Political Economy
μὴ πεποίθατε ἐπ᾽ ἄρχοντας.
nolite confidere in principibus.
Put not your trust in Princes.Psalms 146:3 (Septuagint 145:3, Vulgate 145:2)
For wherever violence is used, and injury done, though by hands appointed to administer Justice, it is still violence and injury, however colour'd with the Name, Pretences, or Forms of Law, the end whereof being to protect and redress the innocent, by an unbiassed application of it, to all who are under it; wherever that is not bona fide done, War is made upon the Sufferers, who having no appeal on Earth to
right them, they are left to the only remedy in such Cases, an appeal to Heaven.
John Locke, The Second Treatise of Civil Government, §20 At left: the Liberty Tree Flag of 1775
Καὶ λέγει αὺτοῖς· Γέγραπται·
Ὁ οἶκός μου οἶκος προσευχῆς κληθήσεται,
ὑμεῖς δὲ αὐτὸν ἐποιήσατε σπήλαιον λῃστῶν.Et dicit eis, scriptum est,
domus mea domus orationis vacabitur,
vos autem fecistis eam speluncam latronum.And he said unto them, It is written,
My house shall be called the house of prayer;
but ye have made it a den of thieves.Matthew 21:13 [note]
"Storming of the Bastille and arrest of the Governor M. de Launay, July 14, 1789," Prise de la Bastille et arrestation du gouverneur M. de Launay, le 14 juillet 1789 [1790], by Jean-Baptiste Lallemand (1716–1803); Musée de la Révolution française
Who else will I fail to save from the Capitol's vengeance?
Katniss Everdeen, Catching Fire, The Second Book of The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins [Scholastic Press, 2009, p.41]
Whoever is called a great minister,
when he finds that he cannot morally serve his prince, he resigns.Confucius, Analects XI:23/24, translation after James Legge [1893], Arthur Waley [1938], D.C. Lau [1979], and Joanna C. Lee [2010]
Ἵνα τί ἐφρύαξαν ἔθνη, καὶ λαοὶ ἐμελέτησαν κενά;
Quare fremuerunt gentes, et populi meditati sunt inania?
Why do the heathen [gôyim] rage, and peoples imagine vain things?Psalms 2:1
Ἐὰν μή, ἦν δ᾽ ἐγώ, ἢ οἱ φιλόσοφοι βασιλεύσωσιν ἐν ταῖς πόλεσιν ἢ οἱ βασιλεῖς τε νῦν λεγόμενοι καὶ δυνάσται φιλοσοφήσωσι γνησίως τε καὶ ἱκανῶς καὶ τοῦτο εἰς ταυτὸν ξυμπέσῃ, δυναμίς τε πολιτικὴ καὶ φιλοσοφία, τῶν δὲ νῦν πορευομένων χωρὶς ἐφ᾽ ἐκάτερον αἱ πολλαὶ φύσεις ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἀποκλεισθῶσιν, οὐκ ἔστι κακῶν παῦλα, ὦ φίλε Γλαύκων, ταῖς πόλεσι, δοκῶ δ᾽ οὐδὲ τῷ ἀνθρωπίνῳ γένει.
"Unless," said I, "either philosophers become kings in the cities or those now called kings and rulers love wisdom seriously and adequately, and there is a conjunction of these two things, political power and philosophy, while the motley horde of the natures who at repesent pursue either apart from the other are excluded by force, there will be no end of evils, dear Glaucon, for the cities, nor, I think, for the human race either."
Plato, Republic, 473c-d, Republic I, translated by Paul Shorey, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, 1930, 1969, p.509, translation modified.
No matter how cynical you get, it is impossible to keep up.
Things are going to get a lot worse before they get worse.
Lily Tomlin
μὴ ῥητίνη οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν Γαλαάδ;
Numquid resina non est in Galaad?
Is there no balm in Gilead?Jeremiah 8:22
ὅτι οὕτως εἶπε πρός με Κύριος·
βαδίσας σεαυτῷ στῆσον σκοπὸν καὶ ὃ ἂν ἴδῃς ἀνάγγειλλον
Haec enim dixit mihi Dominus,
vade et pone speculatorem et quodcumque viderit adnuntiet.
