Politics and DK
Comment: Wouldn’t you say that the following quote reveals that DK was a liberal socialist?
“In politics there are great and wise statesmen who are endeavoring to guide their people wisely but have as yet too much with which to contend; of these Franklin D. Roosevelt was an outstanding modern example, for he gave of his best and died in the service of humanity.
Such inspired leadership is now being given to humanity by Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt, in contradistinction to the focused leadership of the forces of materialism through Hitler and another man in his group.
“What at this moment appears to prevent world unity and keeps the United Nations from arriving at those necessary settlements which the man in the street is so eagerly awaiting? The answer is not hard to find and involves all nations: nationalism, capitalism, competition, blind stupid greed. It is an intense emotional nationalism which made the Polish nation so difficult a member of the family of nations; it is materialism and fear, plus a lack of spiritual interest, which makes France so constant an obstructionist and has led her to work against united world action; it is fanatical adherence to an ideology and national immaturity which prompts so much of Russia’s activities; it is a rampant capitalism which makes the United States one of the most feared of the nations, plus her gestures of armed power.” Problems of Humanity, Pages 173-174
Like most enlightened teachers DK can be seen as being very conservative by some and liberal by others. This is because the true teacher seeks to emphasize the midway point as taught in The Lost Key of the Buddha. This middle point can be conservative in one circumstance and liberal in another depending on where the attention of the whole is.
Notice the two men he praised. The first was FDR, a noted liberal of his time. But the second was Winston Churchill who was quite conservative at that point in his life. The relationship was a little like Bush and Blair with the conservative/liberal roles reversed.
If Churchill had been in power in 1936 he probably would have taken Hitler out and occupied Germany and would have been accused of an unnecessary war as has George Bush. No one could have proven what a great feat was accomplished. Who knows! Maybe if Saddam Hussein was still in power we’d be headed for a conflagration of Biblical proportions.
As it is, one of the most consistent criticisms of DK against the United States is that we tried to mind our own business as Hitler was rising to power. DK had the belief that we should have acted and stopped him before he gained the power to wage war. He made this criticism even before the war.
The trouble is that any nation that wages a preemptive war (however just) is in for a boat load of trouble with the press of the world.
The interesting thing about FDR is that he was indeed considered a liberal in his day, but by today’s standards he was about as conservative as George Bush. He would have liked the term “compassionate conservative.” In fact, Bush’s prescription drug program, immigration policy and education programs would have probably been too liberal for him.
FDR wanted to take more preemptive action against Germany but was held back by many liberals in his own party.
Some think that FDR and Eleanor were a team the way that Bill and Hillary Clinton were. While it is true that Eleanor’s politics were a lot like Hillary’s, FDR was more like George Bush than Bill Clinton. Imagine Bush and Hillary as a couple, but belonging to the same party and you have an idea of the situation with FDR and Eleanor. Both of them had external love interests.
DK often sounded as conservative as he was liberal. He supported nuclear energy for power as do the conservatives today. He also spoke numerous times against mindless pacifism. Here he sounded like a typical Republican today saying this:
“The second point upon which I would touch is the arguments brought out by the pacifists of the world. All true and good people are pacifically minded and all hate war. This is a fact which the academic idealist and pacifist often forget. Such people tell us that two wrongs do not make a right; and to meet murder with murder (which is their definition of war) is sinful; that war is evil (which no one denies) and that one must not take part in it. They contend that thinking thoughts of peace and of love can put the world straight and end the war. Such people, fighting the existent fact of war, usually do little or nothing concrete to right the wrongs which are responsible for the war, and permit their defence-personal, municipal, national and international-to be undertaken by others. The sincerity of these people cannot be questioned.
“It should be remembered, in countering these ideas and in justifying the fighting spirit of the Christian democracies, that it is motive that counts. War can be and is mass murder, where the motive is wrong. It can be sacrifice and right action, where the motive is right. The slaying of a man in the act of killing the defenceless is not regarded as murder. The principle remains the same, whether it is killing an individual who is murdering, or fighting a nation which is warring on the defenceless. The material means, which evil uses for selfish ends, can also be employed for good purposes. The death of the physical body is a lesser evil than the setting back of civilisation, the thwarting of the divine purposes of the human spirit, the negating of all spiritual teaching, and the control of men’s minds and liberties. War is always evil, but it can be the lesser of two evils, as is the case today.” Externalization of the Hierarchy, Pages 179-180
He also criticized the press for being too biased and controlled. This is a big complaint of conservatives today against the media, which polls show the media writers to be 80-90% Democratic Party voters. He says:
“In spite of much shouting, demanding and proposed organisation, there is no truly free press anywhere; particularly is it absent in the United States, where parties and publishers dictate newspaper policies. The main reason why there is no really free press is based on two factors: first, the fact that humanity is not yet free from its predetermined reasonings, its basic ignorances of factual history, or of nations and their psychology; humanity is still controlled by racial and national bias and by prejudice. Secondly, the fact that all this is nurtured and kept alive by the forces of evil, working upon the inner side of human affairs and dealing mainly with the psychological angle because it is so exceedingly potent. This they will increasingly do as this planetary war draws to a close; they will seek to offset the work of the Hierarchy, to hamper the activities of the New Group of World Servers and to cloud the issues involved to such a degree that the men of goodwill everywhere will be bewildered and will fail to see the clear outlines of the factual situation or distinguish between what is true and what is false. Forget not, the forces of evil are exceedingly clever.” Externalization of the Hierarchy, Page 452
DK indeed criticized the United States, but he also dished it out to other nations. On the other hand, he made numerous positive comments to the nations including the United States.
