Here's how the review begins:
An eloquently significant characteristic of the twentieth century is the odd combination of two facts: that politics is the paramount concern of our age -- and that political philosophy has all but vanished from public consideration, discussion or knowledge.
The subject of politics is virtually absent from philosophical journals; political science textbooks are written predominantly on the intellectual level of a third-rate tabloid editorial; political campaigns are conducted -- well, as you can see them being conducted. It is as if our age were bent on committing suicide in loyalty to the premise that the more pressing a problem, the less thought one must give it.
This cultural context adds an extra element of urgency to the importance of The God of the Machine by Isabel Paterson -- a book which would be of great significance in any period, but which, today, has the effect of a unique phenomenon: it is a work of specifically political philosophy.
That admiring reviewer is Ayn Rand, reviewing The God of the Machine in the October, 1964 issue of The Objectivist Newsletter. "One of the things that readers will learn from this book," she continues, "apart from its specific contents, is what constitutes political thinking -- on what level political issues have to be approached and discussed, what questions have to be answered, what are political principles."
And here is where the partisans of liberty must note something about their alleged allies, the conservatives. Although President Bush mentioned liberty and freedom a number of times in his inauguration speech the other day, those who live in the United States know that he uses the word "democracy" far more often. No Republican leaders in the executive branch or in the House or Senate mentioned Isablel Paterson's birthday. Undoubtedly they were more concerned, if they thought of birthdays at all, with Martin Luther King, Jr.
More likely, though, their silence simply means that they are not philosophical at all about politics, and that it simply means, to them, above all else, power. And indeed, I believe that is so: in my quick survey of conservative sites for Thursday, Friday, and today, in particular NewsMax.com, WorldNetDaily.com, and FrontPageMag.com, I found no mention of Isable Paterson at all. Even lewrockwell.com and the Mises Blog missed it, possibly due to her occasional friendship with Ayn Rand.
So the conservatives and the Republicans -- I do recognize that there is no 100% correlation there -- prefer to pass on recognizing the birthday of a brilliant, passionate defender of individual liberty. Not that their taste and judgment in political writers must mirror my own, but it does make it worth asking: What is it that they mean by such words as liberty and freedom, and is democracy more important to them?
Whatever democracy means to them.
No, I suspect that they really don't care and really haven't thought any of it out. By and large, it's all about power, and only about power, for most of them. Power. The end. Fin. Full stop.
But Isabel Paterson is not forgotten: Stephen Cox at Liberty and Power mentioned her on Thursday, complete with lots of quotes. Two of my favorites: "The biggest pests are the people who use altruism as an alibi. What they passionately wish is to make themselves important," and "If you're going to be a dinosaur, be one; otherwise you're nothing but a lizard."
(Isabel Paterson was born on January 22, 1886)
Posted by Craig Ceely at January 22, 2005 06:55 PM