<html><head></head><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:HelveticaNeue-Light, Helvetica Neue Light, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif;font-size:16px"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6460"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6461">Global Research Assembly</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6462"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6463"></o:p></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6464"><st1:city w:st="on" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6465"><st1:place w:st="on" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6466"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6467">Chicago</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-size: 10pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6468"> Nexus</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6469"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6470"></o:p></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6471"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6472">July 1976</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6473"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6474"></o:p></span></div><div align="center" style="margin-bottom:13.5pt;text-align:center" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6475"><b id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6476"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6477">THE LIBERAL HERESY</span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6478"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6479"></o:p></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6480"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6481">Anyone who has been caught up in
the great drive for renewal which characterizes our time will know that there
are forces which work against him. There is something that does not like resurgence,
that tries to defeat new life, that is out to destroy anything that speaks of
hope or vitality of a human future. However mild or friendly he may be he finds
himself in a life and death struggle with a vicious and malignant enemy that is
out to destroy him. This has always been the case, and the enemy has won all
kinds of titles for itself over the centuries, such as Satan, the Lord of the
Flies, the Cloven Hoof, the Evil One, the Serpent, etc. This essay is no
attempt to anatomize him all over again for our time, only to describe one of
his more dangerous and insidious disguises. I've have called it the Liberal
Heresy, because it bears the same relation to true Liberalism as the wolf does
to Little Red Riding Hood's grandmother: it looks pleasant and harmless but in
fact it is out to gobble you up, so that all your fine intentions and great
expectations vanish without trace.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6482"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6483"></o:p></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6484"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6485">In the first place this heresy
uses the<span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6486"> </span><u id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6487">Abstraction of the
Good Idea</u>. This is a kind of romantic rationalism or idealism which emphasizes
fine ideas and admirable thinking at the expense of effective action. Thus this
liberal might say, "All people should love one another", or,
"Freedom of the press at all costs", or "It is tyrannical to use
the English language in <st1:place w:st="on" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6488">Africa</st1:place>", or
"All forms of air pollution, including driving and smoking should be made
illegal", and so on. The ideas are not bad<span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6489"> </span> on the contrary they are very good
ideas, often irrefutable, and that is that gives them their power to destroy.
For instance, you know in the very depth of your being that people should love
one another, but since they hate each other and always will it is hard to come
up with a practical response to the love ideal: it would be much more logical
to commit suicide or to sit very still for the rest of your life so that you at
least do not hurt anyone. You don't have to go that route, of course, but there
is something in the tone of such ideals when they come from the liberal heretic
that encourages you to do so. In fact a valuable clue as to whether it is the
enemy you are listening to is whether you are getting depressed and paralyzed:
if you are, it probably is. He makes you feel terribly reluctant to soil
yourself in the dreadful complexity of actual situations, and guilty about
having ever gotten involved in something.<span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6490"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6491"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6492"></o:p></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6493"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6494">The problem with this kind of
liberalism is evident. It quickly becomes a brand of hatred for life
masquerading as compassion or honest thinking. It has the power to destroy
while pretending to redeem. "Action", however, "will remove the
doubt that theory cannot solve", which is why the man of faith is a man of
action. This is the deep address of a Town Meeting or a Social Demonstration:
one necessary deed has more life giving power than a thousand good ideas.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6495"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6496"></o:p></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6497"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6498">In the second place, the liberal
heresy uses the<span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6499"> </span><u id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6500">Weaponry of an
Immediate Eschaton</u>. An immediate eschaton of any kind provides you with
enough weapons to destroy pretty much anything." Since the world is on the
brink of extinction (through population explosion or nuclear warfare or
insecticides or Communism or the fuel crisis or the beef shortage or the
drought or galloping inflation or pollution etc.) it need not be taken
seriously. Why would you build anything when the whole world is about to come
crashing down about your ears? The best you can do is stock your basement with
