Comte on Altruism

Anyone still muddled over the actual nature of altruism would do well to read the man who coined the term.

Here, August Comte makes it completely clear that when he talks about the duty to sacrifice self for the sake of others, he really means it. It's also clear, even from this brief passage, that it is incompatible with liberty.

“[The] social point of view . . . cannot tolerate the notion of rights, for such notion rests on individualism. We are born under a load of obligations of every kind, to our predecessors, to our successors, to our contemporaries.

After our birth these obligations increase or accumulate, for it is some time before we can return any service. . . .

This [to live for others], the definitive formula of human morality, gives a direct sanction exclusively to our instincts of benevolence, the common source of happiness and duty. [Man must serve] humanity, whose we are entirely.”
[Catéchisme Positivist, 1852]

Our Choice: Parasitism vs Self-Responsibility

In discussing Rep. Paul Ryan's Roadmap, a WSJ editorial quotes Obama:

The main liberal policy objection, to the extent a serious one exists, is that the roadmap would "cut working folks loose so they've got to fend for themselves," as President Obama described the supposed Republican economic philosophy at a Chicago fundraiser last week.

Yes, that's exactly right. Working folks — and everyone else — would ultimately have to fend for themselves, and no longer be in a position to suck off the teat of the State forever. (Actually, Ryan's Roadmap does no such thing, unfortunately, but that's fodder for a different post.)

For all his many vices, Obama understands — if only instinctively — the basic moral issue so much better than most conservatives it isn't funny. He knows the choice we face today — and the debate underlying most contemporary political hot-button issues: independence or State control, self-reliance or welfare, coerced Comtean altruism or Madisonian freedom.

In short, we can continue down the road believing — as Obama has so much as said on many occasions — it's moral to force Americans to be their brother's keeper, or we can turn once again to liberty. Arguments over the details of the economic impact of tax rates, vouchers, and the like do more to obscure than enlighten that debate.

It's Progressivism or individual rights, parasitism or fending for ourselves. The belief that we can continue for another two generations down the middle way is just a delusion.