Materialism and egoism can only lead to the adoption of societal customs which detach the individual from any sense of loyalty or respect for his fellows. The average man is no longer concerned with the needs of his own family, but his own body, and he is plagued with the desire to constantly sate his hunger for yet more instant self-gratification. When the leaders of governments and the leaders of the institutions which support government are also infected by this moral disease, it is no wonder that the whole of society is kept in a destructive cycle which can only reinforce the ideology of selfishness.
The problems which face the modern world are becoming harder and harder to resolve because of this moral sickness. The nations of the world no longer have any moral direction, having lost their cultural identity and religious spirituality. It is akin to a sailor piloting his ship under dark clouds without a compass; he has no way to know where he is or where to go, and so he sails around blindly, with far greater risk of leading his ship astray. We cannot turn to God for our salvation — he left the path open to us, to choose virtue or vice, and it is up to us to divert our course. The solution to these problems can only be found within the individuals who know that the present state of society is deeply flawed, and in the attitudes of those who have the power to prevent the moral sickness which pervades society from spreading or worsening. Within every human, there is something which draws us towards what is beautiful and pushes us away from the ugly. No matter what the cultural narrative is that we are fed, there is a reason why a painting of Caravaggio is more beautiful than a painting of Mark Rothko; there is a reason why the music of Beethoven is superior to that of Skrillex; the base can only destroy whilst the beautiful can send the mind on a journey beyond the body and into the understanding of our own souls. This attraction to the beautiful and the noble is derived from the spiritual Creator of the Universe. The Universe that is so beautiful to observe — many of us feel the same feeling looking at the night sky as we do when listening to a beautiful piece of music. That logic, that reason which created the Universe is contained within man, for we are the creations of God, made in the image of God. Different religious have tapped into the spirit, and call God by many names, and some refuse to call him God at all (such as the Nirvana of the Buddhists), but the spirit of belief is still the same. That is the source of truth, which in turn is the purpose of moral improvement which should be the goal of every nation.
Humanity still has the capacity for self-improvement. It was that spirit that drove humanity from mere reptiles who crawled out of the ocean billions of years ago, into apes and ultimately into the Homo sapiens, who diversified into many different cultures and subraces, and it is that same spirit that will drive him on to become something like Homo sapientior51 in years to come. But whether or not the next stage of natural and moral evolution will be possible relies on us recognising that spirit. Man strives endlessly for perfection, even if he can never reach it — and it is that struggle for perfection which will improve his race. Even if he does not know it, Man continues to strive, for he can do no other, though he hinders himself if he refuses to believe it.
We have the moral codes which will drive our civilisation on into ever higher planes of intellectual and physical existence, perhaps into space, perhaps into levels of consciousness we have never before explored, for we are the children of God, the image of God, and morality is our purpose. Because of this, short-term approaches to achieving real justice — moral justice and ultimately political justice — the happiest state of man, must be achieved through long-term planning and recognition of our duty to our fellow citizens. The Romans called this duty to their fellow men pietas, and that pietas is the piety of a future informed by the traditions of the past. People who tap into this duty, this piety, are the heroes of that future. The holy trinity of truth, piety and heroism therefore are the instigators of true political justice.
Truth, which is rooted in identity and history, moves beyond the short-term problems which the politicians of today desperately squabble over and try to amend, and the electors of the Western world demand that their politicians resolve in return for a short-term vote of political support. In a world in which lies and falsehoods seem to be so readily believed, it is no easy task to ask the people of the world to suddenly place truth as their ultimate goal. This, however, no matter how hard a task it may seem, is the ultimate answer to the problems which restrict the development of communitarianism, national values and moral coherency.
This path will involve pain for its advocates, and it will be greatly opposed, but pain is often necessary for true happiness to be achieved. Happiness is not about self-gratification, but the defence of justice, liberty and the natural rights of the human being. We who were born of God, or gods, or Providence, or whatever the Divine Spirit which governs the Universe is called, must realise that justice is innate within us, and if we can only recognise it, then the path to the maintenance of prosperous nations and communities within nations is not as difficult a task as many fear it to be. The Orthodox Christians believe the ultimate destiny of the human soul to be theosis — oneness with the Divine, and they are right. Our life on Earth is nothing, and a spiritual life beyond it is just as important. If great lives on Earth, however, are what pose the test for us in achieving that spiritual goal then justice, especially within the political sphere which governs nearly every human interaction on this Earth, must be what we strive to defend.
A traditionalist taps into the truth that his ancestors pursued, the justice of deed and recognition that eternal life is founded in actions on behalf of the community rather than the individual. Many of these ancestors likely had no comprehension of why they did the great deeds which we now remember them for, but they knew that what they were doing was right, was for something good which would benefit humanity no matter what their personal perspective on the whole community was. If this spirit, if this truth is taken on by the governments of the nations, then true political justice is only a few steps away. One thing is for certain: in the age in which we live, with so many problems and obstacles facing us in the pursuance of political justice, the following quote, probably misattributed to Thomas Paine, rings home ever more truthfully for those who wish to participate in political society.
