CS Lewis Warned Us

"The process which, if not checked, will abolish man, goes on apace among Communists and Democrats no less than among fascists. The methods may (at first) differ in brutality. But many a mild-eyed scientist in pince-nez, many a popular dramatist, many an amateur philosopher in our midst, means in the long run just the same as the Nazi rulers of Germany. Traditional values are to be 'debunked' and mankind will be cut out at the will (which must, by hypothesis, be an arbitray will) of some few lucky people in one lucky generation which has learned how to do it. - CS Lewis, The Abolition of Man c1947 (pg 85 of the 1965 MacMillan Paperback Edition - 10th printing 1973)

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Yes, the word Democrats was capitalized by Lewis. & although I am fairly sure he didn't specificly mean what is the Democratic Party in the USA, he still hit the mark about it pretty well. This sure sounds like he is describing the condition of the USA in 2009, not merely the direction England of 60+ yrs ago was heading.

This book was written by Lewis as a criticism of the Education system of England at the time. He saw the direction we were heading & tried to warn us. Unfortunately, not enough people listened as well as they should have.

Last year Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput wrote a book entitiled "Render unto Caesar: Serving the Nation by Living Our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life". In it he starts out referencing to this book by CS Lewis. He showed us back then how pertanant this book still was. & it is just as pertanant today. I would highly recomend getting a copy if you don't have 1 & reading it. Or digging your copy out, if you do, & rereading it.

Also, you might want to reread Lewis' "Screwtape Proposes a Toast". It was a critique of where the education system of America was at the time, 1959. He disguised it as a crtitique of English education of that time. Not that the English system was any better. He just felt that it would go down a little easier here in the States if it was presented that way. (NOTE: "Toast" was written for the "Saturday Evening Post".)