- Ryn, Claes G. America the Virtuous. New
Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2003. ISBN 0-7658-0219-8.
- If you've been following political commentary of the more
cerebral kind recently, you may have come across the term “neo-Jacobin”
and thought “Whuzzat? I thought those guys went out with the tumbrels
and guillotines.” Claes Ryn coined the term “neo-Jacobin” more than
decade ago, and in this book explains the philosophical foundation,
historical evolution, and potential consequences of that tendency
for the U.S. and other Western societies. A neo-Jacobin is one who
believes that present-day Western civilisation is based on abstract
principles, knowable through pure reason, which are virtuous, right,
and applicable to all societies at all times. This is precisely what
the original Jacobins believed, with Jacobins old and new drawing their
inspiration from Rousseau and John Locke. The claim of superiority
of Western civilisation makes the neo-Jacobin position superficially
attractive to conservatives, who find it more congenial than
post-modernist villification of Western civilisation as the source of
all evil in the world. But true conservatism, and the philosophy shared
by most of the framers of the U.S. Constitution, rejects
abstract theories and utopian promises in favour of time-proven
solutions which take into account the imperfections of human beings and
the institutions they create. As Alexander Hamilton wrote in Federalist No. 6, “Have
we not already seen enough of the fallacy and extravagance of those
idle theories which have amused us with promises of an exemption
from the imperfections, the weaknesses, and the evils incident to
society in every shape.” Sadly, we have not, and are unlikely to
ever see the end of such theories as long as pointy-heads with
no practical experience, but armed with intimidating prose, are
able to persuade true believers they've come up with something
better than the collective experience of every human who's ever
lived on this planet before them. The French Revolution was the
first modern attempt to discard history and remake the world
based on rationality, but its lessons failed to deter numerous
subsequent attempts, at an enormous cost in human life and misery,
the most recently concluded such experiment being Soviet Communism.
They all end badly. Ryn believes the United States is embarking on
the next such foredoomed adventure, declaring its “universal values”
(however much at variance with those of its founders) to be applicable
everywhere, and increasingly willing to impose them by the sword
“in the interest of the people” where persuasion proves inadequate.
Although there is some mention of contemporary political figures,
this is not at all a partisan argument, nor does it advocate (nor
even present) an alternative agenda. Ryn believes the neo-Jacobin
viewpoint so deeply entrenched in both U.S. political parties, media,
think tanks, and academia that the choice of a candidate or outcome
of an election is unlikely to make much difference. Although the
focus is primarily on the U.S. (and rightly so, because only in the
U.S. do the neo-Jacobins have access to the military might to impose
their will on the rest of the world), precisely the same philosophy
can be seen in the ongoing process of “European integration”,
where a small group of unelected elite theorists are positioning
themselves to dictate the “one best way” hundreds of millions of
people in dozens of diverse cultures with thousands of years of history
should live their lives. For example, take a look at the hideous draft “constitution” (PDF)
for the European Union: such a charter of liberty and democracy that
those attemping to put it into effect are doing everything in their
power to deprive those who will be its subjects the chance to vote
upon it. As Michael Müller, Social Democrat member of parliament
in Germany said, “Sometimes the electorate has to be protected from
making the wrong decisions.” The original Jacobins had their ways,
as well.
August 2004 