‘Lead, follow, or get out of the way.’
Finis
Select Bibliography
The following list of works are those which are either of most importance that have been cited in the text, or those which have been a principal influence on the ideas contained within this book. The reader may find some of these books to be of interest to his political mind, even those which seem diametrically opposed to his own viewpoints. The principal instigator of the writing of this book, Godwin’s Political Justice, is listed first, followed by the rest, arranged by alphabetical order of the authors’ surnames. The versions listed are of the own editions which I own, though the reader may find different versions of just as good quality.
*
William Godwin, An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, OUP (Oxford), 2013.
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Loeb Classical Library, H. Rackham (trans.), 1989.
Aristotle, Politics, OUP (Oxford), Ernest Barker (trans.), 2009.
Kerry Bolton, Revolution From Above, Arktos Media, 2011.
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, Penguin, 1968.
Cicero, On the Orator, Loeb Classical Library, E. W. Sutton H. Rackham (trans.), 1939.
Julius Evola, The Metaphysics of War, Arktos Media, 2011.
Norm Franz, Money and Wealth in the New Millennium: A Prophetic Guide to the New World Economic Order, Ascension Publishing, 2002.
Søren Kierkegaard, Either/Or, Penguin, Alastair Hannay (trans.), 1992.
Locke, Second Treatise on Government and A Letter Concerning Toleration, OUP (Oxford), 2016.
Lucretius, On the Nature of Things, Loeb Classical Library, W. H. D. Rouse (trans.) Martin F. Smith (rev.), 1992.
Niccolò Machiavelli, Discourses on Livy, OUP (Oxford), 2008.
Karl Marx, Capital, OUP (Oxford), 2008.
John Stewart Mill, On Liberty and other Essays, OUP (Oxford), 2008.
George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Penguin, 2013.
Thomas Paine, Collected Writings, Coyote Canyon Press, 2010.
Plato, Republic, Loeb Classical Library, Chris Emlyn-Jones William Preddy (trans.), 2013.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, Wordsworth, Derek Matravers (ed.), 1998.
Roger Scruton, A Political Philosophy: Arguments for Conservatism, Bloomsbury, 2007.
Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations: A Selected Edition, OUP (Oxford), 2008.
*
* As a final note, the reader may have noticed that discussion of environmental issues is almost non-existent in this work. I did not deem discussion of climate change, manmade or otherwise, worthy of note during its composition; however, for a fairly accurate representation of my own opinions on how to approach the issue of environmentalism from a conservative communitarian perspective, the reader may be interested in the following:
Roger Scruton, How to Think Seriously About the Planet: The Case for an Environmental Conservatism, OUP USA, 2012.
Acknowledgements
I have only a couple of people to thank for helping this book come to fruition. Specifically, I would like to dedicate this work to my father, Steven Illingworth, without whom I would never have been introduced to traditionalism. It is also dedicated to my beloved wife, Elizabeth, without whom I would never have finished the manuscript, and without whose watchful eye I would never have received the encouragement to put my thoughts to paper.
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Notes
[←1 ]
Locke, On Government 2.7.
[←2 ]
‘Blank slate’.
[←3 ]
According to John Rickman’s census of 1831.
[←4 ]
Morgan Freeman in an interview with Don Lemon of CNN, 3rd June 2014.
[←5 ]
Kierkegaard, Either/Or.
[←6 ]
De oratore 2.
[←7 ]
Roger Scruton, A Political Philosophy.
[←8 ]
Adapted from a similar conundrum offered by Godwin 2.2.
[←9 ]
In Greek, ta deonta ‘those things which are necessary’.
[←10 ]
Edmund Burke, Reflections
on the Revolution in France.
[←11 ]
Edmund Burke, Second Speech on Conciliation with America.
[←12 ]
See the Politics of Aristotle.
[←13 ]
Edmund Burke, Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents.
[←14 ]
Reflections on the Revolution in France.
[←15 ]
‘Thus ever for tyrants’.
[←16 ]
By which, for the sake of non-British readers, we mean very expensive but very ancient privately run schools such as Eton College and Harrow.
[←17 ]
Circa $50,000.
[←18 ]
The word minister itself derives from the Latin for ‘servant’.
[←19 ]
We should remember that titular privilege, and a seat in a House of Lords-style assembly, does not equal legal privilege.
[←20 ]
As shown in an extensive 2016 poll of British Muslims by ICM.
[←21 ]
Benjamin Disraeli, or the 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, was twice Prime Minister of Britain (1868, 1874–1880) and developed an ideology which is divided into two major camps. The traditional variant, described above, is derived from his own Victorian ideas based on hierarchy, authority and moral responsibility. A more modern variant sometimes called ‘one-nation politics’ by British leaders today is more akin to social liberalism than conservatism.
[←22 ]
Tracey Emin.
[←23 ]
Yoko Ono.
[←24 ]
Mark Rothko.
[←25 ]
Nick Land, The Dark Enlightenment 2013.
[←26 ]
Niccolò Machiavelli, Discourses on Livy 3.1.