Saturday, December 2, 2017

Mike Anderson’s new book

I have my first book coming out next week. Three years in the making, it’s different from the typical focus of this blog. The title of the book is, The Progressive Gene: How Genetics Influence the Morality of the Left.


As you know, I’ve been talking about antiquarian political systems for ten years: Mostly Roman and Greek with a few others thrown in (e.g. Mesopotamia, Etruria). We all understand that the Roman and Greek governments were revolutionary, fundamental to the development of Western Civilization, and they influenced all political systems that followed. The American political system was originally a copy of the Roman Republic, with the additional feature of states included in the federation.

There has been significant research done in the past decade around political morality (party preference) and the factors that influence our choice. For example, research has shown that there are physical differences in the brains of Liberals and Conservatives. Liberals have a more developed area of the brain that handles decision making and choices. Conservatives have a more developed area of the brain that processes threats (fight or flight). The conclusions drawn from this are that Liberals desire change partly because they are comfortable with it. Change does not bother them. Conservatives are more cautious because risk is always on their mind, so they tend to opt for the status quo. These characteristics are genetically determined, like height and weight, and they exhibit a range of values matching the distribution of political points of view. Progressives on the left, independents in the middle, and Conservatives on the right.

As a social animal, man had to learn how to get along in a group by developing an external morality. He did that to take advantage of what the group had to offer (safety, shared resources, etc.), so his external morality had to be tuned to the morality of the group. In the egalitarian bands of humans in a primitive state, that worked well for a group size of 50-100. But the advent of agriculture changed everything. With a guaranteed food supply, man could now live together in densely populated groups. That structure demanded a new social model to maintain order, so, governments developed to help manage the social and economic stratification that came with it. Complex society has its own morality consisting of laws and social mores, which exists apart from the personal morality of individuals. It’s dynamic and adapts over time (e.g. changing views of Homosexuality).

The political systems of antiquity represent man’s initial efforts to deal with a new social dynamic. Mesopotamia, one if the pioneering cultures, started out as a theocracy but eventually became a monarchy. Rome and Greece were also profoundly influential models: Rome with its Republic creating a balance between social and economic classes and the Greeks with their Democracy.

My book is focused on Progressives and their unique political morality (a book on Conservatives comes later) and there is plenty of history to discuss. I have chapters on Mesopotamia and Greece and Rome. There are also chapters on the creation of the American political system and the history of the Progressive Movement.

All that history forms the basis of a discussion about the Progressives, their view of government, and they influence they exert over American politics today.


I will provide a link for viewing and purchasing the book once it becomes available next week.

1 comment:

W.LindsayWheeler said...

Interesting. The German classicist Karl Otfried Mueller, in his book The History and Antiquities of the Doric Race 1834, had an interesting comment about democracy: "Democracy loves a large mass, hates all divisions". That statement showcases the mentality of Gnostics, an Oriental, Semitic, ideology. I find that Liberalism is a form of Gnosticism. You should research that. That is why Marxism thrives, promotes democracy. Democracy and socialism are synonymous. The political philosopher Kurt Vonnegut points out that Marxism is Gnostic. So is Freemasonry and Hegel. Democracy is the vehicle for Gnostics. I also would like to point out the talks on PostModernism on YouTube. Postmodernism, Liberalism, are all forms of Gnosticism. Yes, they may be born that way.