I see no men fit to be masters

Some Ricochet members are here to teach. Of this subgroup, some just want to share their view of the world and encourage debate. Others are determined to convince others of the virtue of their perspectives, and they are insulted if anyone disagrees with them. I am in neither group. As I’ve said repeatedly, I’m here to learn.

One of the many things I would like to learn is why leftists think the way they do. I’m conservative because I take a dim view of human nature. But I’m fascinated by the fact that many of my leftist friends are leftists because they also take a dim view of human nature. How did we start in the same place and arrive at such opposite conclusions? Perhaps CS Lewis can explain:

“Aristotle said that some people were only fit to be slaves. I do not contradict him. But I reject slavery because I see no men fit to be masters.” - CS Lewis

So perhaps those of us on the right and those of us on the left share in our dim view of human nature. Perhaps some people are only fit to be slaves. But perhaps leftists have more faith in their leaders than conservatives do. Perhaps leftists believe in Plato’s philosopher-king model of leadership. I remember reading Plato’s Republic in college – I laughed out loud when I got to that part. I was convinced it was satire.

But perhaps, to leftists, it’s not. Perhaps they take a dim view of most of humanity, but they believe that a select few have sufficient wisdom and virtue to lead the rest of us poor fools.

But then Democrats elect Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden. If Democrats believe that a sufficiently wise and virtuous philosopher-king can make the world a better place, then why do they choose leaders like that?

On the other hand, who would that leftist philosopher/leader be? Who is the Thomas Sowell of the left? Or the Dennis Prager? Or the Bill Buckley? Who would that be on the left? Paul Krugman? James Carville? Jon Stewart? Kamala Harris?

It seems to me that the left and the right share a dim view of human nature. But it appears that, as Mr. Lewis pointed out, leftists believe in the benefits of strong, wise, virtuous leaders.

So why does the left have no such leaders?

And why do they persist in believing this way? They’ve seen how leftism works with incompetent leaders like Jimmy Carter and Joe Biden. They’ve also seen how leftism works under more competent leadership, like Mao, Stalin, Hitler, Castro, et al. Yet they still believe in the benefits of strong, virtuous, wise leaders.

And then they nominate Kamala Harris. Or Joe Biden. Or whoever.

I don’t understand. I thought I did. But apparently I don’t.

So I guess I’m mistaken. Maybe leftists don’t have more faith in their leaders than conservatives do. I thought that Mr. Lewis explained this very well. I thought that this explained the differences between leftists and conservatives.

Perhaps not.

But why, then, do conservatives and leftists agree on a dim view of human nature, yet take such different approaches to fixing it?

What do you think?