In part 2 of soft despotism with Paul Rahe he attempts to explain the appeal of soft despotism for the ruling class as well as the citizens.

For the ruling class he points out that we all have a natural bias in our minds that we know better than other people. The more educated one becomes, the more this bias is intensified. The desire to rule other people lives, for their benefit, of course, is a strong one.

For citizens the appeal derives from the anxiety of freedom. Rahe uses the term “Ankitude” (which I’m probably spelling wrong) to describe a feeling of fear, of not knowing what to do, which can effect people in free societies. Rahe points to the examples of college seniors who can become gripped with fear in their senior years. For their entire lives they’ve been on an academic track. Now what do they do? What are they going to do with the rest of their lives? What good is their communications degree anyway?

Peter Robinson, further exploring this point, tells the story of Russians experiencing life in America for the first time. The sight of so many choices in a supermarket could be literally overwhelming.

From my perspective Rahe’s point of having an educated, governing class that wants power to help others as they do not know enough to run their own lives is interesting. However I don’t feel it is the full story. Although some with a progressive mindset may be motivated by this it is also a way to greater political power, economic power, and therefore status within a society.

For example take the individual who spends a great deal of time getting a degree in philosophy. He feels he’s important, that he knows a lot. Yet in a free society a high school dropout can invent the sticky note and make millions. How does the philosophy major feel? He can try and invent something useful too but that’s not what philosophy majors are good at. Rather he might stumble into government and create rules to govern the sticky note guy. With the power to pass laws he becomes an important person. He is now “above” the sticky note guy. However he doesn’t actually contribute anything to society.

An example of this might be someone like Al Gore. I know he sits on several boards, including Apple. What does he actually do? I know he invented the internet, but is he actually involved in creating new products at Apple? Rather it is probably useful for Apple to have someone like Gore on board if he needs to get something done as Gore with his connections can get things through the bureaucracy.

Another interesting thing Rahe mentions is the fear that grips collage seniors when their schooling is almost up. Isn’t this a condemnation somewhat of the entire educational process? Throughout a students life the one thing he learns is how to follow orders. You’re told what to study, when to study, and then graded on what you’ve done as to whether it’s any good or not. You DO NOT LEARN TO THINK FOR YOURSELF. YOU DO NOT LEARN TO FOLLOW YOUR OWN PASSIONS. In this way cannot compulsory schooling, as it does not prepare people to be free thinking citizens, be considered an enemy of republican virtue’s? How much formal education did the founding fathers have anyway?

Below is an interesting video which talks about education and how the system really only trains people to become professors.

I’m also a little puzzled as to why Rahe thinks people don’t want to live under a nanny. If you can enjoy all the freedoms of adulthood without the responsibilities, who isn’t going to go for that? For the individual and society this ultimately turns out to be a Siren’s call. However I don’t think it’s surprising that the original song sounds so sweet.

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