At 10:10 AM 9/30/97 -0400, Comrade Andy wrote:
>I find the illusion of
>capitalist freedom to be just that: the illusion of choice. Undazzled by
>liberal ideals and unimpressed with the promise of sparklies, I have a
>different conception of freedom.
Comrade Andy seems to be a devotee of Rousseau and his __Contrat Social__.
Man was born free yet everywhere he is in chains -- and then Rousseau goes
on to justify those chains by asserting that freedom is "the total
surrender of each individual with all his rights to the whole community."
Under Comrade Andy (as under Rousseau) there is no balance or equilibrium
of power -- there is only the all powerful state which is legitimate
because it claims the authority of THE PEOPLE. Who determines the WILL OF
THE PEOPLE -- why Comrade Andy and his ilk, of course. All the rest of us
(those who do not think as he does -- in fact the majority of humanity)
have a false consciousness and may therefore be put aside (see Comrade
Andy's comments below) and may be FORCED TO BE FREE in accordance with
Comrade Andy's view of what free is.
[Comrade Andy on the FALSE CONSCIOUSNESS of the masses:] >...false
identity and division perpetuates the illusion for the
>slaves, and it perpetuates the division between slaves. It is a false
>ideology. ... In fact, I do not think it necessarily matters what a
>person thinks of themselves in such matters. Reality can be quite a
>different thing than the thing that appears in consciousness.
Comrade Andy is "not a liberal subjectivist; I do not suppose that
preferences stand for material fact. " Yes, the terrible thing is that
Comrade Andy (like Rousseau) values liberty above all else but he (like R)
opens the door to terrible despotism by defining liberty as placing ones
self under "the supreme direction of the general will" (in other words,
behind the fence with the rest of the slaves).
>
>
Comrade Andy protests that "Bill Schell, he takes my argument and slaps the
"Stalinist" label on it. That works. Now I am "praising" the "Stalinist
world." But Comrade Andy, I did not open that door -- you did by saying
that this evils of (I presume) AMERIKA make Stalin look tame by comparison.
Comrade Andy says that his freedom is only an illusion -- the freedom with
which he expresses his opinions without fear of retribution is a great
illusion indeed. Would that all the world had it.