Unmoored From Philosophy and Patriotism

Last week viewers watched as the waves of Democratic misgovernment crashed against the shoals of reality. The CNN Presidential Debate featured an elderly President Biden attempting to justify his record on the economy and immigration. His occasionally spirited attempts to present President Trump as a threat to democracy and abortion access all but failed. Early in the campaign Trump made it abundantly clear that he doesn’t want the federal government to become involved in the issue of abortion. Additionally, he skillfully deflected from January 6 to focus on the issues that voters care about most: the economy, immigration, and national security. Even many liberals were forced to admit that President Biden was trounced by his opponent. As Biden struggled to articulate and defend his policies or a vision of the future, viewers were shown how untethered Democratic policies are from both philosophy and patriotism.

Much of American history has been guided by natural law philosophy; the idea that there are certain immutable laws governing our actions. These eternal laws are derived from the nature of man and his relation to his fellow creatures. Although religious people contend that these laws were laid down by God, they can be discovered by the exercise of our reason and then confirmed by Revelation. Cicero, the great Roman statesman, expressed this view of law beautifully in one of his philosophical dialogues. He stated that “according to the opinion of the best authorities law was not thought up by the intelligence of human beings, nor is it some kind of resolutions passed by communities but rather an eternal force which rules the world by the wisdom of its commands and prohibitions. In their judgment, that original and final law is the intelligence of God who ordains or forbids everything by reason” (trans. Niall Rudd). Through our participation in Divine reason, humans can discover laws that govern our actions. Proponents of natural law believe that the laws of a state must conform to a standard of justice that exists independent of and prior to the formation of any political community.

The Founding Fathers were profoundly impacted by the view that a government’s actions must conform to the standard laid down by “the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God.” In an 1825 letter Thomas Jefferson wrote that the Declaration’s authority rests on the harmonizing sentiments of the day, whether expressed in conversation, letters, printed essays, or in the elementary books of public right, as Aristotle, Cicero, Locke, Sidney, & c.” Although they were sometimes modified, the expressions of philosophers like Cicero served as a basis for the American experiment.

As succeeding generations marched across the continent and the pressures of slavery began to mount, natural law philosophy continued to play an essential role in the flourishing of our Republic. Abraham Lincoln was perhaps the most eloquent exponent of natural law because he understood that it was wrong, by nature, for one man to rule over another without that man’s consent. He frequently made appeals to the Declaration of Independence with its invocation of certain inalienable rights. Ultimately Lincoln understood that “[w]henever this question [of slavery] shall be settled, it must be settled on some philosophical basis. No policy that does not rest upon some philosophical public opinion can be permanently maintained.” Either slavery was to be considered a moral evil or it was not. If it was a moral evil then it must be abolished and if it was not then the government had no right to prohibit it. Lincoln knew that half-measures and vascillations could only continue for so long. By defending natural law he contributed to a tradition that has raised mankind from the depths of barbarism and allowed civilization to prosper.

Even after the defeat of slavery, blacks still languished under the injustices of Jim Crow. In his attempt to further civil rights Martin Luther King Jr. did not have recourse to self-interest or violence but by following the same philosophy that had guided previous statesman and sages. His “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” is one of the most beautiful philosophical expressions in history and sought to ground governmental policies in natural law teaching. Claiming that Americans had a responsibility to disobey unjust laws, MLK followed Thomas Aquinas in stating that “[a]n unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law.” By contrast, just laws are rooted in certain immutable principles of right and wrong.

The greatest triumphs in our national history were brought about by men and women with a firm conviction in the philosophical principles found in the natural law tradition and guided by faith.

The debate last night demonstrates that Democrats have essentially abandoned the idea of natural law. While they may occasionally invoke “rights” their use of the word is detached from the philosophical tradition that gave birth to it. This was illustrated during a particularly shocking moment when President Biden argued that leaving abortion access up to the states was akin to leaving Civil Rights up to the states. Although his claims likely won’t receive a second thought, his statement should have provoked outrage. He compared the ability to kill one’s unborn child in the womb to the freedom to live under laws that don’t discriminate based on race. One is the outgrowth of unlimited self-expression and the other is derived from natural law. One is based in self interest and the other is based in philosophy. A more apt comparison would have been the attempt to leave slavery up to the states. Like slavery, abortion is a violation of natural law. Not only does it sever the most basic natural bond in existence (that between a mother and her child) it sacrifices another human being to the whims of personal convenience. President  Biden’s statement demonstrates a full scale rejection of natural law that is closely related to his embrace of transgenderism. In his mind, there is no objective external reality. Bureaucrats and scientists can remake the world in their image without restraint. These ideas are in contradiction to those of the Founding which sought to create a state that respected a real nature law existing outside of the state. In short, democratic policy has become unmoored from philosophy.

A second traditional wellspring of policymaking is patriotism. By patriotism I mean a desire to improve the well-being of one’s fellow citizens. When this impulse becomes unmoored from  natural law it can become harmful. For example, Stephen Douglas wanted to ignore slavery in order to expand the Union and secure new benefits for white citizens. By detaching patriotism from philosophy he did not serve the interest of his fellow citizens. Oftentimes, however, patriotism and philosophy are closely linked. After all, those who have set American affairs on a philosophical basis (i.e. Washingotn and Lincoln) have contributed the most to the well-being of their fellow citizens. 

As Trump hammered President Biden on immigration it became abundantly clear how unpatriotic his party has become. While he may have made a few patriotic statements one can see that he is clearly not motivated by a desire to improve the lives of his fellow citizens. He cares just as much (if not more) about the foreigners flooding into this country. There has been practically no attempt to stem the flow of illegal immigrants who often strain social services which further disadvantages the poor. Indeed the Democratic party has an aversion to preferring citizens over foreigners. Doing so would be xenophobic and unwelcoming. As the late Henry Kissinger said “[t]he civic patriotism that once lent prestige to public service appears to have been outflanked by an identity-based factionalism and a competing cosmopolitanism. In America, a growing number of college graduates aspire to become globe-trotting corporate executives and professional activism.” At best, expressions of patriotism are now seen as quaint and outdated. We might aspire to defeat global challenges such as climate change but securing our sovereign border is unworthy of a citizen of the world.

Going into last week’s debate, anyone paying attention was already well-aware of President Biden’s personal struggles. The real revelation was the extent to which Democratic policy making has become untethered from the philosophy of natural right and a due regard for one’s fellow citizens. Their policies are now motivated by a cosmopolitan desire to remake the world in the name of liberating humanity while amassing power for themselves. This liberation will come at the cost of enslaving us to the barbarism that has characterized so much of human history.