progressivism, individualism, and the public ... - Telmarc Group

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The Telmarc Group PROGRESSIVISM, INDIVIDUALISM, AND THE PUBLIC INTELLECTUAL Social Darwinism was written by Hofstadter as an update to his doctoral thesis. Hofstadter's style was often journalistic and he relied on secondary sources rather than the classic archival research methods employed by academic historians. As a result his writings become readable to a wider audience but open to criticism by the more academic circles. His basic premise in Social Darwinism was that the right as exhibited by the Republicans and their kin were descendents from the 19th century Social Darwinists who were believers in the theory of survival of the fittest. They were the ultimate Individualists where to Hofstadter this meant believers in the domination by those on the top of those on the bottom, a natural consequence of the social Darwinism in action. Hofstadter then progresses to take various attacks at the writers he sees as the predominant social Darwinists especially Spencer. He abhors Spencer and everything he stands for and the attack is virulent. Regrettable Hofstadter fails in the fundamental rule of the academic to understand what he speaks of. Darwinism related to species and not individuals. One individual does not a new species make. Thus it would have been incumbent on Hofstadter to first describe what Darwinism was to Darwin and at the time of his writing and from that vantage point go into a discussion of the changes made to it by others in the political and social science domains. Regrettable he neither did that nor does it appear that he had any clue of what Darwin even said. He merely used the words to spin the tale he wanted to tell. This is whole sale intellectual dishonesty. Let me address Spencer and Hofstadter's view. Hofstadter states 156 : "Spencer emphasized in the interest of survival itself cooperation in industrial society must be voluntary not compulsory. State regulation of production and distribution as proposed by socialists is more akin to the organization of a militant society and would be fatal to the survival of the industrial community: it would penalize superior citizens and their offspring in favor of inferior, and a society adopting such practices would be outstripped by others." Hofstadter assumes that this statement is a prima facie evidence of his evil Social Darwinism. In reality is a very truthful statement. Voluntary cooperation is essential to survival in an industrial society. Look at the Soviet Union, the Government mandated quotas and the compulsory mandates destroyed the whole system. Mandated rules of cooperation always lay the groundwork for ways to work around the system. As for state regulation, that is not socialist it is Progressive. Socialism is state ownership and control and the elimination of private ownership in toto. Thus this criticism of Spencer is less that of Spencer but a window to the mind of Hofstadter. 156 See SD p. 43. Page 146
The Telmarc Group Hofstadter continues 157 : PROGRESSIVISM, INDIVIDUALISM, AND THE PUBLIC INTELLECTUAL "While Social Darwinian individualism declined, Darwinian collectivism of the nationalist or racist variety was beginning to take hold. Darwinism was made to fit the model of international conflict-ideologists…As a conscious philosophy, Social Darwinism had largely disappeared in America by the end of the war. It is significant that since 1914 there has been far less Darwinian individualism in American that there was in the latter decades of the nineteenth century…Darwinian individualism has persisted as a part of political folklore even though its rhetoric is seldom heard in formal discussion….but with these allowances, it is safe to say that Darwinian individualism is no longer congenial to the mood of the nation…" If one looks to the early 21st century there are many "un-proclaimed" Darwinian individualists if not by proclamation then at least by action; Wall Street bankers, the "masters of the universe" who have managed to destroy and economy while at the same time massively profiting from it. They are individualists because the very nature of the reward system is such, to the individual, not even to the team. 6.1.4 The Paranoid Style In the book by Hofstadter on the politics of his day, The Paranoid Style in American Politics, he attacks politics in the mid 1960s and especially the Goldwater campaign. The most telling part of the current version is the Foreword by the leftist author Sean Wilentz who writes 158 : ""When right wing extremists blew up the federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995, President Clinton berated the paranoid politics of hate and declared "there is nothing patriotic about hating your country." But three years later right-wing Republicans …. furious at Clinton's ability to outfox them politically… used his misleading statements about illicit consensual sex as a pretext to mount an unconstitutional but successful impeachment…" Frankly Clinton lied, committed perjury, and these were not "misleading", and the impeachment was Constitutional. Wilentz is anything but even handed in this statement but it does present the fact that Hofstadter's approach to history survives, yet in a now more virulent form. Hofstadter states about Goldwater's defeat 159 : 157 See SD p. 203. 158 See PS p xxvii. 159 See PD pp. 114-115. Page 147
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The Telmarc Group and the Progressi
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progressivism, individualism, and the public ... - Telmarc Group

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