canned foods and wait for it to happen, or build up an arsenal and hope you can
fight your way out when it happens, or bury your head so that a piece of debris
doesn't dash your brains out, or just carry on unobtrusively getting the most
you can out of the few days that are left." This approach to life could be
relatively harmless, but it tends to crusade, and in doing so to negate
everything that does not react the same way. For instance if someone says "Unless
we introduce mandatory sterilization for every welfare recipient in the western
world there is not going to be any future"' he is implying that any other
human undertaking is absolutely futile and pathetic and misguided. Thus a
lethal attack has been launched, quite possibly without your even realizing it,
and any hope or courage you may have had is massacred before you had a chance
to do much about it.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6501"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6502"></o:p></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6503"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6504">Lucidity about inevitable doom is
all very well, but when it invites you to base your decisions on fear or
despair it has revealed itself as just another illusion, as hostile to new life
as any complacency. The clue to the inauthenticity of this stance is that the
liberal blithely hops from one eschaton to the next as time moves on. It
proclaims a predestined, imminent, inevitable doom of the world. It bullies
people into diving on the edge of catastrophe, either taking some emergency
action or some special dispensation from action It negates any7 serious
responsibility by showing the way the uselessness of everything. It refuses to
deal with existing structures .since there is no time for this and they are
all. doomed anyway. Meanwhile</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6505"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6506"></o:p></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6507"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6508">Sisyphus continues to roll his
boulder and the man of faith continues with inexorable patience to build the
earth.<span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6509"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6510"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6511"></o:p></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6512"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6513">In the third place the libera1
heresy is characterized by a propensity to live in<span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6514"> </span><u id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6515">The Romanticism of the Democratic
Principle</u>. Here the liberal prefers to poll the opinions, reasoned or
haphazard, of every Tom, Dick and Harry, rather than take the awful step of
actually deciding about something. "Since there is nothing to be done we
can at least make the situation less unpleasant by agreeing about
something." In this case political justice takes precedence over
everything, and if someone is upset about what is happening you should stop or
sabotage the whole program until they are happy about it. "Every human
being is important, therefore we must ride roughshod over no one." A real dyed
in the wool liberal heretic will not be deterred by any paralysis or chaos or
even disaster that may ensue from this approach to polity, since to him
anything is better than oppression, and therefore it is in fact probably
preferable to abandon an enterprise before someone gets hurt. By the same
token, he will not co operate with any unjust government. This means of course
that his hands are rather tied for the moment in America, India, Italy, the
Philippines, China, Russia, Rhodesia, Scotland, and so on, but even if his
hands are tied at least they are clean.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6516"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6517"></o:p></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6518"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6519">Since the ideal of one man one
vote is very dear to him, and since it is consistently impracticable, one of
the liberal heretic's more characteristic states of mind is outrage. He swells
with indignation, his eyes flash with scorn: "How can you say that <st1:country-region w:st="on" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6520"><st1:place w:st="on" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6521">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s doing
well now the Emergency has taken hold?" "How can it be good if Mayor
Daley thinks it's good?" "So you just went ahead and wrote proposals
without a single anthropologist on the team? Without even speaking the seven
dialects they speak there?" This kind of attack can effectively wreck your
whole operation if you don't look out. By some tragic irony the cry of liberty
and equality that once was used to set men free, and still can be used that
way, has become a weapon to kill initiative. And the one who is using it will
probably look better than his opponent. The man of faith, however, cares for
the world; his reverence extends to all of life. He will not tie his destiny to
a political principle, however noble it may be, and he will not condemn whole
sections of the world to starvation or chaos because they seem to contradict
his favorite truth about life. He reads the signs of the times, he discerns
what is necessary in order that life and still more life may be given back to
the world, and then uses whatever political mechanisms may be needed for the
work to continue.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6522"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6523"></o:p></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6524"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6525">The fourth device used by this
liberal heretic is a safe one<span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6526"> </span><u id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6527">Criticism
of the Detached Observer</u>. His three best ways of doing this have already
been described, but you cannot rely on him to limit himself to these: he can
find fault with any plan of action, for a boundless variety of reasons, and
furthermore he will, since this is the only way to justify his own immobility.
