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| Home Front: Culture Wars |
| John Fonte: A world of difference |
| 2005-01-16 |
| JUST before the new century began, Marc Plattner, co-editor of the influential Journal of Democracy, wrote of the brave new globalised world coming into existence: "A borderless world is unlikely to be a democratic one. [For] while the idea of 'world citizenship' may sound appealing in theory, it is very hard to imagine it working successfully in practice." An entire industry of transnational agencies and non-governmental organisations is pushing forward changes designed either to deny or override the national sovereignty of democratic states against surprisingly muted or inchoate opposition. Taken together, these changes amount to a serious political and intellectual challenge to democratic sovereignty vested in the liberal democratic nation-state. It is a distinctly new challenge. Until now, democrats have faced two major opponents: pre-democrats and anti-democrats. The pre-democrats, adherents of some form of ancien regime (of throne, altar, tribe or clan), have been mostly vanquished over the past several hundred years. Since 1917 three anti-democratic ideologies have presented an alternative vision to liberal democracy: first Nazism/fascism, then communism, and today militant Islam or Islamism. The radical Islamist threat is both deadly and serious, and it could last for a considerable period. Islamists might gain powerful weapons and thereby cause much death and destruction. Nevertheless, it is in the highest degree unlikely that they will in the end conquer liberal democracy. Yet the 21st century could well turn out to be not the democratic century, but the "post-democratic" century - the century in which liberal democracy as we know it is slowly, almost imperceptibly, replaced by a new form of global governance. The ideology and institutions already exist in embryonic form and are developing rapidly. The philosophical basis for global governance begins with the premise that all individuals on the planet possess human rights. International law is the paramount authority that determines those rights, while international agreements establish and expand new rights and norms. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #8 lots of really good stuff on rantburg today. Thanks tipper and everyone else. |
| Posted by: 2b 2005-01-16 4:08:16 PM |
| #7 Tipper, you always post great articles, but I'd like to suggest something to you. You very frequently post just the link. There are many cases when that's the right thing to do, but you should keep in mind that sometimes a little bit of posted text is useful when someone is trying to re-find an article some days later. So, when you intend to post just the link, think twice whether you could instead post at least one main paragraph that includes key names and words. . |
| Posted by: Mike Sylwester 2005-01-16 2:31:32 PM |
| #6 tranzis...wow.. I can see why it has them running. The truth hurts. |
| Posted by: 2b 2005-01-16 11:56:23 AM |
| #5 Thanks tipper. For those who couldn't get enough, here is the article from which the above was abridged. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-01-16 10:18:25 AM |
| #4 Thanks guys and gals. Once I discovered Fonte (remindes me of the Fonz) all became clear. I used his arguments in political newsgroups, and guess what? for the first time I had them on the run. They hate being called Tranzis |
| Posted by: tipper 2005-01-16 9:57:37 AM |
| #3 agree with 1,2 above in actuality a great deal of the authority is wielded by the unelected bureaucracy - the European Commission in Brussels The new Vatican and the new priests. How "Progressive". |
| Posted by: 2b 2005-01-16 4:06:42 AM |
| #2 Agreed - nice find, tipper. We've long been aware around here of the subversives who support anything that floats by that proclaims itself anti-American - and noted at length the irony that they would likely be the first to be put against the wall for elimination by their allies of convenience. But it's always nice to have it coherently framed and a URL you can point to... In the Funny Critters Dept, isn't it typical how easily impressed the weak-minded are, too. Just having it published somewhere that they recognize will impart so much more "legitimacy" to the ideas it contains... as if the publishing entity and those who write for it aren't people just like us. I have no doubt that there are smarter, more experienced, and more honest people here in RB than on staff at The Weekend Australian, but that's how those who can't think for themselves think, heh. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-01-16 2:17:19 AM |
| #1 Interesting article, tipper. Thanks! |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-01-16 1:58:52 AM |