Interest With Age
History has grown on me, and travel has helped that growth. When I was younger, I had no interest in history as it seemed really boring. But as I’ve aged and hopefully matured, world history has become much more appealing, especially as I travel to different countries and learn more about them. Politics isn’t as interesting for me, but it’s tightly intertwined with history, so I don’t mind talking or writing about it. I’m not trying to push buttons or anger people by writing about the occasional political linked piece, but I do have my opinions and will share them. To not do so would be an intellectual neutering, and that definitely isn’t going to happen. So here we go…
I’m a former member of the Left. Well to be clear, I wasn’t really a leftist, just a liberal. For those interested in the difference, read this wonderful piece. Some of those liberal values are still with me too, like freedom of speech, many of which overlap with conservative values. But full disclosure, I consider myself to be quite conservative now. My change from left to right started in 2005-2006 when I started actually listening conservatives, initially on talk radio. Radio hosts like Dennis Prager, Bill Bennett, and Larry Elder had big impacts on me. Before that time I had never really been exposed to conservative thought or ideas. It was like an intellectual awakening for me, and that curiosity and thirst for thought continues.
From the many people that I’ve talked with about travel, I’d guess that over 90% of them have said when asked, that travel has made them more liberal (vs. conservative) in terms of the way they see the world. For me, it’s just the opposite.
Reinforcement
The main reason why travel reinforces my conservatism is twofold. The first reason is because travel illuminates firsthand the horrors that (big) governments around the world have caused their own people. If there is a single common theme I see around the world when I travel, it’s big government.
“No rational person can deny that big governments have caused almost all the great evils of the last century, arguably the bloodiest in history. Who killed the 20-30 million Soviet citizens in the Gulag Archipelago — big government or big business? Hint: There were no private businesses in the Soviet Union. Who deliberately caused 75 million Chinese to starve to death — big government or big business? Hint: See previous hint. Did Coca Cola kill five million Ukrainians? Did Big Oil slaughter a quarter of the Cambodian population? Would there have been a Holocaust without the huge Nazi state? Whatever bad big corporations have done is dwarfed by the monstrous crimes — the mass enslavement of people, the deprivation of the most basic human rights, not to mention the mass murder and torture and genocide — committed by big governments.” – Dennis Prager
Here’s a very good short piece and video on why big government is damaging to people. Another nice piece about the last 100 years and the results of communism.
The second reason is that the U.S. is an anomaly. The Founders of the United States feared big government. Other countries embraced big government models. The Founders preferred liberty over equality, religious freedom and the power of the individual vs. the power of the group. The Founders came from places where your last name really mattered, and where governments had massive power over citizens. From those fears, the Founders constructed a system that sought to limit the power of the federal government. The United States is the first, and to my knowledge the only, country founded with the idea of a limited government. When I tour through other countries, the power of the state, both past and present, is clearly visible.
“People don’t yearn for liberty. They yearn to be taken care of.” – Dennis Prager
In discussions while touring Europe, I’ve heard some people refer to socialist and communist governments like Venezuela, Cuba, Russia, and China as being “conservative”. But that can’t be true. The more conservative you get the less government you end up with. The further right you go, the closer to anarchy you get. The further left you go, the more government control you get and the closer you are to totalitarianism. When I tour other countries, talk with people in those places about their lives, and learn about their history and things they have endured, it becomes very clear how good we have it here in the U.S.
“The bigger the government the smaller the citizen” – Dennis Prager.
Reflection
One of the most astonishing things about fellow travelers in the U.S. is that when they travel and see the horror that governments overseas have inflicted on their own people, that doesn’t deter them at all from their fondness of a bigger government. For whatever reason, they seem to think that with all of the historical examples of big government being inefficient, causing chaos, exerting control and suppressing speech, inflicting starvation, murder, genocide, conflict and wars, that creating an even bigger state in their own country will somehow be a good thing (and lead to different results).
The past 2.5 weeks in Eastern Europe has reinforced my beliefs about power in the hands of the people vs. the state. The Holodomor (Ukraine), the Holocaust, and the Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe for decades are all clear examples of governments drastically running amok. The people here have endured so much it’s almost unbelievable. The one thing all of those countries and people who have suffered have in common: big government.
After this article, you make Brian Kelly (TPG) one classy act! Thank goodness you are conservative. This sounds like Nazi/white supremist propaganda. What a lunkhead.
Big goverment? More like capitalist pigs. Its always rich people causing misfortune for others.
