Men Without Chests

The phrase above originated in The Abolition of Man, a thoughtful work by C. S. Lewis on the loss of virtue. He maintained that some of the greatest realities in life actually come from something external to the experience of humans. Such truths are objective and provide the guideposts for human conduct. “It is the doctrine of objective value,” he says, “the belief that certain attitudes are really true, and others really false, to the kind of thing the universe is and the kind of things we are.”Lewis was talking about universal, objective truth – things that are true for all of us, in all times and in all places. Yet he wonders how you can actually teach virtue to a generation if proper conduct and objectivity are removed from society. He concludes that you can’t. Humanity is cut adrift, with no outward compass guiding its actions.In a very real sense, this is what has transpired in the parallel worlds of politics and citizenship. It’s why we get outcomes we don’t desire, inputs that are skewed the moment they enter the political arena, and why we remain paralyzed by the great challenges of our day. It’s a world where everything carries little importance, save for the opportunity to acquire power. I spoke with a journalist yesterday who said he doesn’t know what is what in Ottawa anymore. He might as well have been talking of our local communities as well, as citizens continue their retreat into anonymity.A good example of what I’m talking about popped up in a Tweet today by someone name Mary Pynenburg. I found it profound and somewhat damning at the same time. She notes simply: “Reform lost democratic reform. Cons lost progressive conservatives. Now the NDP lose socialism.” It appeared to stem from Joanna Smith’s Toronto Star piece called, “NDP leaving ‘socialism’ behind – in constitution, policy manual.” Personally, I would find this tragic in the Canadian context. The pursuit of social justice has always been vital to me, and the NDP’s intense focus on social matters repeatedly challenged my own failures to live a better life in service of others. Suddenly granted more power and influence than they have ever experienced, Jack Layton’s party runs the danger of losing its definition at the very point in its history when it can actually do something about it.“Cons lost progressive conservatives” – that’s now a given. “Reform lost democratic reform.” Well if Stephen Harper and Preston Manning are correct and the reform roots run deep and strong in the present government, then its repeated defilement of parliament and the democratic process would seem to indicate that the purity of focus once inherent in the Reform Party has now fallen prey to expediency. Pynenburg could just as well have added that the Bloc has lost its mandate for existence, and the Liberals have lost the centre. It’s all rapidly become a make-believe world almost exclusively motivated by the pursuit of power at all costs, including identity.  In other words, virtue is hard to maintain in a world where political parties change their colours regularly and citizens, while professing commitment to climate change reform, an end to child poverty, proper aboriginal restitution, and true equality for women, nevertheless refuse to sacrifice a portion of their collective lifestyle to make such things possible.What happens when virtue and stability of purpose and honour give way to expediency? Lewis leaves no doubt: “We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We then laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst.” Really, who needs floor crossers anymore when parties can just as easily forego their principles? We have entered the carnival period in our political and public lives when standing on principle has given way to going wherever the current takes you, as long as it leads you closer to power. The faithful people in all of these parties must wonder whatever became of their history.Speaking to a gathering of ethicists, John Kennedy said, “A nation which has forgotten the quality of courage, which in the past has been brought to public life, is not as likely to insist upon or regard that quality in its chosen leaders today – and in fact we have forgotten.”  Cons without progressives; Liberals without a centre. NDP without socialism; Reform without democracy. It all leads to only one thing – Canada without direction.