Here are some more positive things he has said about the United States indicating he had a balanced view on the subject.
“It is obvious that the governing faculty of the Ray of Will or Power is the outstanding characteristic of Great Britain. England is an exponent of the art of control and her function has been to produce the first tentative grouping of federated nations the world has seen and to demonstrate the possibility of such a grouping. The United States is doing a somewhat similar thing and is fusing the nationals of many nations into one federated state with many subsidiary states, instead of subsidiary nations. These two powers function in this way and with this wide objective in order eventually to give to the planet a system of groupings within one national border or empire, and yet with an international implication which will be symbolic of the coming new age technique of government.” Destiny of the Nations, Pages 51-52
“The United States represents the intuitive faculty, expressing itself as illumination, plus the power to fuse and blend.” Destiny of the Nations, Pages 51-52
“The keynote of this world centre is ‘I light the WAY;’ this is the privilege of the States if its people so choose and permit worldwide humanitarian, self-sacrifice (self-initiated) and a firm decision to stand by righteousness to govern their present attitudes and policies. This is slowly coming to pass and the selfish voices of blind idealists, the fearful and the separative are dying out. All this is happening under the inspiration of service, motivated by love. Thus the two major democracies can eventually restore world order, negate the old order of selfishness and aggression and usher in the new order of world understanding, world sharing and world peace. Peace will be the result of understanding and sharing, and not the origin of them, as the pacifists so often imply.” Esoteric Astrology, Page 523
“It is the force of the Hierarchy which can express itself increasingly through the United States of America, for an intuitive recognition of subjective realities and a real sense of the higher values can and frequently do control the impulses governing this group of federated states.” Externalization of the Hierarchy, Page 132
“Some nations, particularly the great democracies, like the British Commonwealth of Nations and the United States of America, now realise that these attitudes and activities must end and that the hope of the world lies in the spread of right human relations, in economic interchange, broad unselfish international politics and the growth of the spirit of cooperation. They believe unalterably, and as a basic national policy, in the rights of the individual and that the State exists for the benefit of that individual; to that they add the belief that the State also exists for the benefit of all other states and for humanity as a whole.” Externalization of the Hierarchy, Page 374
“The forces of evil will now endeavour to utilise the character of humanity as a whole (at its present total point of development) to hinder the Forces of Light, prevent the attainment of world tranquillity and world understanding, and thus delay the day of their own final defeat. This defeat, when accomplished, must include the three worlds of human evolution-mental, emotional and physical. For long these evil forces have used psychology in order to reach the ends they had in view, and have used it with amazing success; they are still using it, and can be depended upon to employ its methods to the uttermost. They use the press and the radio in order to distort human thinking; they present half-truths, impute false motives, rake up past grievances, foretell (with foreboding) imminent difficulties; they foster ancient prejudices and hatreds, and emphasise religious and national differences. In spite of much shouting, demanding and proposed organisation, there is no truly free press anywhere; particularly is it absent in the United States, where parties and publishers dictate newspaper policies. The main reason why there is no really free press is based on two factors: first, the fact that humanity is not yet free from its predetermined reasonings, its basic ignorances of factual history, or of nations and their psychology; humanity is still controlled by racial and national bias and by prejudice.” Externalization of the Hierarchy, Pages 451-452
“A capitalistic nation is not necessarily wrong; capital has its place, and Russia (the enemy of capitalism) is by no means free from capitalistic bias. The motives of the United States are very mixed motives: greed of money or its equivalent, such as oil, and at the same time sincerely good intentions for the establishment of human freedom in a democratic world-modelled, of course, on American democracy. Other motives are an appreciation of the armed fist and, at the same time, a longing for economic sharing and for that essential kindness which is such a strong American characteristic-a mass characteristic. These mixed motives will produce eventually a very confused world, one in which it will be found that humanity has learned very little as the result of the World War (1914-1945) and is acquiescent to the cycle of well-intentioned money control.” Externalization of the Hierarchy, Pages 638-639
“It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.” Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 – 1945)
Sept 16, 2006
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