![]() ![]() So much of politics isn’t a matter of facts it seems. As I listened to the conversation it occurred to me that the way Churchill was being described is probably the way most Trump supporters would describe him. Ricks discussed the jarring honesty of Churchill and his principled analysis of facts. Churchill was never aligned with them, but he would certainly have been aware of this mythology and of the ability of a cult of heroic persistence to inspire. One of the very few exceptions were the Ulster Unionists, whose political interests lay in claiming that the UK mainland must recognize the loyalty displayed by those in Ulster who had volunteered for WWI, and who already had a mythology of “No Surrender” dating back as far as the siege of Derry in 1689. Pacifism after WWI was popular partly because it was in the political interests of those not directly involved in supporting WWI, most especially the left. In particular, Churchill came to power at a time when it was clear that Hitler was not a reliable bargaining partner, and war or Nazi rule were the only available options. Therefore “They could order I had to convince and persuade.” So he could be an outstandingly effective politician, but he did not and could not function as the _only_ person holding the correct view of things. That freedom your guest would oppose just as Orwell would.Ĭhurchill was proud to note in his History of the Second World War chapter “Teheran: Crux and Conclusions” that unlike Stalin and Roosevelt, he could be dismissed at the whim of the House of Commons. The knowledge of the particular circumstances of time and place is of no use to society unless each of those millions of “particulars” is allowed to be acted upon by individuals who have those particulars. It is the ability for each individual to act on their individual knowledge. Freedom, however, is far more than letting people “have full access to knowledge”. The freedom to say the truth, or even the untruth is a trap progressive use to hold that as the only thing needed for government to constrain itself. In fact the last thing a modern State wants is for the opposition to go underground. Once people are bribed-with-their-own-money to the point where they feel government is essential –where as we have now, a mere 5% of the IRS budget is devoted to coercive extraction, where 95% of IRS staff are there, just to handle all that money that comes to them– there is no need for censorship, there is no need to shut anyone up. That is not only childish, it is a useless truism even for a child. If you have that, you have everything else you need to be free.” “The right to say that 2+2=4 is the beginning point of freedom. I was very disappointed to hear the following unchallenged by Russ. ![]()
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