The Moral Law Within Us (e)

Photo template: AdobeStock

Anyone who has understandably been left speechless by Trump’s rise to power should slowly but surely shake off their state of shock, because our full attention will be required in the near future. A quiet grumble isn’t enough against the brazen dimwits who have sought each other out and now found one another, but who must now face strong opposition from us. No matter how precocious this may sound right now: nothing less is at stake than the ideals of the Enlightenment and our moral obligations. Most people may find the philosophical foundation of our system boring, but without it, we might as well pack it in. Through our detached ignorance, we are recklessly risking the loss of our free and democratic basic order.

Why is it that people treat the opportunities of our time so carelessly? There are so many – an appalling number – who abdicate their personal responsibility, willingly and foolishly placing their fate in the hands of others. And they follow any pied piper who hooks them with cheap populism. But someone who offers something, seemingly without expecting anything in return, can’t be up to any good – common sense tells us that; you don’t have to have read Kant’s major works to know it.

So what can I know? What should I do? What can I hope for?

Ideally, a fair civil society makes plans together and works together to achieve results, with each individual contributing to the best of their ability. A sensible and morally sound principle. Grandiose campaign promises, however, obscure the spirit of democracy. Any politician who demands nothing of the people but instead cheerfully poses as Santa Claus commits a fatal educational blunder and may even encourage antisocial behavior. There it lurks again: self-inflicted immaturity.

Thus, two unstable mentalities ultimately clash, which – once they reach a certain concentration – are pure poison for democracy. On the one hand, the smug, lazy, whining pseudo-citizen who constantly demands without ever adequately serving the community of solidarity – in short, the freeloader. On the other hand, the populist who simply wants to be elected by this spoiled child for the next four years, by any means necessary.

That is why Kennedy’s quote speaks so deeply to our hearts. Who, besides him, has ever called on his people in peacetime to deliver first and make demands later?