The Radical Progressive Mind

In the radical progressive liberals mind "two plus two equals five" and is a slogan used in Orwell's BigGov masterpiece '1984' as an example of an obviously false dogma one must believe, similar to current obviously false slogans by the radical progressive liberal BigGov Party. It is contrasted with the phrase "two plus two makes four", the obvious – but politically inexpedient – truth.

In the book '1984'George Orwell's protagonist, Winston Smith, uses the phrase to wonder if the State might declare "two plus two equals five" as a fact; he ponders whether, if everybody believes in it, does that make it true? If the "ONE" deems it so must it therefore be factual? Smith writes in his log, "Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows." Later in the novel, Smith attempts to use doublethink to teach himself that the statement "2 + 2 = 5" is true, or at least as true as any other answer one could come up with.

Eventually, while undergoing reeducation, Winston declared that he saw five fingers when in fact he only saw four ("Four, five, six - in all honesty I don't know"). The Inner Party interrogator of thought-criminals says, of the mathematically false statement, that control over physical reality is unimportant; so long as one controls their own perceptions to what the 'Party' wills, then any corporeal act is possible. In accordance with the principles of doublethink, "sometimes there are five, sometimes there are three. Sometimes there are all of them at once". In the mind of the radical progressive liberal this is logical thinking and therefore, all things from the "ONE" is truthful and correct and must be protected by all means possible.


This type of thinking has existed in the liberal mindset for centuries and was developed into the current belief that the State was the answer for all the ills of society. During the Third Reich Hitler and his cronies took this idea to a level that had never been seen before and George Orwell stated:
“Nazi theory indeed specifically denies that such a thing as "the truth" exists. […] The implied objective of this line of thought is a nightmare world in which the Leader, or some ruling clique, controls not only the future but the past. If the Leader says of such and such an event, "It never happened"—well, it never happened. If he says that two and two are five—well, two and two are five. This prospect frightens me much more than bombs".

"Two Plus Two Equals Five", which was a slogan used by Stalin's government to predict that the Five year plan would be completed in four years, which for a time appeared widely in Moscow. However, Orwell may also have been influenced by Nazi Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, who once, in a debatably hyperbolic display of loyalty to Adolf Hitler, declared, "If the Führer wants it, two and two makes five!"

In Nineteen Eighty-Four, Orwell writes:
“In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality, was tacitly denied by their philosophy. The heresy of heresies was common sense. And what was terrifying was not that they would kill you for thinking otherwise, but that they might be right. For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the force of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable? If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable—what then?”

Victor Hugo said "Now, get seven million five hundred thousand votes to declare that two and two make five, that the straight line is the longest road, that the whole is less than its part; get it declared by eight millions, by ten millions, by a hundred millions of votes, you will not have advanced a step." The idea seems to have been significant to Russian literature and culture under the rule of Stalin. Ivan Turgenev wrote in prayer, one of his Poems in Prose "Whatever a man prays for, he prays for a miracle. Every prayer reduces itself to this: Great God, grant that twice two be not four."

Also similar sentiments are said to be among Leo Tolstoy's last words when urged to convert back to the Russian Orthodox Church:
"Even in the valley of the shadow of death, two and two do not make six." Even turn-of-the-century Russian newspaper columnists used the phrase to suggest the moral confusion of the age".

In Ayn Rand's 'Atlas Shrugged', the hero John Galt posits that "the noblest act you have ever performed is the act of your mind in the process of grasping that two and two make four". However, having said that we must stay alert at all times because the Devil is hiding in the details! If we lose sight of the importance of our freedoms then the Devil will be there to take then away and once this happens there is no guarantee that we can ever get them back.

It seems that when serfs are placed under the rule of BigGov there will always be measures or rules that are made to keep the serfs alike so that BigGov can keep control. The rules of the "ONE" have to be adhered to so that chaos does not become evident and upset the rules! This aspect really is confusing since that usually is how BigGov gets started in the first place. BigGov steps up when radical progressive liberals are able to create chaos and then place their special rules to fix the chaos. This is where Mr. Alinsky stepped in and developed his 'Rules for Radicals' and then the usual suspects stepped in and trained a large group of progressive radicals on how to use his playbook.

Modern America will become something that Americans have never been before if we allow these radicals to transform America as they are trying to do right now. I would urge you to read George Orwell's books or Ayn Rands' books or similar authors and compare what these authors are saying to what is going on here in America. Do not for a second think that this could never occur in America because it can! Liberals have the defective mind set that will allow them to continue to forge ahead until that day WE allow it to happen. The radicals remind me of a dog with a bone.