Liberals vs. Conservatives: Plato's 'Allegory of the Cave'

Have you ever had something in the back of your mind and it seemed relevant to your current thought processes, but you could not quite get it? The last couple weeks there was a connection I had heard before but could not quite put my finger on it.

It hit me earlier today. I remembered the “Allegory of the Cave” in Plato’s Republic. Many of you will remember more detail than I have at hand, but it dealt with a group of men chained in a cave, all facing one direction, with shadows moving on the wall. The chained men took the shadows to be their reality. Their conversations and thoughts revolved around the shadows and their meaning. In this story, one person eventually breaks free and climbs out of the cave to experience life in the sunlight. The escaped cave dweller comes to understand his reality was an illusion. Returning to the cave, the escapee tells the others what he has seen. They reject his story believing he has been “blinded by the light.”

I was talking to a recent high school graduate who was helping me move furniture. This was a very nice young man and a very hard worker. This kid has some real potential. I asked about history classes in high school (he graduated in 2010). He knew about the civil rights struggle and he knew about the Civil War. I asked him about the founding of this country and asked him questions about our Constitution. He admitted they didn’t spend a lot of time on the Constitution. I asked him if he understood there were also obligations to each citizen. This last sentence caught him off guard. He was not aware of the reason for the Federalists Papers.

Over the last two weeks, I’ve pretty much avoided Conservative news and spent my time with the Liberal Press. I read articles from the New York Times, listened to Chris Matthews and a lady named Rachel Maddow. I was surprised to learn some were pulling for the Boston Bomber to be a white male. It seems anyone else could be a setback for the liberal cause.

That is when it hit me. Many people in this country are in a cave, a cave where knowledge is like shadows on a wall. Being chained to the mainstream media, popular culture and an education system directed toward a specific view of the world, these people are much like the men in the Allegory of the Cave. Stop and think about this for a moment. If the press is progressive and believes the United States was founded by rich white guys to take advantage of everyone else. If the education system talks about rights but fails to explain how we came to have these rights. If it is accepted general knowledge the government can provide anything a person needs. If it is suggested there is no obligation to contribute to the general good. If all this were true, it would require effort on the part of an individual to get anything but a liberal view of reality.

The independent thinker would be forced to read books not reviewed in most publications. The independent thinker would have to come to understand U.S. History and place it in the context of world history. The independent thinker would have to reject the theory of reliance and come to understand individual independence. The independent thinker would have to disregard pop culture and disregard the mainstream media. This thinker would have to read and understand material produced by both political parties. Only then could they reach knowledge different from that found in the shadows of the cave.

It makes more sense to me now why there is a difference between makers and takers. The takers are very brash, bold and forceful in talking about their rights. They are backed by the mainstream press, academia and pop culture. The takers have a false reality.

The makers have been reluctant to voice disagreement because they are busy, they are doing well and they are sensitive to those trapped in a cave with shadows on the wall. The independent thinker would have to differentiate between those actually needing help and those who are takers.

Liberals believe Conservatives have been blinded by the light. The Conservative story goes against everything they believe in the cave. The fact that it is hard to teach those with a limited view does not mean it’s not worth doing.