Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, and an accompanying chorus of caterwaulers demand that the Augusta golf club allow women to become members. Augusta should give them all a birdie, and not in the golfing sense.
There is an archaic doctrine undergirding what remains of Western civilization, and it is called "private property." This doctrine empowers people to enjoy the fruits of their own ingenuity, entitling them to own, transfer, and exclude others. Richard Weaver noted more than sixty years ago in his brilliant book, Ideas Have Consequences, that private property was the last metaphysical right yet to be destroyed by modernity. By "metaphysical right" he meant something that was revered as an inherent and unshakeable aspect of individual dignity, immune to pettifogging debate. Since nothing is sacred anymore, even this last metaphysical right must undergo the indignity of defending itself against Lilliputian critics.
What we are witnessing with Augusta is nothing more than the puerile controversy over the "boys only" tree house, which should end at childhood but has leeched into the discourse of adults (who now are mostly indistinguishable from children in terms of maturity, manners, and critical-thinking skills). If women, minorities, or even Martians wish to establish an exclusive golf club, I'll be the first to defend their right to do so. But having equal rights just isn't enough anymore, is it? Oh no, people now feel entitled to the fruits of other peoples' exercise of rights.
A sitting president and his opponent for office have chastised private citizens for exercising the very freedom that governments are established to protect -- I do remember reading a document from 1776 proclaiming that governments are established to protect rights rather than destroy them. The same document goes on to explain how governments that become destructive of our rights should be abolished, which is something we should keep in mind given the brave new world we are descending into.
There is an archaic doctrine undergirding what remains of Western civilization, and it is called "private property." This doctrine empowers people to enjoy the fruits of their own ingenuity, entitling them to own, transfer, and exclude others. Richard Weaver noted more than sixty years ago in his brilliant book, Ideas Have Consequences, that private property was the last metaphysical right yet to be destroyed by modernity. By "metaphysical right" he meant something that was revered as an inherent and unshakeable aspect of individual dignity, immune to pettifogging debate. Since nothing is sacred anymore, even this last metaphysical right must undergo the indignity of defending itself against Lilliputian critics.
What we are witnessing with Augusta is nothing more than the puerile controversy over the "boys only" tree house, which should end at childhood but has leeched into the discourse of adults (who now are mostly indistinguishable from children in terms of maturity, manners, and critical-thinking skills). If women, minorities, or even Martians wish to establish an exclusive golf club, I'll be the first to defend their right to do so. But having equal rights just isn't enough anymore, is it? Oh no, people now feel entitled to the fruits of other peoples' exercise of rights.
A sitting president and his opponent for office have chastised private citizens for exercising the very freedom that governments are established to protect -- I do remember reading a document from 1776 proclaiming that governments are established to protect rights rather than destroy them. The same document goes on to explain how governments that become destructive of our rights should be abolished, which is something we should keep in mind given the brave new world we are descending into.
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