For thus hath the Lord said unto me,
Go, set a watchman [for thyself], let him declare what he seeth.
καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπε· πέπωκε πέπωκε Βαβυλών,
καὶ πάντα τὰ ἀγάλματα αὐτῆς,
καὶ τὰ χειροποίητα αὐτῆς συνετρίβησαν εἰς τὴν γῆν.
Et respondit et dixit, cecidit cecidit Babylon
et omnia sculptilia deorum contrita sunt in terram.
And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen;
and all the images [and the artifacts] of her gods
he hath broken unto the ground.Isaiah 21:6,9; extra words in brackets from the Septuagint; reference to the destruction of Babylon by the Assyrians in 689 BC.
Wir, die wir eines andern Glaubens sind --, wir, denen die demokratische Bewegung nicht bloß als eine Verfalls-Form der politischen Organisation, sondern als Verfalls-, nämlich Verkleinerungs-Form des Menschen gilt, als seine Vermittelmäßigung und Werth-Erniedrigung: wohin müssen wir mit unsern Hoffnungen greifen?
We, who are of a different faith, for whom the democratic movement is not only a deteriorated form of political organization but a deterioration, that is to say, a depreciation of the human type, a mediocratizing and lowering of value -- where must our hopes look?
Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, translated by Marianne Cowan [Henry Regnery Company, 1955, p.144]; Jenseits von Gut und Böse [Philipp Reclam, Stuttgart, 1988, p.108; bloß restored for bloss, Vermittelmäßigung for Vermittelmässigung], color added.
There is a new meaning for what is called the "Big Lie." Joseph Goebbels is supposed to have said, "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it." It is not clear he actually said this, but the principle has often been invoked, and practiced. However, the "Big Lie" now is not a matter of repetition or anyone believing it. With enough power, a lie only needs to be asserted once, and the repetition is then required as a matter of obedience, not belief. It was Josef Stalin who perfected this. The "Party Line" could change day by day, or even minute by minute, and the faithful will immediately parrot it verbatim, just as the New York Times repeats Democrat talking points. The bigger and more transparent the lie, the more it demonstrates power. Its obvious falsehood will be irrelevant. Skeptics are criminals.
The idea that falsehood in the cause of power may be as good as, if not better, than the truth goes back to Nietzsche.
Ἐγκλινοβάραγγος (Enklinobarangus)
The Libertarians
It is clear to me now that the
Republic no longer functions.Queen Amidala [Natalie Portman, Star Wars, The Phantom Menace, 1999]
Our rulers are theoretically "our" representatives, but they are busy turning us into the instruments of the projects they keep dreaming up. The business of governments, one might think, is to supply the framework of law within which we may pursue happiness on our own account. Instead, we are constantly being summoned to reform ourselves. Debt, intemperance, and incompetence in rearing our children are no doubt regettable, but they are vices, and if left to generate their own consequences, vices soon lead to the pain that corrects. Life is a better teacher of virtue than politicians, and most sensible governments in the past left moral faults alone. Instead, democratic citizenship in the twenty-first century means receiving a steam of improving "messages" from authority. Some may forgive these intrusions because they are so well intentioned. Who would defend prejudice, debt, or excessive drinking? The point, however, is that our rulers have no business telling us how to live. They are tiresome enough in their exercise of authority. They are intolerable when they mount the pulpit. We should never doubt that nationalizing the moral life is the first step toward totalitarianism.
Kenneth Minogue, The Servile Mind, How Democracy Erodes the Moral Life [Encounter Books, 2010, pp.2-3, color added]
If a ruler is upright, things go on even though he doesn't give orders;
if the ruler is not upright, he will not be obeyed,
even though he does give orders.Confucius, Analects XIII:6, translation after James Legge [1893], Arthur Waley [1938], D.C. Lau [1979], and Joanna C. Lee [2010]
The real inequality now, of income and power, is not between capitalists and the workers but between government, with its minions and dependents, and the people. The Leftist rhetoric of the "1%" is actually a smoke screen, intended to conceal the real inequality of power and wealth that has arisen to the advantage of the political class. What Lactantius said of Roman bureaucrats now applies to the enforcers of the regulatory state, that "The activities of all these people were very rarely civil," especially to those with little power to resist them. Thus, small businesses, the hope of independence and success for many workers (to "be your own boss," in the words of Sinbad), the collective employers of most of the workforce, and the constant beneficiaries of glowing lip service from politicians, are usually just thrown to the wolves (the IRS, EPA, OSHA, etc.) when no one is looking.
