Kurt Luchs: Frodo in a World of Boromirs

Posted by Kendall Harmon

The pull of liberty is strong, but only for those who know it and treasure it. After decades of public education designed more to produce compliant subjects and beneficiaries than thinking, self-reliant citizens, there are precious few among us who can even articulate, let alone defend, the principles for which our founders bled and died. There are far more (and especially the well-meaning religious) who say, as Gandalf says of the One Ring, “Yet the way of the Ring to my heart is by pity, pity for weakness and the desire of strength to do good.” In their pity and all too sincere desire to do good, they do not see the end of that road as Gandalf does: “With that power I should have power too great and terrible. And over me the Ring would gain a power still greater and more deadly.”

Is there hope? Yes. There is always hope. Whatever its imperfections and excesses and absurdities, liberty is always better than coercion. Sooner or later this always seems to become apparent. When it does, men and women ready to take a stand for liberty always seem to spring from the earth. Perhaps that moment is again near. If so, it will not be the last. There is no final battle for liberty in a fallen world. As Tolkien reminds us (again in the words of Gandalf), “Always after a defeat and a respite, the Shadow takes another shape and grows again.”

Read it carefully and read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Poetry & Literature • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Politics in General • US Presidential Election 2008 • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

4 Comments
Posted October 28, 2008 at 5:03 am [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]



1. Sick & Tired of Nuance wrote:

Thank you for posting this.  This analogy is mine now, I own it.  As a conservative Christian, I had hoped that we could steer our nation on a better course.  With great misgivings, I voted for the current administration…twice.  As a nation, we have indeed lost our way.  Both parties are about siezing power rather than reducing it’s influence.  Both want total control.  Both are socialists at the core of their being.  Neither actually promote liberty.  I had thought that the Republicrats would do as they promised.  They did not.  They could not.  In the end, the “ring” proved too powerful.

October 28, 7:48 am | [comment link]
2. vulcanhammer wrote:

Relative to the long-term indoctrination of public schools, earlier this month I attended a professional meeting (I’m an engineer) where a human resources specialist gave what was (for me at least) a shocking overview of Generation Y relative to employment, which I summarise and comment on here.

It’s also worth nothing that J.R.R. Tolkien explicitly disclaimed any analogy between The Lord of the Rings and the situation in World War II, which was going on while he wrote much of the trilogy.

October 28, 8:42 am | [comment link]
3. Jeffersonian wrote:

Oh my, where to begin?  I agree completely with the author.  Government at all levels has slipped its leash.  We now live in post-constitutional America, with both parties going hammer and tong to ride the $3 trillion (soon to be $4 trillion) pony.  It cannot, and will not, last.  We had better rediscover our Constitution, or we will reap a bitter harvest.

October 28, 8:47 am | [comment link]
4. tgs wrote:

As with #3, I too completely agree with the author and find some hope in the fact that the Trilogy became so very popular. It seemed to strike a deep chord in many people and that has to be a good thing.

October 28, 6:12 pm | [comment link]
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