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Thursday, February 26, 2015

Compendium Of Best Pax Posts On "Too Pure Principles" And The Collapse Of Conservatism


Alan: With the dependability of tides, Too Pure Principles bedazzle "conservatives," seducing them to believe in rarefied "ideals" that by nature cannot be realized.

Tragically, this sequence of events does not end in mere failure. 

Yes, ideals are useful, even necessary beacons. But they emit such blinding light that it becomes impossible for devotees to conceive compromise as necessary for the achievement of every Real Good, however limited that good may be.

Voltaire observed that "perfection is enemy of the good." 

By trying to be like "the angels" (something we humans are not) we first deny, then lose, our common humanity -- and through idealized self-segregation of "The Chosen," coupled with self-righteous condemnation of "The Damned" -- we fall lower than predatory beasts. 

ISIS and The Inquisition exemplify this abyssal Fall, a bottomless collapse in the name of principles so pure that "true believers" routinely ascribe them to The One and Only God who -- mirabile dictu! -- happens to be their God.


 Image result for pax on both houses pascal
Blaise Pascal

"The terrible thing about our time is precisely the ease with which theories can be put into practice.  The more perfect, the more idealistic the theories, the more dreadful is their realization.  We are at last beginning to rediscover what perhaps men knew better in very ancient times, in primitive times before utopias were thought of: that liberty is bound up with imperfection, and that limitations, imperfections, errors are not only unavoidable but also salutary. The best is not the ideal.  Where what is theoretically best is imposed on everyone as the norm, then there is no longer any room even to be good.  The best, imposed as a norm, becomes evil.”  
"Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander,” by Trappist monk, Father Thomas Merton

"The profoundest truths are paradoxical."
Laozi (Lao Tze)

"You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image 
when it turns out God hates all the same people you do."
Tom Weston S. J.

http://davincidilemma.com/2012/06/how-your-perfectionism-affects-others/

Religion and Perfectionism

"Are Republicans Insane?"

"American Conservatives And Oppositional-Defiant Disorder"

"The Republican Party Is A Satanic Cult"

"Do Republicans Do Anything But Piss, Moan, Bitch, Whine?"

"The Party of Personal Responsibility" Is "The Party Of Personal Irresponsibility"

Republican Rule And Economic Catastrophe, A Lockstep Relationship

"Conservatives Scare More Easily Than Liberals"

Bill Maher: The Zombie Life Cycle Of Republican Lies. They Never - Ever - Die

How the death of epistemology validates rhetorical vapidity:
  1. The Guardian: "John Oliver's Viral Video Is The Best Climate Change Debate You'll Ever See"
    1. http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-guardian-john-olivers-viral-video.html

Stewart, Colbert, Oliver Probe The Spectacular Idiocy Of Climate Change Deniers

"The Reign of Morons Is Here," Charles P. Pierce, The Atlantic

Zillionaire Nick Hanauer: Stock Buybacks Are Destroying The U.S. Economy

Zillionaire, Nick Hanauer, A Former Free Marketeer Calls For Radical Wealth Redistribution

"The Pitchforks Are Coming For Us Billionaires"
Amazon Financier, Nick Hanauer

"The Death of Epistemology"

"People Who Watch Only Fox News 
Know Less Than People Who Watch No News"

"A Southerner Explains Tea Party Radicalism: The Civil War Is Not Over"

"Republicans For Revolution," A Study In Anarchic Apocalypticism

"Bank On It: The South Is Always Wrong"

"Why The Bible Belt Is Its Own Worst Enemy"
  1. http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/10/why-bible-belt-is-christianitys-enemy.html

Republican Party Is "Full Of Racists," Colin Powell's Chief Of Staff

George McGovern: "The Case For Liberalism, A Defense Of The Future Against The Past"

Conservative Norm Ornstein: The Media Ignore Republican Lunacy

"Let's Just Say It. The Republicans Are The Problem"
Conservative Norm Ornstein and Liberal Thomas Mann

"Just How Far Out Is The Republican Fringe?" Norm Ornstein (And Is It The Fringe?)

"It's Even Worse Than It Looks"
Conservative Norm Ornstein and Liberal Thomas Mann

"When Extremism Goes Mainstream"
Conservative Norm Ornstein

"The Real Death Panels," Conservative Norm Ornstein

Jindal Criticizes The Stupid Party: "Simply protects the rich so they get to keep their toys"

Bobby Jindal's Healthcare Plan: What Republicans ALWAYS Get Wrong
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/02/gov-bobby-jindals-health-care-plan-what.html

Major General Smedley Butler: Do Wars Really Defend America’s Freedom?

"Politics And Economics: The 101 Courses You Wish You Had"

"Plutocracy Triumphant"
Cartoon Compendium

"The Rich Aren't Just Grabbing A Bigger Slice Of The Pie. They're Taking It All"
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-rich-arent-just-grabbing-bigger.html

Zillionaire Nick Hanauer: Stock Buybacks Are Destroying The U.S. Economy

Zillionaire, Nick Hanauer, A Former Free Marketeer Calls For Radical Wealth Redistribution

"The Pitchforks Are Coming For Us Billionaires"
Amazon Financier, Nick Hanauer

Taibbi: The $9 Billion Whistel Blower At JPMorgan-Chase.
Financial Thuggery At The Top

George Soros: On The Coming Class War In The United States

Major General Smedley Butler: Do Wars Really Defend America’s Freedom?

G.K. Chesterton: "The Anarchy of The Rich"

G.K. Chesterton and Warren Buffett's Class War

"War, Peace And Political Manipulation: Quotations"

"Pope Francis Links"


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