Grabbing The High Ground

Back in the old days before the French Revolution the world was a conservative place. Rigidly conservative.

And the reason was pretty simple.  In the agricultural age if you made a mistake out on the farm it was curtains.  The only thing to do was to stick with what worked: tradition.

But since the Enlightenment tradition has been on the defensive.  In fact even gradual reform has been on the defensive.  Human rights and reason have carried all before them. 

In the old days, the reformer had to prove his point; now the traditionalist had to show cause why mindless tradition should be preferred over rational reform.  And never mind what Edmund Burke said in his Reflections on the Revolution in France.

That’s a big deal, as Ben Shapiro writes.

In the realm of politics, the question of burden of proof is a vital one. Whoever has the burden of proof is at a disadvantage.

The issue of gay marriage illustrates this.  Reverend Reggie Longcrier asked the Democratic presidential candidates this week:

[W]hy is it still acceptable to use religion to deny gay Americans their full and equal rights?

When you put it that way—and the MSM usually does—you put yourself in the driver’s seat, forcing the opponents of gay marriage to show cause why we should not implement gay marriage immediately.

For the argument against gay marriage is usually an argument from tradition.  That’s the way it’s always been and we don’t know what could happen if we change things.

Actually, in the area of gay marriage we do have rational knowledge.  We know that children need to live with their married mother and father if they are to be safest.  And we know that the “sexual constitution” by which men are socialized from their natural predatory instinct to be faithful fathers and providers is harmed by promotion of “diverse” lifestyles.

We know that where the family is concerned the burden of proof ought to be on the people who want change.

But still.  As of right now the burden of proof is on the traditionalists.  On almost everything.

And that has to change.