Who Is The Establishment?

Who is the establishment? I grew up a Reagan Republican, but when I went to college I was indoctrinated with the 1960's era view that business fat cats were running things and that the Democrats were a sort of watchdog holding them in check, just barely.

Now I don't know. When the pendulum swings too far to the right you get authoritarianism, but then again if it swings too far to the left you get... authoritarianism.

There is that oft-used quote by Voltaire: "To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize."

There's wisdom in that, but then again we live in an age where we have accepted that some people really are disadvantaged by circumstance, and it has become unfashionable to pile on. And it should be unfashionable.

But as I grow older I begin to see that anything can be taken too far.

In a perfect Stoic utopia, in Zeno's utopia, people would regulate themselves. If everyone truly pursued virtue then so much of what complicates modern life wouldn't find nourishment.

But that's not going to happen, not until the far future, maybe not ever. This is what we have.

With that in mind, all public policy should serve these ends: people should not be held back because of the circumstance of their birth, people should be allowed to make maximum use of their potential, and we should all have some concern for each other's well being. We need to abide by some common sense laws and we need a culture that teaches us to be decent to each other. Questions of sexuality, identity and religion are for the individual to work out. Do what you like, just don't do it to me.

And if I could snap my fingers and turn all of us blue I would.