The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

1972 YOU RASCAL, YOU! 653sons been more at odds and,as I see it, more astray.4. A widespread acknowledgmentof trouble but withoutany noticeable confession ofpersonal shortcomings. Nearlyevery finger points at someoneelse; it is impressivelyyou; there is hardly an I inthe population.Imagine! All of this rascalityand not a professed rascal amongus! Why? It is simply because thereal evil, the cause of our waywardness,is rarely suspected.Thus, self-identification is impossible.People do not link themselvesto error about which theyare unaware.What is this rascality? It is thedomineering habit, the insistencethat others act in accord withone's own shadowy lights. Perhapsno one has shaken this habit completely,so common is its practice.This habit has its inception in theclosest relationships, as in thefamily, one parent lording it overthe other or both of them assumingan authoritarian as distinguishedfrom an exemplary relationshipwith their children. Ittakes such seemingly innocentforms as do-as-I-say - a carboncopy way of·life.This tendency, once rooted,spreads by unseen degrees toneighbors, the classroom, the· pulpit,and other associations. Sooneror later, it begins to grow tee.thand takes the form of do-as-I-sayor-else,that is, it explodes intoout-and-out coercion as in countlessthousands of unprincipledgovernmental compulsions. Whennot recognized as evil and thusunchecked, it brings on dictatorshipsand finally reaches its apogee,its most vicious manifestation:mass slaughter.I am unaware of any evil morepronounced than man lording itover man. Not even God does this.Indeed, He has given us a freedomso radical that we may deny ourMaker or otherwise make fools ofourselves. As I see it, thedomineeringhabit is the root of allevil 1and unless there is some realizationthat it is, we will continue toascribe nonreasons for ourtroubles·and without anyone faultinghimself. We will go on exclaiming,"You rascal, you!"A Record of FailureEnough of my theorizing. Letus reflect on an observed fact: an1 This is close to the idea of OriginalSin, as many theologians define it: thetendency of the creature to try to usurpthe role of the Creator. That interpretationappears to be in accord with theBiblical account which describes thetempter as telling the human creaturethat if he will eat the forbidden fruit hecan become like God. Genesis 3: 5. Seealso. Nature, Man and God by WilliamTemple (London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd.,1934), p. 496 ff.