Τηλεπατητικός (Telepateticus)
The statesman who should attempt to direct people in what manner they ought to employ their capitals, would not only load himself with a most unnecessary attention, but assume an authority which could safely be trusted, not only to no single person, but to no council or senate whatever, and which would nowhere be so dangerous as in the hands of a man who had folly and presumption enough to fancy himself fit to exercise it.
Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, p. 423; quoted by Thomas Sowell
in A Conflict of Visions, pp. 48-9.
Within the framework of traditional justice, where constitutional rights are essentially exemptions from the power of the state, rights to equal treatment or to freedom of speech or religion apply where there is "state action" but not when only private individuals or organizations are involved.
Thomas Sowell, The Quest for Cosmic Justice [The Free Press, 1999], p. 154; Thomas Sowell Quotes.
At one time you had a lot of people who hadn't had any economics saying foolish things. Now you have well-known economists saying foolish things.
Thomas Sowell, "The March of Foolish Things," The Wall Street Journal, September 5-6, 2015, A11
The Master said, "Lead them by laws,
order them by punishment, and people will flee and have no shame.
Lead them by virtue, order them by propriety,
and they will have shame and rectify."Confucius, Analects II:3, translation after James Legge [1893], Arthur Waley [1938], and D.C. Lau [1979]
Politics, the conservative political philosopher Michael Oakeshott claimed, "is an uninteresting form of activity to anyone who has no desire to rule others."
Joseph Epstein, "The Unstoppable Appeal of 'Going Forward'," The Wall Street Journal, July 1, 2015, A11
...che non si debbe mai lasciare seguire uno disordine per fuggire una guerra: perché la non si fugge ma si differisce a tuo disavvantaggio....that one should never permit a disorder to persist in order to avoid war, for war is not avoided thereby but merely deferred to one's own disadvantage...
che uno principe il quale non sia savio per sé stesso, non può essere consigliato bene...
A prince who is not wise himself cannot be wisely counseled...
Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince [Daniel Donno translation, Bantam, 1981, pp. 20, 82], Italian text, Il Principe, Nuova edizione a cura di Giorgio Inglese [Giulio Einaudi editore s.p.a., Torino, 2013 e 2014, pp.24, 171]; cf. wisdom
I have a friend who once told me the difference between cats and dogs. When you get up in the morning and feed your dog, he looks up at you and thinks: "She comes, finds my food and pours it for me -- she must be a god." A cat thinks: "She comes, finds my food and pours it out for me -- I must be a god."
Politicians -- no matter how they started out, with what modesty or inner sense of stability -- tend to wind up as cats.
Peggy Noonan, "The Humble Pope, and the Beltway Cats," The Wall Street Journal, Saturday/Sunday, August 3-4, 2013, A13
How small of all that human hearts endure, That part which laws or kings can cause or cure! Still to ourselves in every place consigned, Our own felicity we make or find. With secret course, which no loud storms annoy, Glides the smooth current of domestic joy.
Samuel Johnson
Federal judges have significant discretion in handing down sentences, but in politically charged cases it’s important that they don’t give the impression that criminal defendants are being treated differently because of their politics.
Deliberately or not, that’s what federal Judge Tanya Chutkan did this week in a sentencing hearing for a defendant who pleaded guilty to “parading, demonstrating, or picketing” in the Capitol without authorization during the Jan. 6 riot.
The prosecutor recommended that Matthew Mazzocco serve three months of home confinement for the misdemeanor charge. Judge Chutkan imposed a 45-day jail sentence. Judges have the authority to depart upward from prosecutors’ recommendations and occasionally do—the charge Mr. Mazzocco pleaded guilty to can carry up to six months in jail.
