Conquest’s Second Law In The Saddle

     You remember Robert Conquest’s Second Law of Politics, don’t you?

     This is the consequence of a powerful dynamic: the dynamic of power-seeking. It’s a fairly simple progression, yet there are persons who fail – or refuse – to understand it:

1. Any organization more formal than a sewing circle will have a hierarchy and rules for advancing in it.
2. Hierarchies inherently award power to persons who rise in them.
3. Left-wing persons love power above all other things.
4. Therefore, they seek opportunities to amass power.
5. Therefore, they target organizations with hierarchies – essentially, all organizations.
6. As they rise in such a hierarchy, they bring in the like-minded beneath them.
7. Those like-minded leftists assist their benefactor in rising higher.
8. In aggregate, they operate to sabotage anyone of conservative or libertarian inclinations.
9. Eventually, the hierarchy is dominated by leftists and hostile to non-leftists.
10. The organization turns from its original purpose to left-wing political purposes.

     (Compare this with Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy, which expresses a similar dynamic.)

     Conquest’s Second Law can be seen in operation in organizations of every kind. People avid for power have a natural edge over others, as they can be counted on to pursue their highest priority above all other things. Thus, in every organization with a hierarchy, either its members are vigilant against political incursions – a right-wing attribute – or with sufficient time they will be colonized and corrupted.

     The case of the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) is exceedingly instructive. At this point, the organization is explicitly a left-wing political body. Its interest in the well-being of a member writer is dependent upon whether that writer is loyal to – and can be relied upon to advance – the Left’s agenda. A number of incidents in recent years have highlighted its deterioration.

     A more recent case of left-wing colonization has been in the national news:

     The Salvation Army asked for more than donations this year.
The Christian charitable organization asked all white donors to reflect on their racism this year.

     Wow.

     After a major uproar the Salvation Army backtracked over Thanksgiving weekend and released a statement refuting the claims of their racial demands.

     The Salvation Army then removed its absurd “Let’s Talk About Racism” guide following the intense backlash over a text last week that told white donors to “sincerely apologize” for their racism while hinting that Christianity is institutionally racist.

     For many years, the Salvation Army has been one of the largest and most effective Christian charities in the world. Recent events make it clear that the Army’s success at garnering donations and doing real, effective good with them made it a target for the Left. This isn’t an outlying point on the graph; other Christian charitable organizations, from giants such as Catholic Charities all the way down to charity pantries run by neighborhood parishes, have also been targeted. Power-seekers are like that.

     There isn’t much more to be said about this phenomenon, except this:

     And be careful about to whom you give your charitable donations.