Proverbs 22:21 “Teaching you true and reliable words, so that you can give sound answers to him who sent you.”
Fallacy #4: “Why, you’d take us back to the horse and buggy!”
This fallacy basically states that since our constitution was produced during the horse and buggy days that the constitution needs to progress like our technological advances have. It was fine during the horse and buggy days, but now in the days of high speed trains, jet planes as well as automobiles and computers it is outdated.
It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that the undeniable progress that has been made that somehow all other aspects of society are bound up with and determined by the advance of technology.
Since 1776 we have progressed in our technology and the economy and government have also grown. What this fallacy is saying is that the growth of government was mandated because of the growth of technology. However, is this statement true?
Several questions do pop up needing an answer. Why should an increase in technology require a change in our constitution, or in our morality or values? What moral or political change was necessary when the jet plane, or computer, etc. was introduced? Yes, there might be new laws, but does that necessitate a change in the constitution that our country is founded on?
No matter what period of time we might be living in, the fundamentals that our constitution give do not change - the need for right relationship with our fellow man, ability to mix labor with resources to produce consumer goods, ensure private property, freedom, etc. are always the same.
Aren’t the teachings of Jesus just as relevant today as they were 2000 years ago? Are the Ten Commandments outdated because of the advent of the jet plane or computer, etc.? Yes, technology will advance, but the morality of man does not. We need the checks and balances that our constitution gives us. It does not take man long to learn how to kill, plunder and try to have power over other men. There are always men willing to do this.
If we look at history we see that it is a history of technological advances, but like someone said, "Morally, it is an up-and-down and an eternal struggle between morality and immorality, between liberty and coercion."
Technologically we have become giants, but we are morally midgets. I think it would be safe to say that because of our technological advances our morals have even more digressed. The more they digress the more government comes in with increasing control with the result of a loss of freedom.
This begins to put us into a tail spin, because freedom is needed to be able to experiment for technological advancement, to seek truth and for the individual to develop creative ideas. When freedom is lost technology begins to decay and society itself sinks back into the Dark Ages.
What this fallacy tries to do is link liberty and limited government to the horse and buggy and tries to convince us that socialism and the welfare state is tailored for the jet and TV set. However, it is just the opposite. Socialism and state planning are many centuries old and they have brought us into despotism and totalitarianism.
When I was writing last year on the subject of TERROR TO TRIUMPH (see my "archives") I was showing how the expansion of the Kingdom of God brought about the freedom that was necessary for technological advances to take place and eventually in the case of the USA brought limited government and prosperity.
The ones who are pushing this fallacy today are the ones who would be called 'progressives.' Jesus gave us a maxim whereby we can test all things. He said that a good tree will produce good fruit and bad tree bad fruit. When we test the progressives' philosophy on this maxim that the Lord gave us, what do we find?
When I look at my own state of California (that is now broke and based on a progressive ideology) as well as the PIGS (Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain) and see the same thing, I would have to say the fruit that is being brought forth is not very good.
Might God give us insight.
