Dear Friends,
It seems to me, ideology itself is evil. All ideologies. They are a mind trap, a glass maze that gives us the illusion of being able to go anywhere, but in fact, trapping us into only going where they allow. Moreover, at every dead end, and there are only dead ends, there is a group of people mingling and patting each other on the back, that they have reached enlightenment at that dead end. If you have the misfortune of getting there, they will do everything they can, to keep you there. Trapped and bound by a dead end ideology. The only way out is to refuse to play. Transcend ideologies by recognizing them for what they are, mind traps. It is only the mind unfettered by glass mazes that is able to operate in all directions. Our goal then is to make systems to get us out of that maze.
Ideologies all have another thing in common, they all have a speck of truth, a speck that hooks you in then the glittering lies mesmerize. That is how so many are held at an obvious dead end. They think it is the goal, when ideological mazes don’t have exits, only dead ends. That speck of truth is what lures the unsuspecting into the maze. Once inside, the glass walls guide by feel rather than by experience or vision. Like the box of gold at the end of a rainbow, that speck of truth cannot be realized, it will forever be arms length away. Like the dog that didn’t bark however, that speck of truth is unaccompanied by other truths. This is one way to recognize the bait in a trap. Another, the best way, is to never eat free cheese, you never know what it might lead to.
The most dangerous ideologies are totalizing ideologies, they take away even your agency. Once in the maze, if it has an easy answer to everything, it is totalizing. Like an algorithm that takes any input and spits out one of three answers. Such a thing is simple to operate and takes away the burden of thinking… thus the agency of the zealot. The brain however is like any other attribute, if it is not used it atrophies, as do the body and the spirit. The brain on ideology withers until it becomes incapable of even the simplest of tasks. Adding two and two in the mind becomes such a burdensome project it is best left to politicians with accountants. Totalizing ideologies then, not only take away our agency, but retard us in mind, in this they are diabolical as they are pernicious.
Ideologies are handy though. They are a means to sort people into groups and pit us against each other. The most effective ideologies then are those that empower the government. Because in a system with a weak government, people need not care about politics, so the power of ideology weakens. The closer the government and politics come to becoming the means of distribution of the goods of society, (socialism)… the more powerful ideologies become. When you have no choice but to pay attention to government, else go poor, then you have to sort into ideologies… that fight over a piece of an ever shrinking pie. Everyone becomes aware of this and ideology becomes mankind’s most destructive idea. Therefor, the one thing that undermines the evil power of ideology… is to weaken government.
Vote for the man or the party are two sides of a wooden nickel. Voting for the party takes away your agency because you need not burn a single precious calorie in your brain to do it. Voting for the man is relying on his or her ideology, which in some way is less thoughtful than relying on one’s own, even if flawed. As in all things, the “golden path” is between the extremes. Vote for the man… and the party, since ideology is pervasive. We must use our vote like a surgeon uses a scalpel, with care and precision, always seeking to lower the power, scope and role of government, and thus lowering the diabolical power of ideology. If we can return to a meritocracy, then our children could live in a golden age. If we fail, and ideology wins, our children will live under oppression and want.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
