… is from page 37 of the original edition of Walter Lippmann’s sometimes deeply flawed but profoundly insightful and important 1937 book, The Good Society:
No doubt it is true that a society which organizes itself elaborately must go on until it has organized itself into rigidity, that it must seek stability because it cannot advance. It must imitate the mollusk, which, though it can neither walk, swim, nor fly, and has only meagre ambitions, does seem to enjoy a reasonably well-protected and stable existence.
DBx: Yes. Authoritarians, left and right, fear change that they do not control. And despite their insistence that they aim only to carry out the true ‘will of the people,’ they aim instead to impose their will on the people. “Clam up!” scream populists on the right and progressives on the left. “Individuals left free to pursue their own peaceful ends using whatever peaceful means they choose are a menace to society, for a society that leaves individuals free to act and choose peacefully will change in ways that we cannot predict. And such change is intolerable to us and, we assure you, also to you. We anoint ourselves as your guardians. In the shell of our protection, we’ll keep you warm and safe and secure from the anxiety that comes from real, unpredictable change – change not planned ahead of time by us. You’ll thank us.“
