We all know that the modern progressive cannot actually tell us what we are progressing toward. They have so long been destroying the concept of truth and mocking the meaning that comes from ordinary life, that they can offer no real destination. But despite the true aimlessness of their “progress” there are some faint outlines that can be drawn. As Anthony Esolen has said, “The heaven on earth is this: endless technological progress, giving us more and more sophisticated machines for the elimination of labor and the procurement of pleasures; more and more autonomy for the individual in sexual matters, paid for by more and more state surveillance over and management of ordinary human affairs ”. In short, their pseudo-answer is hedonistic Marxism. The justification for this is always equality. Of course the promotion of equality will require unlimited power to accomplish the impossible, equality of outcome. As Milton Friedman has said “a society that puts equality—in the sense of equality of outcome—ahead of freedom will end up with neither equality nor freedom. The use of force to achieve equality will destroy freedom, and the force, introduced for good purposes, will end up in the hands of people who use it to promote their own interests.”
Based on an insight from Nostalgia by Anthony Esolen
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