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An Ode to ‘Old White Men’
“I like ‘old white men’: Socrates, Abe Lincoln, Moses, even Ronald Reagan. Like an ‘old black man’ once said, we should judge people based upon their character, not their race. The so-called ‘progressive’ faction of the Democratic Party—known for their ‘holier than thou’ brand of political rhetoric: ‘political correctness,’ CRT, and their signature achievement in ‘wokeness’ and ‘cancel culture’—never miss an opportunity to tell the world of the sins and imperfections of ‘old white men.’ By using this collective epithet, they have committed three acts of bigotry in one short statement: ageism, racism, and sexism. How ironic that a political party that never tires of espousing the virtues of multiculturism, inclusiveness, diversity, and tolerance rarely finds anything good to say about ‘old white men.’
This is, of course, not by accident. Theirs is a malicious mindset that forgoes serious, objective analysis. They are not interested in taking the time to look at facts or even to fairly consider the opinions of others. For them, it is much easier to smear, slander, or libel their opponents. It is far easier to attack another person’s unknown motives or call them racists, misogynists, and white supremacists. By using this radical tactic, they get a jump on their opposition. The opposition hesitates to respond and spends valuable time trying to defend their good name. The radical mindset is not interested in a search for truth. People like Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, and Adolf Hitler had no need for other people’s truths. They claimed an omniscience that ordinary people only attribute to God. Who on America’s current political scene seems more certain of his or her personal version of the truth than Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren? In the Democratic presidential debates, which took place before the 2020 nomination, various Democrat candidates pointed out the cauldron of anger bubbling up in Sanders’ and Warren’s statements. This tendency toward the extreme is intrinsic to the Left, not just something based on the personal failings of two left-wing politicians. Sanders’ and Warren’s anger are singular only in degree. Attempting to destroy the opposition using extreme rhetoric has a long and ugly history on both the Left and the Right but is uniquely systemic to the Left.
Theirs is a totalitarian mindset that refuses to recognize what people call an honest difference of opinion. It is a systemic characteristic of the Left’s analysis, part of their collectivist (Marxist) view of society. For them, individualism is ignored, while economic classes, racial groupings, and other types of ‘identity politics’ rule supreme. The right wing also produces demagogues, but they are exactly that: evil individuals who abuse power. They are not part of conservative ideology.
Edmund Burke, in his Reflection on the Revolution in France, brilliantly explained the ‘conservative’ position on life and government. He prophetically explained the reasons why radicalism would fail in France and produce unnecessary human suffering. Inherent in ‘conservatism’ is a basic recognition of the weakness, corruptibility, and limited wisdom of human beings. Based on this primary starting point, conservatives value the lessons of history. They are highly suspicious of radical change, and, when change is needed, they prefer it to be gradual and prudent, not spasmodic like Mao’s ‘Great Leap Forward’ or ‘cultural revolution.’
The wise men who created our U.S. Constitution insisted on ‘checks and balances’ and a ‘separation of power,’ all of which were intended to prevent a convulsive rush to popular judgment. They created a federal government that left the most authority and political direction to the states. These ‘old white men’ were wise enough to create a government that has withstood the test of time and become the envy of the world.
As we see from the current protests over the Supreme Court decision on abortion rights, the youthful Left is running wild in the streets. They are calling for radical changes to be implemented immediately. They are calling for packing the Supreme Court and using federal lands as places to exterminate the unborn. These are the same highly emotional, poorly educated mobs that, after George Floyd’s death, took part in riots and wanted to smash our system of government and create a new society out of whole cloth. These are the same young people who, without proof, rushed to indict all white Americans as guilty of ‘systemic racism.’ For these same people, anyone who disagrees with ‘abortion on demand’ is necessarily a hater of women. They arrogantly claim to have a clear window into the souls of other people. To quote the Spanish writer Cervantes, they believe that ‘facts are the enemy of truth.’ Like the bloodthirsty Parisian mobs that supported the radical government of the French Revolution, they don’t need facts, only strongly held feelings of which they clearly have an abundance. The youthful response of ‘progressives’ to the recent Supreme Court decision reveals just how close we are to the dangers of anarchy and radicalism in America.”
– William D. Howard
The Author
William D. Howard is a freelance writer with a long career as an educator. He holds degrees in history and philosophy and has traveled extensively in more than 40 countries. Mr. Howard’s essays have been published in American Thinker, LifeSiteNews, Intellectual Conservative, Narrow Path Ministries, and many other publications.