Part (3) Principile for a Freeb State

[William M. Finley]

The family as a subversive institution
Of all the institutions of civil society, perhaps the most important is the
family. Its role as an educator, provider and rearer of children is
unequalled by any other institution. The family is such a unique source
of moral values and focus for human feelings that Ferdinand Mount has
labeled it a subversive institution. It stands between humanity and the
nightmare vision of Brave New World, or even of Plato’s republic in
which children are wards of the state. As a transmitter of values from generation
to generation, the family with its strong claim on human feelings
is a far more powerful moral teacher than the most pervasive propaganda
of a totalitarian state. The family is the place where future citizens learn
to distinguish right and wrong. It is in those societies where the family is
strongest, where decisions are made by families rather than the state, that
its members have the greatest appreciation of the difference between right
and wrong. Families in free societies have that advantage because their
adult members are not treated like children by government.
A buffer zone between the individual and the state
A key function of civil society in free societies is to act as a counterbalancing
force to the power of government. Where individuals are atomised
and not accustomed to the ways of human co-operation they are
- 7 -
easier prey for the totalitarian temptations of those who offer security in
place of freedom. These little platoons stand in the way of tyrannical
government because they lay claim to the loyalties of their members, in
opposition to the demands of totalitarians for the un-conditional loyalty
of citizens to the state. The family, religious affiliations, private enterprises,
voluntary organisations and free trade unions undermine that loyalty
and transmit values that are antithetical to the obedience and acquiescence
required by totalitarians. That is why every totalitarian society
ever created by man has attempted to undermine them, and it is also
why the degree to which these institutions thrive and prosper is an indication
of how safe our freedoms are.
The enemies of civil society
It is no accident then that fascist and communist regimes throughout
history have declared war on the family, and tried to set children against
parents, wife against husband, and generation against generation. The
reason for this is that the state wants access to information to serve its
own purposes and needs to claim a prior and higher loyalty than that
which people naturally feel to their family. These institutions are subversive
in such societies because the affection and allegiance which they create
is productive of resistance to the demands of the state. A strong civic
society acts as a barrier against tyranny because it maintains a moral
order which protects and sustains the values of freedom. By undermining
civic institutions, big government strips the individual of protective
By Nigel Ashford
layers which stay the hand of intrusive government. When those layers
between government and individual are shed, the individual is left
defenceless against the enemies of the open society who would subordinate
the freedom of the individual to the authority of the state.