Ideas...Noble or Otherwise; B. Barker

Although men create ideas, they understand them quite poorly and have little comprehension of their true value. Few, for instance, are Ben Barker, M. D., of Oxnard, california Is a specialist In psychiatry and contemporary therapeutic tech niques. 746 able to conceptualize that all exist ing major industries, institutions, organizations and edifices began as a single idea. Nations, both great and small, owe their existence and development to a complex fabric of interacting ideas. Wherever there are men, there are ideas--and where there are noble men, there are noble ideas. In order to understand ideas, we must begin with the dictionary def inition: 1. a thought; mental conception or image; notion 2. an opinion or belief; 3. a plan, scheme, intention; 4. a hazy perception, vague impres sion, inkling' (Webster's New World Dictionary, 1965) What these definitions supply is the commonly accepted usage of the word. As we shall discover in this IDEAS, NOBLE AND OTHERWISE 747 analysis, however, these concepts fall far short of defining an idea. It is a bit like believing that an acorn is an oak tree. Ideas have life cycles and merely begin as hazy perceptions, mental conceptions or notions. Very often they go no further but, in those cases in which ideas move on, we can discover their true value. The search resembles the process of ore mining: tons of dirt must be sifted in order to turn up a few ounces or pounds of the metal desired.

An apt analogy for an idea is a plant. Its seed is borne upon the cos mic wind, is sown within the mind of man and either finds nourish ment there or withers and dies. If it is nurtured, it takes root and begins to proliferate. Proliferation involves penetrating the thoughts and minds of others, growing there and even tually becoming a part of accepted reality. To this point, then, we have looked at these steps in the life cycle of an idea: implantation, germina tion, proliferation and, finally, growth. These steps are both se quential and simultaneous. One of the most poetic demonstra tions of the process under consider ation involves the idea of human flight. Originally, a presumptuous daydream mocked in ancient myth ology, it found root in countless gen erations of souls who met ridicule and frustration as they tried vainly to implement their dream. Eventu ally, fixed-wing gliding flight was discovered by a single anonymous individual and spread horizontally.

Then a pair of bicycle mechanics married that idea to two others: the propeller and the internal combus tion engine-and the airplane was born. The process of horizontal prolifer ation continued and the airplane be came part of accepted reality. Si multaneously, vertical growth occurred as more complex and pow erful airplanes were built and more men became involved in flying them. Other idea marriages were con ceived and implemented: airplanes for mail delivery, group travel, bombing, surveillance, and the like. And an industry was born and grew before our very eyes. So it was also with oil, automobiles, radio, televi sion, newspapers, computers. Industrial Development Depends upon Free Will What too few realize is that this entire process is dependent upon a sensitive variable called free will. If anyone idea or ideology becomes so dominant in a social order that it refuses to allow implementation, germination or proliferation of other ideologies, the result is stasis and dissolution. In the Nazi Third Reich, post-1917 Russia, and revolutionary Red China, the dominant political party took on the role of the arbiter of the appropriateness of cultural ideas. The consequence of such con748 THE FREEMAN December trol by a dominant ideology is al ways predictable.

So, we see that in the latter stages of development, an idea can become very powerful and suppress other ideologies. This is a type of malig nant degeneration, much like can cer in the body, and can occur no matter how noble the idea at its in ception. In a forest of giant red woods, no other seedling has a chance. What seems to be remarkably consistent in the degenerative stages of ideologies is that their propo nents gain control of the apparatus of government, then use this mech anism to suppress competing ideas. Is there a way to prevent this pro cess of idea growth and development from going too far? Can an ideal me dium for competing concepts be pre served? Or are we all destined to live through one era of malignant degeneration after another? It is quite possible that this was precisely the set of problems that those who framed the Constitution and the Bill of Rights were working on. They were indeed men of wisdom and prudence and it would be folly to discard their valuable contribu tion to civilization. Yet that is evi dently what is going on in this era of government ali sm. We are now liv ing in an epoch of malignant degen eration of a once noble idea. That idea was that the mechanism of gov ernment could be used to halt poverty and to improve the lot of the common man.

An Idea Gone Sour Who knows how this idea was born? Perhaps it came out of some individual's translation of the in tent of our own Constitution. It cer tainly was stated plainly by Marx as the intent of his Communist Rev olution proposals. Brit has poverty ended in the USSR or her satellite nations? Is Cuba sailing into eco nomic bliss under Castro? Has our own ((war on poverty" succeeded? The answers to these questions are obvious. Both Soviet Russia and socialist/capitalist America are choking to death on an idea gone sour-that government in and of it self can improve the lot of man. It cannot. Not by force of arms or with countless billions of dollars. The lot of man will improve only when and if new ideas are allowed to compete freely in the marketplace of mind for growing space. The sweat-stained bicycle mechanic must be free to di vert his money and energy toward his impossible dream before man can fly. There is no other way.

