It is not an original thought to view man’s time on earth as a constant journey in search of something; meaning, understanding, justice … truth. I suspect that this was the case well even before man had the means to write about it. I suspect that we all spend some part of our lives internally wandering in search of our definition of those things, often in the mental darkness. I am not sure if there was ever the truly honest (mortal) man that Diogenes wandered the world searching for. But I do believe there is truth. And I believe that there is a path to it. I also believe that we might not ever completely know it in this world but that the honest search of it is vital to the human race.

There are a number of observations that can be drawn from the circus that was the Kavanaugh hearings. Only one of them is that so many people are not interested in even taking the most basic steps necessary to have the most fundamental information needed to decide guilt or innocence, the truth of a matter.

The words and columns written about this during the seemingly endless drama could fill a library by now. But I sat and took a few notes while reading through just one. It was in PJ Media. It was entitled “Why Believe the Woman with No Evidence” and penned by D.C. McAllister, not just a strong woman but also an excellent writer with a clear intellect and strong sense of liberty and justice.

McAllister masterfully refers to Shelby Steele’s fine book, necessary reading for everyone, White Guilt. She quotes from Steel while substituting “feminist” for “racist” in each line, driving home the point of narrow-minded presumption of guilt and all the destructive next steps which follow. We can’t believe someone simply because they are female, male, black, white, left, right or in-between. We must believe them as individuals. The first is so very European, so very liberal. The latter is American.

Each case, each individual has its own value. The rights given us by our Creator and which we practice in a free society are individual. By applying them to all as individuals, everyone is free without qualification. By applying them to groups, we disregard both the individual’s rights and merits.

We came dangerously close (in the chambers of the United States Senate) to setting an example of abandoning the vital, indispensable but fragile American institution of due process. The devotion to this process is uniquely American and evidence of the insightful wisdom of the Founders/Framers.

The American system is designed to provide a real path for the pursuit of truth. Its existence is an acknowledgment that man will probably not ever quite have a complete handle on truth in this world, that the search for it is constant in the judicial, legislative and personal. That search, like liberty itself, is not always comfortable or easy. It is not supposed to be. But by using and staying with the process, we can draw closer and closer. Rule of Law cannot hinge on emotion but on a deliberate process established by considered legislation. That legislation will not be considered if thrown together in the heat of emotion or by the pressure of the mob.

Constitutional republicanism can seem slow and overly cautious to those who demand what they want right now in the moment. Those demands of the moment will always be better satisfied by mob action or authoritarianism whatever its form.

Judicial justice for the individual demands the presumption of innocence. Allegation without evidence is slander. For the force of government to act on those allegations without evidence is tyranny.

The constant search for truth is necessary for the individual as well as the lawmakers and judges. That is why freedom of religion is central to a truly free society. It is as important for the faithless and the atheist as for the permanently pious, perhaps more so. It is the acknowledgment that we will always lack perfection in this world and that faith, salvation and ethics are individual and personal; and that individuals can grow in their pursuit. It is an acknowledgment that final, permanent answers are rarely found in this world.

Time has shown that man grows when he pursues truth. Despite our tendency toward comfort, we function best when tested and pushed toward something more important than our own safety. When man pursues the truth of any single thing for which he has passion, he achieves. He creates. The freer he is in that pursue, the more his society, his world, advances. Man will always have more to learn, more to create. That is, as long as can honestly search for truth.

What time also shows us is that “progressives” (or whatever they call themselves in any one moment of the past or future) hate the search for truth. They do not want you to search for truth. They want you to accept their version of it, shut up and get in line. Their truth has to be standardized and has to come from them, not from the individual’s own search, experiences, and conscience … there can only be one line.

Because there can only be one progressive “truth” for everyone, a real process for searching for or evaluating truth is unimportant to the progressive. Therefore, Rule of Law is of little consequence to him. Hard facts are barriers to the needed conformity.

I cannot come close to closing this without paraphrasing a wise old horse barn philosopher. I may have altered a word or two but believe that the thought is intact when I speculate that regardless of how difficult the search for truth, it might not be as hard as finding it and looking it in the face.

But it remains that no matter our faults, the American culture is the only one in man’s history who valued not just truth but its constant pursue enough to have built a systemic process for honestly seeking it into their government, their courts and their social structure. One of the sure ways to lose that culture is to accept the age-old falsehood of the progressive’s promise of safety through a “truth” determined from the top down for everyone. Mankind will always need those constant searchers for truth, whether they resemble Diogenes with his lantern, the insightful Aristotle, or the restless Ethan Edwards.