Government Intervention: a Deux Ex Machina

by Carl Nelson

“Deux ex machina (“a god from a machine” – Greek) is when a person or thing that appears or is introduced into a situation suddenly and unexpectedly and provides an artificial or contrived solution to an apparently insoluble difficulty. When a writer uses deus ex machina, the story’s resolution comes from the unexpected introduction of a brand new element, rather than from the facts and circumstances that have already been established.” – Google

The normality of governmental intervention to ‘improve’ the lives of its constituents, a Progressive hallmark, has become so much a part of the mentality of our culture as to become as unquestioned in many respects as the air which we breath.  But is what is perceived as normal currently anything natural or organic?  Is the narrative of our laws and their acquisition a true story sprouting from the facts and circumstances of history – or something else?

A Deux Ex Machina is often a device used to solve a seeming conundrum perplexing as a Gordian knot.

A “Gordian knot : (is)a knot tied by Gordius, king of Phrygia, held to be capable of being untied only by the future ruler of Asia, and cut by Alexander the Great with his sword.” – Google

The modern interpretation of this myth is that the Gordian knot represents an intricate problem; especially: a problem insolvable in its own terms.  By why is it insolvable?  Is it because it is “insolvable in its own terms”?  Or is it that we are not possessed with the wisdom required to see these terms in a new light?  In other words, do we not understand the knot because it represents the stupid tangle of an ignorant weaver, or because we are too stupid to understand the complexity of the weave?

Progressives opt for the former, whereas Conservatives believe the latter; that is, that the knot perplexes the Progressive not because it is a stupid construction – but because the Progressive is too callow to understand its subtlety, and therein, its purpose, its use…  which is to untie the wisdom within a natural skein (scheme).

Historically, the Gordian knots of public intercourse have been loosened over time through a gradual manipulation of a cultural rictus, individual by individual, one polis at a time.  Like a sore shoulder muscle which a deep massage urges to relax, so do natural interactions, (a kneading) of the human community induce a flow of sympathies which slowly removes the toxins from a cramped discourse.  When Progressives point to a “social problem”, what they are more likely indicating is the symptoms of a slowly evolving opinion, one whose broad, granular foundation will have such sustainability as to become metaphorically a part of the ground water of a reformed community.  In other words, “social problems” are slowly healing wounds.  Perhaps best not to pick at the scabs, would be the Conservative advice.

For example, let’s pick one huge example of a governmentally mandated social solution, and one which has near mythic status: the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

“In 1964, Congress passed the Public Law 88-352 (78 Stat. 241). The Civil Rights Act of 1064 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.  Provisoins of this act forbade discrimination on the basis of   sex, as well as, race in hiring promoting, and firing.” – Google

You would think this Act fairly clear, and should do the job.

But apparently it is not, because additional legislation passed before and after 1964 has also been (deemed necessary.  For example, read about the “8 Key Laws That Advance Civil Rights” (https://www.history.com/news/civil-rights-legislation)

But don’t stop there.  Thumb along to “Civil Rights Laws: Statutory Overview” On Findlaw (https://www.findlaw.com/civilrights/enforcing-your-civil-rights/civil-rights-laws.html)  Where you will find the doorways to a plethora of anti-discrimination legislation  such as, for example, “Age Discrimination Laws.  Many federal laws protect you from discrimination based on age in specific settings.”

There’s a lot on offer here.  There are not only a host of Federal Laws, but also State and Municipal laws.  And then of course all of the regulations descendant of these. But in case you still cannot find your particular hurt? “Suppose you think someone has mistreated you based on a protected characteristic. In that case, talk to an experienced attorney today to protect your human rights. See FindLaw’s attorney directory to find one near you.”

Presently Civil Right Law is pushing downwards to a granular level in which one could patiently tease apart the various violations of gender identity, hate-speech, sexism, ageism, racism, homophobia – violations which have been shown to have taken place in a seemingly everyday conversation.  Already in Western Countries citizens are being discipline and/or incarcerated for incorrect comments. Currently it is risky professionally and getting risky legally to say anything whatsoever in a neighborhood near you.

A Harvard attorney once told me: “If you can say it, don’t write it. And if you can just nod, don’t say it.”  Acting dumb, it would seem, is certainly the prudent posture, nowadays.  If you can think, it would be best to keep that thought to yourself. If people are seeming a bit different nowadays, that’s a society playing ‘dumb’.

Deux Ex Machina while intitially seeming the simplest solution of a perplexing problem, looks to be a Sourcer’s Apprentice type fix, which in time can spiral completely out of all control, drowning all. You know you’ve created a legal industry when it’s become a broad legal specialty.  And all of these legal apparatchiks are not going to give up their bread and butter without a fight.  They are going to find lots of problems to solve.  There’s lots of illegal discrimination out there, you bet.

We had a fire. Now we’ve added gas.

Of course, the Progressive argument is that if they hadn’t pushed their solutions through, nothing would have happened.  This is apparently because left to their own devices and allowed their own agency, the citizen can accomplish nothing.

As a counter to this I would point to the Asian communities which have evolved to be great powerhouses on their own accounts and who have grasped participation in the American promise for the most part without benefit of this legislation.  And perhaps because of the cultural muscle this built, their annual income outpaces that of even the white American and they excel in admission to top tier Universities.  As of 2013-2015 the leading median household income was by Indian-Americans, second were Filipino-Americans; white Americans were about in the middle; while African-Americans (the Progressive beneficiaries) ranked last.  (Be careful who your ‘friends’ are.)

Governmental interventions have produced worse results in other areas, such as Education, where literacy before mandatory governmental education was greater than after, or in welfare after government incursion has pushed out the private charities whose work was person to person and granular.

A Deux Ex Machina is the device inept authors turn to when in a jam.  People generally don’t believe their stories.

And government would seem the deux ex machine lazy citizens turn to for solutions. Perhaps we shouldn’t buy their stories either.