. As a general rule, modern American conservatives presuppose:

a. theism

b. the spiritual origin and nature of man

c. the inherent worthy and value of man

d. a limited state

5. Liberal versus Conservative – the fundamental difference is their view of the state. The former begins and ends with the state as a solution while the latter is considered with limitations on the state’s jurisdiction.

· Control From The Intellectual Community To Podunk Center, USA

1. Education is the most significant and influential means of perpetuating statism [consider that over 90% of American parents rely or even depend on the state to educate their children; i.e., parents regularly render unto Caesar what is God’s].

· Control of the Flow of Information

1. The media has set the agenda and framed the arguments

· Consequences of the Institutionalization of Process Philosophy

1. Nietzsche possibly the most perceptive so-called intellectual of the last three centuries; he anticipated and advocated irrationalism. He observed that “God is dead” and that with that death man would descend into irrationalism. Rather than optimistically believing that rational man would usher in a better or perfect man, Nietzsche recoiled against the horrors he saw coming.

2. Hegel perhaps the most influential intellectual of the last three centuries

3. Westerners deny that Western culture is exceptional. Indeed, many Westerners are anti-Western. Few believe attaining a coherent worldview is even possible.

4. Process philosophy has resulted in intellectual anarchism, subjectivism, and despair. [subjectivism leads to cynicism leads to nihilism]

5. Christians need not despair. Our supernaturalist ontology, revelational epistemology, theistic axiology, and Kingdom teleology gives us order and hope. Moreover, it enables us to fill the current vacuum.

6. God is not primarily interested in saving Western civilization or the United States of America. To the extent the Church has obeyed and implemented God’s truth is to the extent that Western civilization and the USA have been great lights in the history of man. The Church is the city on a hill but it only shines when it is faithful. Even then the world will not be perfect because wheat and tares will continue until the end. Perfect will be attained when Christ returns.

� Pragmatists claim they are not hindered or blinded by ideology but instead simply implement what works. But even pragmatists are governed by a root principle—the ends justify the means. In contrast, the Christian God is concerned that both ends and means be righteous.