The progressive cultural revolution
By Michael Moriarty
web posted July 21, 2008
Last week, in my editorial tribute to the one feminist I admire, Camille Paglia, I briefly touched upon the great divide between Classicism and Romanticism. That pair of aesthetic alternatives, according to many critics, determines the difference between "Progress" (Classicism) and a self-indulgent, circular repetitiveness (Romanticism).
That is generally, very generally, Prof. Paglia's opinion of these two, cultural alternatives.
Progress vs. emotional self-indulgence.
One great obstacle to what I now refer to as Progressive Classicism had been, at least according to feminists like Camille Paglia, the illegality of abortion. The clean lines of Classicism, vs. the wandering, emotional indulgences of Romanticism, demand that the creation, or rather the further "Progress" of the human race must be controlled, and that "control" necessitates abortion!
Hmmm, again … so basically pro-life Catholic Romanticism … vs. the severe but obligatory necessities of pro-choice Classicism.
However, is it Classicism that demands legalized abortion or Socialism?
The Catholic Church obviously retains what Progressive Classicists might call a Romantic obsession with the "sacredness of human life".
"Cleaning up the human race" appears to be the overall objective of Progressives … and with Classicists, such as Camille Paglia, defending Feminism aesthetically, what can I, as a one-time, perhaps would-be artist say in the face of my inability to accept abortion as anything remotely civilized, let alone an attribute to the progress of the human race?
The New York humanists infer that abortion is "humane". This is where the Catholic belief in the existence of a human soul appears to be denied by Progressively Protestant Humanists such as the Clintons and the Obamas.
Perhaps the human soul, to these Humanists, requires at least two trimesters of gestation to be any kind of reality. Despite the lively "Progress" of gestating infancy that is self-evident within a series of sonograms, these feti are not an officially recognized reality. The state -- or the Supreme Court, via Roe v. Wade -- has declared some of these gestating infants abortively disposable!
The last time we had people "cleaning up the human race" with such ruthlessly scientific and/or philosophic rationalizations, one was a German National Socialist, Adolf Hitler; a second one, Joseph Stalin, instituted Socialist Realism; and the third, Mao Tse Tung, created his "Cultural Revolution", one that eventually culminated in the contemporary, forced abortions within the present day People's Republic of China. All three were Socialists -- of one intensity or another.
Will Barack Obama's "Change" also lead to an American "Cultural Revolution"?
Perhaps it will be artists, from New York and Hollywood, who can finally convince me and the pro-life Romantics like myself that abortion is, if not an aesthetic necessity -- an obligatory part of this Cultural Revolution, like the one we had in the Sixties necessitating our surrender of South Vietnam -- only, this time, the mandates will be dictated from the top down. With a Progressively dominated Congress, Supreme Court and American Press, there is only one of the four, governing "Estates" left to become Progressive as well: The Presidency. Once we have a President Obama, what stands in the way of this forthcoming, Progressive Cultural Revolution?
The Sixties was "Change" from the bottom up. Ho Chi Minh was a vastly more appealing hero to American youth than either Lyndon Johnson or Richard Nixon. Now we have Barack Obama as a hero, certainly more appealing to the young than George W. Bush or John McCain. Obama might represent the combination of our fallen hero of the Democratic Party, JFK, and Ho Chi Minh. With Ted Kennedy endorsing Barack Obama, even Catholics can vote on behalf of this "Revolution".
That would all "sort of" make sense to me except for the fact that I am a lapsed Catholic, a kind of Joycian, pro-life Romantic. Obama is ruthlessly pro-choice. He won't even save the lives of infants who have survived botched abortions. As the Progressives would say, "Who wants a botched anything on earth!?"
There will be "Change", alright, if Obama is elected. There will be a "Cultural Revolution" guided by the increasing decisiveness of all popular heroes … or demagogues … depending upon which label Obama chooses to live up or down to.
However, as Camille Paglia's aesthetics might seem to insist, pro-choice is ultimately a Classic necessity for any form of True Progress … or any, even mildly meaningful, Cultural Revolution.
By the way, I don't think Ms. Paglia is really a Classicist or even a Socialist, for that matter. I think she is a remarkably candid Dionysian. That's why I can't help liking her. Dionysius is the Greek God of theater … among other things.
At any rate, I pray that both Dionysius and Jehovah save us from this Progressively Socialist, Cultural Revolution. 
Michael Moriarty is a Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning actor who starred in the landmark television series Law and Order from 1990 to 1994. His recent film and TV credits include The Yellow Wallpaper, 12 Hours to Live, Santa Baby and Deadly Skies. Moriarty is also running for President of the United States in 2008 as a candidate for the Realists Party. To find out more about Moriarty's presidential campaign, contact rainbowfamily2008@yahoo.com.