A Tale of Whining
On May 4th, right-wing podcaster Steven Crowder posted a video criticizing Pope Francis. However, instead of using his words, facts, logic, or moral arguments to back up the criticisms, Crowder’s rant comprised an obnoxious (even by his standards) temper tantrum of obscene gestures towards the Holy Father with sacred Gregorian Chant playing in the background — a pathetic slander of the Church and a mockery of Catholics worldwide.
But what had Crowder in such a hissy fit? With such a dramatic presentation, surely it would be something egregious. In fact, Crowder was reacting to a particular quote from Pope Francis, translated from Spanish, given during a vaccine conference.
Namely, the pontiff prayed that “creator God would infuse in our hearts a new, generous spirit to abandon our individualisms and promote the common good.”
Most reasonable human beings would react quite mildly to such a quote. However, Crowder acted in the opposite manner, choosing to malign and belittle the most influential institution in human history. Yet Mr. Crowder’s antics can be overlooked as part of his so-called comedic schtick, as unsavory as they may have been. What is more problematic is what his tirade signified: modern conservatism’s affinity for individualism and rejection of the common good.
The Problem with Individualism
Mr. Crowder’s critique is indicative of a much greater problem within modern conservatism: its affinity for individualism — the philosophy that the individual is of primary importance in life, that he ought to be placed higher than anything else. In more colloquial language, individualism equates to selfishness, the primacy of the self over any other person or project. Yet such a concept is not only dangerous to society — being fundamentally contrary to human nature and design — but also definitionally anti-conservative too.
Modern conservatism has made individualism the framework for its policy and the object of its worship. It is a notion which underpins almost everything that modern conservatives do. Politically, this is most overtly evidenced by modern conservatism’s placement of laissez-faire economics as its chief policy initiative — the focus of increasing individual material wealth and profit over social issues: faith, the nuclear family, local businesses, and community building. Likewise, individualism is reflected in modern conservatism’s libertarian-esque “live and let live” mentality regarding premarital sex, homosexuality, marriage, family, and the like — that the individual’s own pleasure and gain are more important than any potentially detrimental consequences they might entail for others.
Clearly, this is not a problem unique to modern conservatism. Rather, it is a larger issue of modernity itself, a notion traced back to the Enlightenment and the Jacobin progressives of the French Revolution — the fathers of modern liberalism. It is the notion that man is born alone in the state of nature, that he competes against others (to their detriment) in order to achieve his good. This is the view popularized by the likes of John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and promoted by more modern objectivist and anti-traditionalist writers like Ayn Rand and Leo Strauss — figures idolized by many who today call themselves “conservative.”
Indeed, the individualist philosophy has infected modernity more successfully than any other creed, including within modern conservatism. In fact, the word “conservative” today has very much become synonymous with the autonomous individual, the “go-it-alone” mentality, and the rejection of altruism. This selfish label is indicative of conservatism’s tragic decay.
Man as a Social Animal
The enlightenment-liberal notion of individualism is fundamentally flawed and contrary to human design. This is because man is by nature a political creature. As summarized by Aristotle in his Politics:
“Man is by nature a social animal; an individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than human. Society is something that precedes the individual. Anyone who either cannot lead the common life or is so self-sufficient as not to need to, and therefore does not partake of society, is either a beast or a god.”
Man is by nature dependent on others. From the beginning, man is naturally born into a community — the first society — of the family. Every human being has a mother and a father, parents whose giving and sacrifice to raise the child are essential to his survival and development. Man cannot live nor flourish without family. Yet, so too does he require others beyond the family — be it the church community (providing a relationship with God, man’s foremost relation and ultimate end), the mediating social institution (his connection to meaningful work, friendship with those around him, and community projects), or the local market (which provides him with goods and resources).
Thus, man is a social being defined by his relationships with others — giving and receiving in a reciprocal order of charity. Therefore, there does exist a common good which transcends any individual. This is not to say that the individual does not matter, but rather that his good is necessarily tied to the good of others, and that his betterment cannot be detached from the good of the community. His private good will always have origins and consequences outside of himself. To reject the order of charity is to deprive man of the life-giving resources, friendship, and interaction that he needs to live a good life. Yet, this is exactly what individualism attempts to do.
What emerges from individualism is the tragedy of atomization — the isolation of man from those natural, vital, and social institutions so necessary to his flourishing. In today’s atomized culture, God is forgotten (or conformed to one’s own preferences), the family is postponed or abandoned altogether, the community atrophied, and the local market deserted. Personal pleasure and aversion to sacrifice or suffering has become that which is pursued above all else — a bizarre popular hedonism contrary to any genuine or natural good.
Individualism is the vice at the other extreme of socialism or collectivism — equally dangerous to its more overt cousins, but also stealthy and insidious, having infected the very fabric of our culture and society. True conservatism tasks itself with preserving those things which are good for man and his flourishing. Thus, we who call ourselves conservatives ought to realize this and take action. Pope Francis is indeed correct — individualism is a scourge that we must abandon immediately.
Steven Crowder, the Pied Piper
Here, we return to Mr. Crowder and his tantrum against the common good. “It’s communist!” I’m sure he’d say (he did call the Holy Father a commie, after all). Nonetheless, Crowder is but another modern conservative firmly downstream of our secular, atomized, selfish, liberal culture — forgetful of man’s inherently social nature and of the true meaning of conservatism.
Crowder is a pied piper of individualism, as are many of his contemporaries in the modern conservative movement. We are the rats, stupidly scurrying behind towards our deaths, perfectly happy to trade our flourishing for temporal pleasures and too slothful to use our intellects and discern the truth for ourselves.
This is nothing new — the liberal Jacobins have been leading us astray since the French Revolution, promoting the idea that the individual is a god in himself. In fact, this has been the case since the Garden of Eden — the temptation of Eve by the serpent itself being one of pride, the rejection of God’s love for the sake of becoming a god in one’s own right.
In this light, perhaps Crowder is not the original pied piper, but rather also one of the rats, moving along to his doom and tempted by the sinful allure of pride and pleasure which individualism so attractively flaunts. Let us use his misguidedness as a warning.
Therefore, as conservatives, we must open our hearts and minds to the Truth, acting in accord with our nature. This means rejecting individualism and instead living a life of charity and love — giving to others in our community and promoting the common good wherever we find ourselves.
And furthermore, we must always recall we are made for something greater than ourselves — that we are ultimately called to share in knowledge and love of He who created us — and that this joy is something that no earthly temptation could ever rival.