That such a teeming marketplace of competing ideas existed on the American continent from 1750 to 1950 is the true secret of our explo sive development in all areas during that time span. Individual initia tive, private property, free enter prise-all of these are positive 1980 IDEAS, NOBLE AND OTHERWISE 749 expressions that describe a missing negative force. That negative force can be created and perpetuated by any ideology grown so mighty that it prohibits by coercive tactics the implantation, germination or proliferation of other ideas. It pre-empts the marketplace much in the manner of out-of-con trol weeds in a garden-and the garden dies, taking the weeds with it. Well, today's ideology of govern ment-as-benefactor-to-mankind is the out-of-control weed. It masquer ades under many titles: liberalism, environmentalism, humanism. But they share a common variable: coer cive restriction of others in the name ofa cause.

ttFrom each according to his abil ity, to each according to his need" is an idea that appears to have skipped across cultural lines and permeated Russian, Asian and American socie ties. It is at the heart of a collectiv ist philosophy which conceptualizes a mechanistic, scientific universe and seems far from a noble idea. Yet it is running wild, encouraging stat ism and socialism, and stifling indi viduality and creativity. The mass man in the enmassed society is the product of today's dominant ideol ogy which appeals to popularity with the crowd and to the longing to crush that with which one disagrees. So cialism and statism worship govern ment as the embodiment of force. Together with this obvious enthronement of the government ap paratus itself is a pronounced ten dency on the part of modern man to imbue -bigness itself with magical qualities. So we see the marriage of diverse overgrown ideas to produce not growth and development but stasis and corruption. What chance has liberty and self-realization in such a repressive environment? More a chance, possibly, than even the most optimistic viewer can appre ciate.

Associates in the field of behav ioral analysis have assured me that the United States government would continue to debase the dollar until it became worthless. That pattern was in tune with historical prece dent, they said; those in power abuse that power until it destroys them. Why, then, is our nation now in a recession? Can it be that an invisi ble hand independent of govern ments is at work? Will the dollar once again become a valuable cur rency? Signs of Regeneration The idea churning away in my own mind is that thinking Ameri cans will join a silent revolution to save our nation and our currency before they are destroyed by our blind leaders. That is what the tax revolt is about. That is why conser vatives are winning seat after seat in local and national elections. A new idea is taking root despite gov750 THE FREEMAN December ernment efforts to snuff it out. That idea is that the individual does mat ter, that truth and honesty are vir tues of worth, that love, sacrifice and concern can produce social or ders that move toward greatness.

Freedom is the essence of a noble idea. In the case of manned flight discussed earlier, what if the rail road and trucking industries had used government coercion to halt aircraft development? Most would agree that such would have been a reprehensive, counterproductive use of power. Well, that's where the gov ernment apparatus is today in more fields than can be conceptualized. Entrepreneurs, who are the most fertile soil upon which new ideas can be sown, are hamstrung by countless regulations emanating from our overgrown government bureaucracies. These regulations are conceived and enforced to ((protect the public." What they most often protect us from is progressive en richment of our lives. A Powerful Idea Pessimists believe that big gov ernment and big industry will al ways retain their control and domi nance over our lives. They may be correct. On the other hand, freedom does not always lose. In a recent book entitled, World in the Grip of an Idea (Arlington House, 1979), Clarence B. Carson talked of a teacher he admired: (~esus showed us the true might of a lifestyle based on God's laws, in this he was man incarnate. Of the things ofthis world he had none of any consequence. He was born in a stable, in a trough from which the animals ate. His parents were people of low estate.

No organization ever set its seal of approval upon him. He lamented the fact that he was without honor even in his own community. He became an itinerant preacher and gathered about him for support only twelve men of uncertain loyalty. ((In all those things which a man is supposed to have in order to make an impact he had none. Men of au thority suspected him of sedition. The Sanhedrin condemned him and turned him over to the civil author ities of Rome to be tried. He was then condemned by a throng of ac cusers ... ((He had flung no challenges, bro ken no laws, formed no revolution ary party. But he had taught a way of life which undermined the way of the world. Organizations had to show their power; numbers (the throngs) had to intimidate else they must yield; force must be triumphant. It was not ... Where there were once but twelve disciples, there are now millions." The idea of Christianity has had its rough times since initially con ceived. It has been twisted, cor rupted, perverted and distorted but it still prevails, for at its core is 1980 IDEAS, NOBLE AND OTHERWISE 751 a message of love and freedom. It is not necessary to be a Christian, though, to understand that a gov ernment which represses the Christian religion may also be re pressing other ideas of value. The advocacy of atheism is as much a state-endorsed religion today as was the advocacy of sectarian Christi anity in the early colonies. Neither practice is consistent with freedom.

The Stifling of New Ideas Is a Suicidal Practice Our nation will recover from its nosedive into international oblivion when it discovers that stifling new ideas is suicidal. The world is slip ping into the maw of socialism/com munism because our leaders have adopted tactics indistinguishable from those of the Soviets. Who is to blame for this disaster? We are. Each and everyone of us. We took free dom so lightly that we forgot to guard it. We lost ourselves in an era Albert Schweitzer of hedonistic abandonment and left government to the petty and en vious. It is time for a change. Men of foresight and intelligence who are scrambling for gold, silver and land to protect themselves and their families from an impending social crisis at least recognize the desperation of our times. Material assets are but insurance against di saster-the most reasonable course is to prevent the disaster if possible.

It may be. Sophisticated intellectuals who today are making snide remarks about the next ttstone age" may not be around to even witness that un pleasant evolutionary possibility. Our nation is now in an era of tran sition which will shake many major institutions to their very founda tions. The idea of freedom is again blowing in the wind, germinating in fertile minds, proliferating horizon tally and growing vertically. It is a noble idea. I) IDEAS ON LIBERTY THE RENEWAL of civilization has nothing to do with movements which bear the character of experiences of the crowd; these are never anything but reactions to extended happenings. But civilization can only revive when there shall come into being in a number of individuals a new tone of mind independent of the one prevalent among the crowd and in oppo sition to it, a tone of mind which will gradually win influence over the collective one, and in the end determine its character. It is only an ethical movement which can rescue us from the slough of barbarism, and the ethical comes into existence only in individuals.