This was one of the few good excerpts from “The Pursuit of Loneliness.”
…they (people) are seldom able to resist putting crucial power into the hands of administrators.
This is a violation of democracy’s first rule: never delegate authority upward. It’s a rule violated by liberals more than anyone else, since liberals are most uncomfortable with the demands of communal existence. Cooperation is so irksome to individualistic natures that they spend half of their political lives giving power to centralized governments and the other half fearing for their personal liberties, without ever considering the contradiction.
–Philip Slater
My recommendation is, don’t bother reading this book. I have just relayed the only redeemable paragraph of the entire work.
Liberals are uncomfortable with the demands of communal existance?
To quote Dr. Evil: \”Uh… buh????\”
Communal = commune. Hippies live on communes. Hippies = liberals, yes?
Commune – same root as communist. Liberals = communists, yes?
The point (valid or otherwise) that the author made is not that liberals are uncomfortable with communal living, but that they have a natural discomfort with the _demands_ of communal existence. Ultimately putting communal needs first means limiting individual liberties… i.e. liberals push for more socialistic government while at the same time fighting with vigor to protect free speech; failing to pay attention to the fact that the two positions ultimately stand at odds to one another.
Bobby