Month: October 2025 – כ״ח בתשרי תשפ״ו

The Courage To Be Utopian – F.A. Hayek

Quoting the end of “The Intellectuals and Socialism” by F.A. Hayek:

 

Does this mean that freedom is valued only when it is lost, that the world must everywhere go through a dark phase of socialist totalitarianism before the forces of freedom can gather strength anew? It may be so, but I hope it need not be. Yet, so long as the people who over longer periods determine public opinion continue to be attracted by the ideals of socialism, the trend will continue. If we are to avoid such a development, we must be able to offer a new liberal program which appeals to the imagination. We must make the building of a free society once more an intellectual adventure, a deed of courage. What we lack is a liberal Utopia, a program which seems neither a mere defense of things as they are nor a diluted kind of socialism, but a truly liberal radicalism which does not spare the susceptibilities of the mighty (including the trade unions), which is not too severely practical, and which does not confine itself to what appears today as politically possible. We need intellectual leaders who are willing to work for an ideal, however small may be the prospects of its early realization. They must be men who are willing to stick to principles and to fight for their full realization, however remote. The practical compromises they must leave to the politicians. Free trade and freedom of opportunity are ideals which still may arouse the imaginations of large numbers, but a mere “reasonable freedom of trade” or a mere “relaxation of controls” is neither intellectually respectable nor likely to inspire any enthusiasm.

The main lesson which the true liberal must learn from the success of the socialists is that it was their courage to be Utopian which gained them the support of the intellectuals and therefore an influence on public opinion which is daily making possible what only recently seemed utterly remote. Those who have concerned themselves exclusively with what seemed practicable in the existing state of opinion have constantly found that even this had rapidly become politically impossible as the result of changes in a public opinion which they have done nothing to guide. Unless we can make the philosophic foundations of a free society once more a living intellectual issue, and its implementation a task which challenges the ingenuity and imagination of our liveliest minds. But if we can regain that belief in the power of ideas which was the mark of liberalism at its best, the battle is not lost. The intellectual revival of liberalism is already underway in many parts of the world. Will it be in time?

Rashi Against Multiculti/NWO Rhetoric!

Some quotes, unchecked, compiled by ChatGPT:

  • “Our diversity is our strength.” – ubiquitous modern slogan (used by politicians from Trudeau to Biden).

  • “There is no such thing as a British people.” – Tony Blair, The Spectator, 2001.

  • “We do not need a melting pot; we need a salad bowl.” – metaphor popularized by Time magazine, 1990s.

  • “The future is mixed.” – Angela Merkel, 2015 press statement during migrant crisis.

  • “There’s no room for national identity in the global village.” – paraphrase of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, 2000 address.

  • “I have no country to love or to serve. My country is humanity.” – Bertrand Russell, Why Men Fight, 1917.

Hmm, well Rashi says not!

Rashi Bereishis 11:6:

הן עם אחד, כל טובה זו יש עמהן שעם אחד הם ושפה אחת לכולם ודבר זה החלו לעשות.

Translation: They are one people. They have it so good; they are a single nation, a single language shared by all. And yet they go and do this?!