The Common Good in Uncommon Times

Steyn On-Line ^ | November 28, 2023 | Mark Steyn

[Twotone]

~They're saying it out loud now:

Ireland's Green Party Sen. Pauline O'Reilly: "We are restricting freedom but we're doing it for the common good...Yes you have rights, but they are restricted for the common good."pic.twitter.com/A1JN1yMyVv — Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) November 27, 2023

The obvious objection is that this is the rationale of totalitarian monsters throughout history. But, in our time, it's worse than that - because, when "diversity is our strength", there is no "common good". Because to have a "common good" you have to have something in common - and increasingly, in the vibrantly diverse multiculti hellhole our rulers have made of once coherent societies, we don't.

What does the firebreathing imam with four child brides at 27 Parnell Gardens have in common with the non-binary trans couple at Number 29? And what degree of "restrictions" will be required to maintain the pretence? In such a world, it is entirely natural that, when young girls are stabbed by a "migrant" and some fellows are sufficiently intemperate to take to the streets and object to the government policy of importing stabbers, the problem is not the stabbers but the objectors.

Thus, Mr Varadkar's ministry is fast-tracking new laws to ensure that next time, if you're minded to object, you'll be prosecuted. As we discussed yesterday, it's the criminalisation of opposition - and legislators like Senator O'Reilly are ever more open about it.

~As longtime readers are aware, the biggest issue for me is the demographic death-spiral of the western world. As I wrote in 2006:

In demographic terms, the salient feature of much of the 'progressive agenda' – abortion, gay marriage, endlessly deferred adulthood – is that, whatever the charms of any individual item, cumulatively it's a literal dead end.

As fertility dries up, so do societies.

[epluribus_2]

This is a Fundamental misunderstanding of “rights”

Rights are not bestowed, or even limited by governments.

They are natural and cannot be taken away, they can only be violated or recognized by government.

[Colinsky]

Yeah, but that’s the point of view promulgated by those despicable white male Founders. Today’s more enlightened and progressive knowledge is that “rights” are created and dispensed by Big Brother.

[Eva]

Thanks for posting this. I love Stein and his thinking.

‘But, in our time, it’s worse than that - because, when “diversity is our strength” ‘
I will have to remember that quote. It explains a lot.

[Eva]

I left off the second part of the quote, But, in our time, it’s worse than that - because, when “diversity is our strength”, there is no common good.

Great quote.