Simply put, social Darwinism is the belief that “it’s a dog eat dog world.”

Some, lacking the imagination or desire to believe that humans have the capacity to create civilization, strive to become top dogs. One of the methods those people use to maintain their dominance is to divide lesser animals into groups and encourage those groups to fight one another.

Competition is promoted by adages such as “to the victor belongs the spoils,” by athletics and commerce. Believing that the “best defense is a good offense,” top dogs attack cooperative movements such as the United Nations and regimes such as Cuba’s. Cuba, despite poverty and our enmity, made great progress on literacy and public health. Cuban health workers saved thousands of lives in foreign lands. Imagine what lives they could have saved with our cooperation. Supporters of cooperative programs are called “Eggheads.” The gun control debate highlights the struggle between the “Eggheads” and “Darwinists.”

The gun lobby promotes the idea that people should defend themselves at home and stand their ground on the street — leaving policemen often outgunned and outmanned. If riots break out, the Darwinists will hunker down in gated communities and call in mercenaries from a corporation as some did after Katrina. They may even gloat as they witness social collapse, resurgence of the law of the jungle. Eggheads unwilling to offer the public simple solutions to complex problems or beg for campaign funds surrender political control to Darwinists lacking such restraints.

Public financing of political campaigns and muzzling of the top dogs will be necessary if people of good will are to avoid descent into chaos.

 

John E. Gibson
Blooming Prairie