Principles and Heresies

“Open Society” or Tyranny: False Dilemma

One of the most effective weapons of Liberal thought is the use of false antithesis: if you are opposed to socialized medicine, you don’t care if the streets are full of wretches wracked with lung cancer dying in the gutter; if you cast a critical eye on the social security system, you want millions of indigent aged to spend their declining years on a diet of bread and water in bleak and cheerless garrets; if you do not bleed with the social worker’s heart of an Eleanor Roosevelt, you have no heart at all.

FS

About the Author

Frank S. Meyer

Frank S. Meyer was a senior editor of National Review.

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“Open Society” or Tyranny: False Dilemma

One of the most effective weapons of Liberal thought is the use of false antithesis: if you are opposed to socialized medicine, you don’t care if the streets are full of wretches wracked with lung cancer dying in the gutter; if you cast a critical eye on the social security system, you want millions of indigent aged to spend their declining years on a diet of bread and water in bleak and cheerless garrets; if you do not bleed with the social worker’s heart of an Eleanor Roosevelt, you have no heart at all.