The Reality Party vs. The Unreality Party

Republican Elephant & Democratic Donkey, CC BY 2.0
American politics has finally and definitively bifurcated into two main camps. On the one hand normal people who work with things (in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, etc.) are basically still grounded in reality and realize that reality trumps concepts. These people participate in the reality which they realize they didn’t create.
The elites, however dwell in the imaginative world of their thoughts, which they prefer over reality. This is because doing so allows them to be god-like, a most satisfying condition.
These people believe that reality is not a given. They have completely come to believe that the scientific project can be applied to ourselves, our society, our culture and our politics. This means that people and their institutions become objects to manipulate and to make ‘better’.
Once natural science jumps the fence from dealing with legitimate areas of inquiry in the physical world to being applied to politics, reality no longer applies because our ideas of what is possible rule and we try to force reality to them.
In other words, our elites have been taught that every aspect of reality is capable of being conceptualized and then subject to improvement as they see fit.
They are true believers in scientism.
Listening to the political rhetoric, it is clear that some of our politicians believe in the ideal conception of the ‘unreal’. They proclaim a radar-like focus on the impossible task of self-salvation – a goal of perfecting humanity through our own efforts.
This places our political world on the same level as Pokémon.
Normal people still think that reality really is real and we must form our concepts to conform to that objective truth.
The Wizards of Washington do not think that reality is actual and hence needs to be contended with. In their minds, they are free to be their own god, ‘creating’ ourselves and our society, any darn way they please.
And, they ‘know’ that they have the ‘right’ knowledge, which the rest of us don’t possess, required to take us into the Promised Land, the utopia imagined in their minds.
They think that their fantastical political speculations are as real as real can be. They assume that life is something other than it is, something to be manipulated, engineered to their liking.
By manipulating our political and social institutions they intend to perfect us to their idealized state of human fulfillment.
They can’t stand the fact that we find ourselves to not be perfect but, not to worry they will fix that!
They reject the reality that we are mortal and, in fact, they are working feverishly on that project too!
It is anathema to these people that there might be areas of life they can’t understand and control. There are no mysteries allowed in their grand work of perfecting the universe.
Gods in their own minds, these individuals are basically harmless in their own lives. But when we collectively buy into their fantastic schemes and turn the levers of power over to them, we end up with cultural catastrophes such as we are now experiencing.
For example, the reality of marriage isn’t. Instead, it is whatever we declare it to be.
Or, the reality of murder, isn’t. Instead, it is, when we say it is and it isn’t, when we say it isn’t (babies & the unfit elderly).
And, the reality that it is better to leave health care decisions up to individuals and families in a large and diverse country rather than try to plan a master policy designed by well, you-know-who.
Lastly, the entire Supreme Court battle centering on whether the Constitution is stable, literal and real or, is it to be viewed as being plastic and moldable to their project of perfection. In which case it can’t mean what it says or, it would be an insurmountable obstacle.
In pursuing perfection too much, in believing in ourselves as being the creators too much, in trusting in our own knowledge too much we are placing ourselves on extremely unstable ground.
Unless we find a cure for our utopian seeking political sickness we will find ourselves constructing a world that is just the opposite of what we intended.
For, in trying to force the pegs of reality into holes which they don’t fit, reality will ultimately prevail.
In trying to perfect humanity, we will instead self-destruct on the shoals of actuality as created by a Being beyond our understanding.
If we don’t have the collective sensibility and humility to admit the veridical, the suicide of our country at some point becomes imminent.
Terry Applegate writes from Utah in the winter and Michigan in the summer. He is CEO of Applegate Insulation, serves on the board for Citizens for Traditional Values, Cellulose Insulation Manufacturers Association and the European Theological Seminary and is married to Val with three children and four grand-children.
Trending Now on Affluent Christian Investor
Sorry. No data so far.
The Affluent Mix
Biden Oblivious To Illegal Immigration Issues... August 2, 2021 | Frank Vernuccio

Rob Arnott On Bubbles, Inflation, And Once-In-A-Generation Investment Opportunit... August 2, 2021 | Jerry Bowyer

The Federal Reserve’s Massive Theft Of Stability... August 2, 2021 | Jim Huntzinger

What To Do About This Difficult Market? August 2, 2021 | David Bahnsen

Letter On The Politicization Of Corporations... July 26, 2021 | Jerry Bowyer

Peak Of The Fake Bull Market July 26, 2021 | Michael Pento

Woodrow Wilson’s Administrative State vs. Gold... July 26, 2021 | Jim Huntzinger

Dividends, Energy, And Crypto July 26, 2021 | David Bahnsen

Whose Side Are You On? July 26, 2021 | Frank Vernuccio

Media, Left Ignore These Dangers July 19, 2021 | Frank Vernuccio

Mark Skousen On FreedomFest And How To Measure The Whole Economy... July 19, 2021 | Jerry Bowyer

Quantifying The Quantitative, Or Making Easy The Easing... July 19, 2021 | David Bahnsen

The Gold Standard Means A Rising Standard Of Living... July 19, 2021 | Jim Huntzinger

Book Review: Brian Domitrovic Reveals The Monetary Genius Of Arthur Laffer... July 19, 2021 | John Tamny

Steve Forbes: Time To Worry About Inflation, Not Hyperinflation... July 12, 2021 | Jerry Bowyer

UFOs Rescue Biden July 12, 2021 | Frank Vernuccio

Read This Classical Economist’s 200 Year Old Warning About Paper Money... July 12, 2021 | Jim Huntzinger

How Central Banks Murdered The Markets July 12, 2021 | Michael Pento

Everything There Is To Know About The Stock Market... July 12, 2021 | David Bahnsen

AT&T CEO: We’re Ill Equipped For Politics, And We’re Spending A Lot Of ... July 6, 2021 | Jerry Bowyer

Internet Bias Distorts National Conversation... July 6, 2021 | Frank Vernuccio

The Halfway Point Of 2021 July 6, 2021 | David Bahnsen

Join the conversation!
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, vulgarity, profanity, all caps, or discourteous behavior. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain a courteous and useful public environment where we can engage in reasonable discourse.