“I have never met a more dedicated bunch of people than I did working in the union, at every level. The work is difficult and demanding, and very few people would do it if they didn’t believe in its righteousness. However, the conviction that you know what’s best insulates you against reflecting morally on your own actions and it teaches you to begin assessing morality in terms of either the ends justifying the means, or even worse, of mere good intention justifying those means.”

Supposedly, the irreproachably altruistically intentioned "progressives" came to do good...and have done very well for themselves, indeed.

I'm not exactly sure how to rate this statement with stars. The statement on its face is accurate enough while, the ultimate realization is an overview observation that explains the degradation effected by unions, governments and religion ("A"theism to "Z"en).

I had the same reaction, Mike. Not sure about the rating, but I immediately thought: Sorta like the evangelicals?

I'm with Mike and Jack on this one.

Through the eyes of management come the cries of labor and the laughter of inflation.

"The conviction that you know what’s best insulates you against reflecting morally on your own actions..." So true. Self-righteousness in whatever form has a stench to it, no matter how lofty the intentions. When I was a kid in school, I didn't know what it was exactly that just didn't sit well with me -- it all seemed so contrived for pre-planned outcomes. While I was told I could do anything I put my mind to, the actual practice of such was not well received when it didn't follow the 'program.'

Real questions that challenged the narrative were brushed off, or I was sent to the school psychologist. At that age I could not put my finger on what was wrong, but somehow the story just didn't fit. Falsity does not have a natural place to take hold within -- it needs to imitate truth in order to be assimilated, after which one feels kind of sick until the missing parts are restored and the extraneous parts are expelled. As my uncle likes to say, 'Telling the truth feels good.'