Yet Judge Chutkan’s commentary during sentencing suggested that her decision was influenced by the politics of Jan. 6 lawbreakers. She gratuitously invoked the summer Black Lives Matter protests and riots, favorably comparing them to the events of Jan. 6: “People gathered all over the country last year to protest the violent murder by the police of an unarmed man -- some of those protests became violent,” the judge said at the sentencing hearing, according to ABC News.
She added that “to compare the actions of people protesting mostly peacefully for civil rights to those of a violent mob seeking to overthrow the lawfully elected government is a false equivalency and ignores the very real danger that the Jan. 6 riot posed to the foundation of our democracy.”
The defendant in this case, according to the FBI statement of facts, “is seen and heard on the video telling others not to take or destroy anything.” He copped to a misdemeanor picketing charge, not to attempting to overthrow the government. Judge Chutkan’s soliloquy implies that he deserves a more severe punishment than those who did the same thing in service of a political cause she favors.
The length of one defendant’s misdemeanor jail term isn’t of grave national importance. But the legitimacy of the justice system is. A revisionist campaign is underway on the right to dismiss or even support the Jan. 6 riot. If judges let politics influence their sentencing, that campaign will be bolstered and the rule of law will be harmed.
"Polarizing the Jan. 6 Justice System, A judge’s political remarks at sentencing hurt the rule of law," Editorial, The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 7, 2021; color added.
Since the defendant was not charged with "seeking to overthrow the lawfully elected government," and there was no evidence that he even advocated such a thing, this amounts to judicial misconduct. The judge is so biased and prejudiced that her remarks should constitute reversable error for the sentencing.
This is one reason why defendants should resist agreeing to plea bargains, especially if the judge already gave some indication of political bias. The January 6th "riot" was more of a "mostly peaceful protest" than almost any of the BLM and "Antifa" riots. The judge had it backwards.
Law
Three things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the oftener and more steadily we reflect on them: the starry heavens above me, the moral law within me, and the Bank of England.Ἐγκλινοβάραγγος (Enklinobarangus), with apologies to Immanuel Kant.
ἢ οὐκ ἔξεστί μοι ποιῆσαι ὃ θέλω ἐν τοῖς ἐμοῖς;
Aut non licet mihi quod volo facere?
Or am I not allowed to do what I wish with mine own?Matthew 20:15; see here.
The Master said, "Wealth and rank are what every man desires,
but if they can only be retained to the deteriment of the Way he professes,
he must relinquish them."Confucius, Analects IV:5, translation, Arthur Waley [1938]
...eine sehr enge, eingefangne, an Ketten gelegte Art von Geistern, welche ungefähr das Gegentheil von dem wollen, was in unsern Absichten und Instinkten liegt, -- nicht zu reden davon, daß sie in Hinsicht auf jene heraufkommendem neuen Philosophen erst recht zugemachte Fenster und verriegelte Thüren sein müssen. Sie gehören, kurz und schlimm, unter die Nivellirer, diese fälschlich genannten »freien Geister« -- als beredte und schreibfingrige Sklaven des demokratische Geschmacks und seiner »modernen Ideen«... plumpe brave Burschen, welchen weder Muth noch achtbare Sitte abfesprochen werden soll, nur daß sie eben unfrei und zum Lachen oberflächlich sind, vor Allem mit ihrem Grundhange, in den Formen der bischerigen alten Gesellschaft ungefähr die Ursache für alles menschliche Elend und Missrathen zu sehn: wobei die Wahrheit glücklich auf den Kopf zu stehn kommt! Was sie mit allen Kräften erstreben möchten, ist das allgemeine grüne Weide-Glück der Heerde, mit Sicherheit, Ungefährlichkeit, Behagen, Erleichterung des Lebens für Jedermann; ihre beiden am reichlichsten abgesungnen Lieder und Lehren heißen »Gleichheit der Rechte« und »Mitgefühl für alles Leidende«, und das Leiden selbst wird von ihnen als Etwas genommen, das man abschaffen muß. Wir Umgekehrten, die wir uns ein Auge und ein Gewissen für die Frage aufgemacht haben, wo und wie bisher die Pflanze »Mensch« am kräftigsten in die Höhe gewachsen ist, vermeinen, daß dies jedes Mal unter den umgekehrten Bedingungen geschehn ist, daß dazu die Gefährlichkeit seiner Lage erst in's Ungeheure wachsen, seine Erfingungs- und Verstellungskraft (sein »Geist« --) unter langem Druck und Zwang sich in's Feine und Verwegene entwickeln, sein Lebens-Wille bis zum unbedingten Macht-Willen gesteigert werden mußte...
