Not long ago a thinking conservative wrote an article about how we should mourn the loss of bleeding heart liberal in America. The main drive of that form of Liberalism was a critique of society. It began with questions being asked, after America dropped the nuclear bombs on Japan in 1945, in mainline protestant seminary classes, probably on the West Coast, as a theological debate. This developed further in the 1960s out of sympathy for the hippie outside of the political arena, despite rejecting their methods of social change as impractical.
It eventually translated into a semi political grouping in the 1970s into the bleeding heart liberal of America friendship network which was and wasn’t a movement. Finally, in the early 2000s, it mutated after cruelty pushed out the Democratic party, it developed into wokery becoming a dogmatic movement as a new generation took up the liberal cause. Between 2020 to 2024 they rise to for a moment and dominate the Democratic party which once scorned them.
Then in America, and later globally, they would put forward a vision that human society has become cruel and selfish. What was needed was to rekindle human kindness through good people seizing control of the state and enforcing, through state power, a good society.
This reflects Thomas Hobbes book Leviathan of 1651 which suggested that human nature was somewhat evil. What was required was a strong state back then in the form of a monarch to ensure people were treating each other well. Else human selfishness led to such self interest. This position would have been in the early modern period ironically seen as conservative in nature. To an American audience whose conservative tradition traces its roots to 1776 this would be surprising.
That the old world conservative of medievalism called for authority rather than Liberty. This has passed and conservatism now means a pursuit of liberty most of the time in the English speaking world. It is important to grasp that Wokery isn’t new but a rediscovery of something very old.
This ideology is drawn from many groups who do not share an ideology but a fear. Especially vulnerable groups like ethnic minorities, same sex couples and others. Who worry such cruelty is most easily directed at them because of social prejudices in society. So despite their many differences they come together out of fear from a society which has deemed since the 1980s to get harsher, at least in American context. Which makes them seek government protection.
The idea of the good elite rescuing an evil world through authoritarian government isn’t new. The formula of reaching the conclusion of mixing Marxism with liberalism, which has created something neither Marxist or liberal, is astonishing. The fact it resembles Thomas Hobbes’ philosophy so greatly can’t be coincidence surely?. It needs much more investigation to find out why this is the case.
The difficulty with the central critique is that society in the western world is becoming less compassionate and kind. Even some modern conservative highlights have some validity. The idea of the rampant individualism which creates the selfish and self seeking to the detriment of all else, is something we have warned against for decades. The father of modern conservatism himself, Edmund Burke, was massively conservative concerned about the issue.
The worry of the modern liberals isn’t completely unfounded. Even if their solution to it is strangely harsh and authoritarian. The idea which broke out of the Reagan era, who was a great president. Which took Milton Friedman economics as a foundation. To promote a free market economy. Even if the woke argue rightly or wrongly it has gone beyond merely a market principle in American society. Instead becoming a general rule of life which considers the evidence has some validity.
Which states life is about me and maybe my family alone. It clashed with the Christian benevolence found in most western societies. Which said love thy neighbor. Which allowed mankind to go ever further in his quest for self interest without care for how it harmed others.
This is highlighted by a recent sign produced by the America national Park service in 2023. Which asked people in the event of a bear attack not to push slower friends in front of a bear. To make their own escape easier. The existence of such a sign highlights a growing mentality of prioritizing ourselves at the detriment of others. In which the most vulnerable in this case the slowest runner is easily sacrificed. Which drive woke worries about society.
I am not Woke or liberal but I grasp this understanding. The woke are symptoms not the disease. The simple fact in a society of me, myself and I, how does one impose order?. The woke believe wrongly that this can only be achieved by the good government coming into our lives restricting our liberties and destroying freedoms.
I think there is a neater solution to the golden rule found in the Bible. Also strangely and beautifully in all other faiths and even among some atheistic philosophers. Which asks us to treat others as we would wish to be treated. This restricts selfish impulse not through government control but morality to act in a way which stops excessive human selfishness and prevents cruelty to a degree in society.
I would call it Christian benevolence. I may call it loving your neighbor. It has reached beyond that, it is found everywhere regardless of a man or woman’s beliefs as if sown into creation itself. Name any faith or moral philosophy there with different words. In it is our best hope of preserving pro social behavior requires for a harmonious society and allowing personal liberty.
It also would incidentally end wokery. Simply by removing the central fear which is the underlying emotional current of such an ideology. Even if a few push it forward the diverse groups who make up the woke movement would quickly break away from each other without the central worry which unites them into a strange coalition of differing social movements. It may even remove a lot of the need for many but not all social justice movements to be involved in politics at all.