Just a question, but were would you characterize government officials in the former Soviet Union as pigs too? Does socialism non some sort of non-capitalist governance take greed out of the equation? Does Africa struggle under the oppression of large capitalist corporations, or are the people there held back by big government, bureaucracy, and corruption? I was in an Uber last night with a guy who immigrated here from South Sudan. He told me that he wouldn’t be in America if the government there wasn’t corrupt. Finally, governments are also violent and often use force to control people. History has numerous examples of it. As Dennis Prager once said on his radio show, “I’m no fan of large corporations, but corporations don’t kill, governments do”.
It wasn’t just the “governments”, ‘communists’ or whatever, it was literally directly the result of colonization from white and european countries, that lead to ‘springs’ and terrorism. From Cambodias Khmer Red that was trained by the west (British & US), same with every other splinter group. It isn’t the corporations as people would curtail it to be, it is literally the western empire that seeks to destroy and conquer through deceit and warfare via CIA/MI6 from the inception of their empires, (British empire alone is responsible for invading about 9 out of 10 countries on the planet during its reign). European powers seek to destroy and pillage and to profit through the white mans burden.
@TruthSeeker, what about the mass atrocities in Africa throughout history? All the white man’s influence? Native American atrocities in North, Central and South America all from colonization…even before colonization occurred? War and death are like sports to human history regardless of race. If that is true, then I want to think about what form of government is better for people and humanity, one that centers around liberty, or one that is controlled? The United States is the only country formed around the theme of limited government. I happen to like that system. You seem to not like it. At least we’re clear about our differences.
I find it is less the fault of “big government” than it is human greed, hiding behind goverment or masquerading as corporations, that causes most human suffering.
Greed is everywhere and in nearly everything, so I’m not sure I follow your point. I’m curious, do you think there is no moral difference between governments and the systems they impose on people? Something to consider https://www.prageru.com/videos/socialism-makes-people-selfish
You’re dead wrong here: “However, the U.S. abolished slavery well before any other nation.”
Here’s one easy counter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_Abolition_Act_1833
and here’s another: http://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/localhistory/journey/american_connection/slavery/timeline.shtml
Before pontificating, check facts and think through your arguments before making such an egregious error, which didn’t support your argument on American exceptionalism anyway.
A better contemplation: How could the Founding Fathers have written and believed such elegant documents on human rights, yet allowed slavery to exist from the Nation’s founding, including they themselves (e.g., Washington, Jefferson) holding slaves? There is no easy answer.
American exceptionalism stems from BELIEF in the RESTRICTIONS on the government. Prager has it right with the zero sum of personal responsibility vs. big government. More of one is less of the other.
https://www.utne.com/arts/thomas-jefferson
@Jon Z, I edited the slavery sentence, thanks. Your critique was a good one, thank you
It’s sad that America is restricted to a largely 2 party system. That usually means it’s you vs. them. I would like to think citizens are more nuanced than to be lumped into either group. The other viewpoints get smothered and the duopoly of power reinforces itself. Unfortunately, Americans didn’t insist are this diversity of views in our government and default to us vs. them system.
Hi Jeff,
You are looking at the wrong examples. The big government proponents are looking at countries like Denmark, Norway and Canada. These countries provide more benefits to their citizens. While the taxes are high, everyone gets more benefits vs US.
@John, I’m considering all examples when I say that the bigger the government the smaller the citizen. In Denmark, Norway, and Canada, they prefer equality over liberty. You have to sacrifice liberty in order to gain more equality. Those on the right prefer liberty. I’ve traveled through each of those countries that you’ve mentioned multiple times each and there’s no question those countries have substantial benefits and high qualities of life for the people, that’s not in question.
Hard to take your argument seriously when you don’t mention any of the bad things done by corporations or good things done by government. If you actually want to convince people you need to present evidence for both sides, otherwise it’s pretty clear that there’s confirmation bias.
Besides, it’s a logical fallacy to assume that correlation (the big governments all these unfortunate people had in common) equals causation (the big governments caused their unfortune). There are many other convincing arguments for what caused these atrocities, and you don’t make a case as to why anyone should believe yours over them.
Lastly, big government is an overloaded term with different means depending on who is using it and what they are talking about. You might want to be more specific about what you mean if you are actually trying to make a particular point.
@Attley, I did mention a quote from Dennis Prager that condemns the bad done/caused by corporations – which I agree with, but that pales in comparison to the evil done by governments. That is the main takeaway. The comparison of evil between corporations and governments isn’t comparable. For example, communism killed 100 million people. Add up all the wrongs from corporations and it won’t register on that scale. The larger the government the smaller the citizen is a truism. The degree to how small the citizen becomes depends on the government, time and place. Thank you for your comment.