Thus you may come under vicious attack at any time for serving bananas too
often or getting up too early or speaking too plainly or too deviously or with
too much of a nasal twang or too academically or too inaccurately. No matter
how effective or even miraculous a community program may be, if it falls
outside the pale of his ethical piosity he will shoot to kill. This may come in
the form of a suave academic critique, or a chocking denunciation of your
techniques, or a withering description of your wall decor, or some spine
chilling hints about your possible political affiliations. Since he is always
more or less justifiable in this activity, and since he is sniping from a
bullet proof ivory tower, it should be said plainly here that he is very
dangerous.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6528"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6529"></o:p></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6530"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6531">Fortunately, however, the hope
that renews community is a hope that does not disappoint; it cannot be
destroyed. Thus, although it is constantly taking the necessary precautions
against sabotage it continues relentlessly to do its work. This does not mean
that someone involved in this work is safe<span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6532"> </span>
on the contrary he is extremely vulnerable and can be wiped out at a moment’s
notice, and will be if he doesn't take care. It just means that he can put his
trust in nothing but the power of being itself, and when he does he and his
work are indestructible.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6533"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6534"></o:p></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6535"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6536">Now the liberal heretic has one
last trick up his sleeve to thwart the forces of renewal, and it is liable to
catch you off guard, since it seems so out of tune with the other four. It is
called the<span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6537"> </span><u id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6538">Activism of an
Innocent Helper</u>. Just when you were beginning to think he suffered from
some kind of chronic inertia he swings into action. He jumps up from the table
saying, "You can just spend another year figuring out how to win the whole
war if you like, but while you are just sitting around I'm going to be out
there doing something.." So he goes off to help someone with something or
to visit some old folk or teach someone to read or dig a flowerbed. This is a
thinly disguised invitation to abandon the Long March of Care for the sake of
some more reasonable or acceptable kind of activity. The liberal heretic would
rather be doing something, anything, than the whole thing. Since winning the
war is such an overwhelming responsibility he opts for engaging in a couple of
skirmishes instead. He does not actually want to win, he just wants to be busy,
busy enough to be innocent. In the name of hope he perpetuates the despair
which says, "I knew it was just another do-good project." Under the
banner of action he promotes a rebellion whose goal is in fact the same as
before: inertia.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6539"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6540"></o:p></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6541"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6542">The man of faith however knows
the song which goes, "To only to is less/ Than forming humanness,
"and though he may share the unbearable impatience to be out getting
killed in a skirmish he continues to watch over the whole war and pray over the
whole world.<span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6543"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6544"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6545"></o:p></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6274">
</div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6546"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6547">The liberal heresy often poses as
heroism, but is in fact a cowardly retreat from life's slings and arrows, for
underneath it is a profound negativism, an assumption that real life the way it
is, is bad. The opposite approach to life releases human creativity. But the
contemporary campaign for human development often finds itself in peril at the
arrival of this enemy in one of its guises. However, as the general says,
"Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be
in peril." In this case if you know just one of these you will probably
know the other well enough.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6548"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487002378199_6549"></o:p></span></div><div></div><div> </div><div class="signature"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://partnersinparticipation.com/?page_id=123">Jim Wiegel</a> <br><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family:HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;line-height:18.3999996185303px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);">“If you want an adventure . . . what a time to be alive!”. Joanna Macy</span></div><br><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-size:12pt;background-color:white;">401 North Beverly Way,Tolleson, Arizona 85353</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;background:white;"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">623-363-3277</span><span style="font-size:14.5pt;font-family:'Segoe UI', sans-serif;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;background:white;"><span style="font-size:14.5pt;font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="mailto:marilyn.oyler@gmail.com"><span style="color:blue;">jfwiegel@yahoo.com</span></a></span><span style="font-size:14.5pt;font-family:'Segoe UI', sans-serif;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;background:white;"><span style="font-size:14.5pt;font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:blue;"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.partnersinparticipation.com/">www.partnersinparticipation.com</a></span></span></div><br><div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1423152614990_64964" style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1423152614990_64963"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://partnersinparticipation.com/?page_id=10">Upcoming ToP training opportunities in Arizona</a></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1423152614990_64964" style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1423152614990_64969" style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);">More info on:</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1423152614990_64976" style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br></div></div><div><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://partnersinparticipation.com/?page_id=48">ToP® Facilitation Methods</a> </div><div><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://partnersinparticipation.com/?page_id=50">ToP® Strategic Planning</a>: </div><div><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz3mniiYCdI">Mastering the Technology of Participation</a> </div><div><br></div><div><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.top-training.net/">Register on line / see the ToP National Schedule</a></div><div>AICP Planners: 14.5 CM for all ToP® courses</div><div><br></div><div><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://partnersinparticipation.com/?page_id=203">The AZ ToP® Community of Practice</a> meets the 1st Friday, of every month, 1-4 pm, at ACYR, <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/648+N+5th+Ave/@33.456329,-112.080545,16z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x872b123a5312512d:0x93c9f71171108956?hl=">648 N. 5th Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85003</a></div><div><br></div></div></div></body></html>