There is a very narrow, imprisoned, enchained sort of thinker who wants approximately the opposite of our intentions and instincts, not to mention that in reference to the new philosophers coming up this sort would have to be a closed window and a bolted door. They belong, to make it short and sad, among the levellers, these falsely named "free thinkers." They are glib-tongued and scribble-mad slaves of democratic taste and its "modern ideas"... rough and ready boys to whom we cannot deny courage or respectable conduct but of whom we must say that they are unfree and absurdly superficial, especially in their basic inclination to see the cause for all human misery and failure in the structure of society as it has been up to now. This about turns the truth on its head. What they would like to strive for with all their power is the universal green pasture-happiness of the herd: security, lack of danger, comfort and alleviation of life for everyone. Their most frequently repeated songs and doctrines are "equal rights" and "compassion for all that suffers." Suffering is taken by them to be something that must be abolished. We opposed thinkers, who have opened our eyes and our consciences to the question, "How and where has the plant 'man' fourished most strongly so far?", we imagine that it has happened every time under the opposite conditions: that the peril of man's position had to grow to enormity; that his power of invention and dissembling (his "mind") had to develop subtlety and boldness under long pressure and compulsion; that his Will to Live had to be stepped up to an unconditional Will to Power.
Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, translated by Marianne Cowan [Henry Regnery Company, 1955, pp.49-50, translation modified]; Jenseits von Gut und Böse [Philipp Reclam, Stuttgart, 1988, pp.50-51; daß restored for dass, heißen for heissen, muß for muss, mußte for musste], color added.
The Right to Buy Weapons is the Right to be Free.A.E. van Vogt, The Weapon Shops of Isher [1951, Pocket Books, Simon & Schuster, 1977, p.7]
Perché da uno armato a uno disarmato non è proporzione alcuna...
There can be no proper relation between one who is armed and one who is not.
Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince [Daniel Donno translation, Bantam, 1981, p. 54], Italian text, Il Principe, Nuova edizione a cura di Giorgio Inglese [Giulio Einaudi editore s.p.a., Torino, 2013 e 2014, p.105]
Jack stepped back to the counter and slapped his hand on the scarred surface. "I need some ammo."
Abe concentrated on his bagel. "So? I need a watch battery. This is conversation?"
"To load the Ruger you sold me."
Now Abe looked up, his expression neutral, his voice flat. "Go lock the door."
Jack hesitated -- this was not the expected denial -- then did as Abe said. When he returned to the counter, Abe was already on his way to a rear corner. Jack followed. Abe unlocked what looked like a storage closet but turned out to be an empty space. He pushed on the rear wall, which swung away on hinges, then flipped a light switch and started down a narrow stone staircase. Words flickered to neon life on the staircase ceiling.
FINE WEAPONS
THE RIGHT TO BUY WEAPONS
IS THE RIGHT TO BE FREESomething familiar about that.
They passed it, reached bottom...
...and stepped into an armory.
Jack froze on the threshold, gaping. Light from the overhead incandescents glinted off racks of pistols and rifles and other instruments of destruction like switchblades, clubs, swords, brass knuckles, and miscellaneous firearms from derringers to bazookas.
It all made sense now.
