Living in the Past?

Already in 1884, Herbert Spencer observingly noted:

The function of Liberalism in the past was that of putting a limit to the powers of kings. The function of true Liberalism in the future will be that of putting a limit to the power of Parliaments.

Yet, we are met even today with boatloads of people who are far more concerned with kings not having power than the extensive powers of modern parliaments. They even claim that those of us who believe in figures with crowns live in the past.

These people seem very concerned about – if not obsessed with – the excesses of kings of old. Now, these excesses should of course be taken seriously. However, these people do not seem to have woken up to the excesses of modern democracy.

One could wonder who is living in the past.

Mr. Chris Roach, over at The Joy of Curmudgeonry, noted:

[T]he myth that nothing has gotten worse when it so clearly has. When things reach the absolute bottom, we'll be told that we're resisting the inevitable and living in the past, no doubt.

Again, who is living in the past? Those who react to the negative features of our time? Or those who act like such negative experiences never happened?

Churchill uttered a few famous words about democracy just over three score years ago.

Who is living in the past? He who cites Churchill without giving the 60 years since of unchecked majority rule – or majority representative rule – a single thought? Or he who actually considers the 60 years since – and the experience even before Churchill's speech for that matter?

It is indeed interesting that those who reject customs as “belonging in the past” so often are the same people who so easily refer to a 60 year old quote in their defense.

Who is living in the past?

He who is stuck with the wisdom at the end of the 18^th century? Or he who takes lessons also from the history since?

He who is stuck in the 1940s with a famous Churchill quote? Or he who takes lessons also from the history since?

He who is obsessed with the excesses of kings of old? Or he who takes lessons also from the experiences of modern tyranny? From our very own times?