Restoring the foundations of our civilisation
Sometimes it feels like our civilisation is intent on forgetting the virtues upon which it is founded:
Every human soul is sacred.
We should love our neighbours as ourselves.
With rights come responsibilities.
With privilege, comes duty.
Yet instead of proclaiming these virtues, we have an elite class in the West scaring the daylights out of us; always looking for the bad in things; undermining our self-confidence by trying to make us fearful of the future or ashamed of our history and our culture. Somehow their solutions always involve more power for them. Accountability and sympathy for the rest of us are not really their thing.
“The best lack all conviction but the worst are full of passionate intensity,” as WB Yeats wrote.
We do not have to think like that or act like that. These are false narratives.
Our generation is a lucky generation. We are the inheritors of centuries of progress, the hard work of grandparents and great grandparents. It is time to remind ourselves how human ingenuity has transformed life expectancy over the last two centuries – from around 30 years two centuries ago to over 70 years today (and in developed economies it is over 80 years). It is time to remind ourselves about the transformation in literacy – from only 3% of Britons being able to sign their own name two hundred years ago to 95% of the planet being fully literate. It is time to remind ourselves how free markets have transformed our use of energy, transportation and agriculture; have enhanced our ability to communicate, to keep warm or cool, to travel, to eat well; and have enabled us to become healthier and to enjoy leisure and opportunity. To enjoy what Socrates called a flourishing life.
It is time to remind ourselves of the foundational freedoms that made all this possible: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, freedom of association, freedom to trade and exchange goods. Democratic institutions, which work.
Our civilisation is a miracle. It is perfectly capable of addressing the challenges which we are facing today, whether that be climate change, health epidemics, illiteracy, people trafficking or tyrants at home and abroad. The answer lies with ourselves, in human ingenuity and innovation, in the extraordinary creativity of free markets, in the free association of like-minded people. People with respect for society, for our values, and for one another. And an elite which believes in integrity not just self-interest.
This is the ARC invitation. We want to build an international alliance of free peoples, United in pursuit of the common good, sharing our ideas for renewal, for innovation and growth, in a spirit of optimism, strength, respect and free exchange. It is a great cause. Please join us.