F. Paul Wilson, Cold City, A Repairman Jack Novel; The Early Years Trilogy: Book One [Tom Doherty Associates, 2012, p.234-235]
People who openly despise individualism, liberalism, limited government, civil society, and the armed self-defense of citizens have no business calling others "Fascists" or "Nazis." Yet it is their favorite accusation.Ἐγκλινοβάραγγος (Enklinobarangus)
...universal spying as the principle of government. People were encouraged -- and compelled -- to spy upon one another, but this was obviously not how the state defended itself against real dangers; rather, it was a way of pushing the principle of totalitarianism to its extreme. As citizens, people were supposed to live in a perfect unity of goals, desires, and thoughts -- all expressed through the mouth of the leader. As individuals, however, they were expected to hate one another and to live in constant mutual hostility. Only thus could the isolation of individuals from one another achieve perfection. In fact, the unattainable ideal of the system seems to have been one where everyone is at the same time an inmate of a concentration camp and a secret police agent.
Leszek Kołakowski (1927-2009), "The Marxist Roots of Stalinism," 1975, Is God Happy? Selected Essays, Basic Books, 2013, pp.100-101
Minds are of three kinds: one is capable of thinking for itself; another is able to understand the thinking of others; and a third can neither think for itself nor understand the thinking of others. The first is of the highest excellence, the second is excellent, and the third is worthless.
Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince [Daniel Donno translation, Bantam, 1981, p. 80], Italian text, Il Principe, Nuova edizione a cura di Giorgio Inglese [Giulio Einaudi editore s.p.a., Torino, 2013 e 2014, pp.166-167]
A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until a majority of voters discover that they can vote themselves largess out of the public treasury.
Alexander Tytler (variously attributed)
Campaign Site, Kelley L. Ross, for United States Congress, 28th District, 2006
"Political Economy" is a somewhat archaic term. Webster's has two definitions. One is, "a 19th century social science comprising the modern science of economics." So in these terms, "political economy" is simply now economics. The other definition is, "a modern social science dealing with the interrelationship of political and economic processes." This latter is more the sense of it used here, which encompasses both politics or political science and economics.
In origin, we begin with the Greek term οἰκονομία, oikonomía, oeconomia in Latin, which is the "law," νομός, nomós, of the "house," οἶκος, oîkos. The Liddell and Scott An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon [Oxford, 1889, 1964] defines οἰκονομία as "the management of a household or family, husbandry, thrift." The inclusion of "husbandry" here implies a larger project than what in modern terms would just be called "home economics." We see an example in the Oeconomicus of Xenophon, which the Loeb Classical Library edition characterizes as "a mainly didactic work about the economic, practical, and moral importance of farming and estate management," which Xenophon actually presents as a dialogue with Socrates, who must have known absolutely nothing about most of the issues. Oeconomicus in Greek would be οἰκονομικός, oikonomikós, which Liddell and Scott define as "practised in the management of a household or family, thrifty, frugal, economical; ὁ οἰκονομικός, title of a treatise on the duties of domestic life, by Xenophon; and τὰ οἰκονομικά, a similar treatise by Aristotle." The term οἰκονομικά can itself simply translate as "economics."
Once we add "political" to "economy," as πολιτικὴ οἰκονομία, we have enlarged the focus from a household, farm, or "estate" to an entire city and the Greek equivalent of the "state." So we have "the economic, practical, and moral importance of statecraft and the management of a state." So this is both Aristotelian οἰκονομικά and πολιτικά, economics and politics. Indeed, those are the fields, including law, indexed on this page. The study of law is "jurisprudence," Latin juris prudentia, but there doesn't seem to be a precise equivalent of this in Classical Greek, although we could do a literal translation. See here for jus, juris and here for prudentia. For
When Jesus says, "It is written," γέγραπται, it means that he is quoting the Old Testament, in this case Isaiah 56:7. The relevant parts of the Septuagint and Vulgate say:
Quia domus mea domus orationis vocabitur cunctis populis.
For mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all the nations. The Evangelist accurately quotes the Septuagint, and Jesus has simply left out "for all the nations." See a similar match and editing here. There is no doubt that the United States Congress has become a den of thieves.
Political Economy, Note 1;
ἡ Πολιτικὴ Οἰκονομία
, as "economics," and 
, "statecraft," see here.
Political Economy, Note 2
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