Arguments Summed Up: We are Doomed

Title & Author: We are Doomed: Reclaiming Conservative Pessimism by John Derbyshire

Genre: Nonfiction--Politics

My Rating: 6.0

Summed Up:

Derbyshire states the following about his book: “It’s argument is that things are bad and getting worse for our movement, for our nation, and for our civilization. A large part of the reason they have gotten so bad is that too many of us have fallen into foolishly utopian ways of thinking. Those ways of thinking are false because they are too optimistic about human nature and human affairs. The proper outlook of conservatives, I shall argue, is a pessimistic one, at least so far as the things of this world are concerned. We have been misled, and the conservative movement has been derailed, by legions of fools and poseurs wearing smiley-face masks.”

Overly optimistic and utopian ideas are not only pointless but can actually be harmful. Therefore, Derbyshire advocates a politics of despair! Earthly affairs cannot be much improved by the hand of man—most certainly not by the hand of government. Thus, the optimism that is foolish is the one that believes that man, or the government in particular, is able to greatly improve the world.

So, what should we be pessimistic about? First on the list is diversity. Derbyshire refers to a cult of Diversity that believes if we just increase and celebrate a diversity of races, religions, sexual orientations, and on and on, the world will be a better place. Eventually a utopia of peace and friendship among the rainbow coalition will reign on the earth. Unfortunately, facts show that diversity does not work, and it actually increases racial and other forms of inter-population strife. One study Derbyshire sites states that diversity could in fact doom our system of government. “The [American philosophical-Constitutional] Creed is unlikely to retain its salience if Americans abandon the Anglo-Protestant culture in which it has been rooted. A multicultural America will, in time, become a multicreedal America, with groups with different cultures espousing distinctive political values and principles rooted in their particular cultures.”

Along with diversity, our pessimism should be extended towards government. In Derbyshire’s words, “Most of what legislators legislate and executives execute is foolish, counterproductive or downright wicked, so the less they do the better.” Derbyshire is also afraid that our previously successful republic will not last because of an increasingly monarchical presidency and a stagnated, permanent-incumbent congress. We have given the political class too much power and given up too many of our freedoms in the optimistic hope that the government can fulfill their promise of peace and prosperity. Promises, they never in the end keep.

Derbyshire also makes his case for pessimism towards the future of religion, our current foreign policy, the economy, immigration, and even the future of the Conservative philosophy itself.

You can read my review of We are Doomed here.