I love this line: "..freedom is its own moral seminary. Freedom inspires and requires individuals to live their lives according to a strict moral code grounded and in harmony with the moral laws of nature. Nature’s moral laws come with their own rewards and punishments, which are absolute and objective." The principle stated here is equally the foundation of capitalism.
A summary of the thesis: "In other words, the American spirit developed both spontaneously over the course of decades and was subsequently captured by the framers in their constitution, but this way of life was also redirected and released as a result of the framers’ intentions and design." How very well conceived and expressed!
What if institutions become corrupted? What then? What if government power and propaganda has expanded so thoroughly and become so corrupted that the agenda becomes, instead of "good government," the surveillance of the population in order to manage it, in order that government positions and authority are sustained and that those behind the government are sustained?
What's the prescription for this?
What if the left is being used to promote this agenda of surveillance and control and to banish free speech as "misinformation that's a danger to our democracy"? Free speech of course was traditionally seen as way root out "bad ministers" in the government.
These are the thoughts I have as I read your excellent writings that point the way toward good government.
But I don't think we're by nature corrupt; I believe in the fundamental goodness of people, and it seems this assumption underlies your thinking as well. However, some believe it's because we the people are so stupid ("corrupt") that things have gotten so bad.
I'm of the opinion that the dumbing-down of the population is deliberate, and it seems you see this as well. Isn't reason itself being trashed as just a white man's trick (to be replaces by "narratives")? But this is absurd as all advanced cultures discovered logic, and language depends on basic logic.
I see good people all around me. They're not stupid and many of them recognize what's happening, even in the leftist state that I live in, and don't agree at all. But the left is now being used to further the agenda of government surveillance and control "for the greater good," and to stifle free speech. The left are being taught to be intolerant.
The problem as I see it is that good people (mostly on the left) simply can't comprehend that their government has become so corrupted and that authorities are not to be trusted. Many on the right understand this.
Most people are good, kind, decent folk and can call BS when they see it. I judge this from experience and from daily interactions. It's the government that's become hopelessly corrupt and uses massive propaganda to "nudge" people into accepting their narratives.
What a terrific complement to "America's Revolutionary Mind". It took thousands of years and the best people in human history for at least one group (Americans) to finally grasp that force does not produce virtue. Only the 'absence of force', as protected by a moral government, can ever provide an environment where virtue and all the good things that come from it can grow.
Something is niggling at me about entail and primogeniture. Those ideas have links somehow to the entire issue of American Indian tribes and reservations. Not sure I can think this through to a cohesive conclusion, but I now have a puzzle to work out.
I love this line: "..freedom is its own moral seminary. Freedom inspires and requires individuals to live their lives according to a strict moral code grounded and in harmony with the moral laws of nature. Nature’s moral laws come with their own rewards and punishments, which are absolute and objective." The principle stated here is equally the foundation of capitalism.
A summary of the thesis: "In other words, the American spirit developed both spontaneously over the course of decades and was subsequently captured by the framers in their constitution, but this way of life was also redirected and released as a result of the framers’ intentions and design." How very well conceived and expressed!
Thanks, Jim.
What if institutions become corrupted? What then? What if government power and propaganda has expanded so thoroughly and become so corrupted that the agenda becomes, instead of "good government," the surveillance of the population in order to manage it, in order that government positions and authority are sustained and that those behind the government are sustained?
What's the prescription for this?
What if the left is being used to promote this agenda of surveillance and control and to banish free speech as "misinformation that's a danger to our democracy"? Free speech of course was traditionally seen as way root out "bad ministers" in the government.
These are the thoughts I have as I read your excellent writings that point the way toward good government.
Let me up the ante, Jim, and ask this question: What if "We the People" become hopelessly corrupt? Then what?
Good question.
But I don't think we're by nature corrupt; I believe in the fundamental goodness of people, and it seems this assumption underlies your thinking as well. However, some believe it's because we the people are so stupid ("corrupt") that things have gotten so bad.
I'm of the opinion that the dumbing-down of the population is deliberate, and it seems you see this as well. Isn't reason itself being trashed as just a white man's trick (to be replaces by "narratives")? But this is absurd as all advanced cultures discovered logic, and language depends on basic logic.
I see good people all around me. They're not stupid and many of them recognize what's happening, even in the leftist state that I live in, and don't agree at all. But the left is now being used to further the agenda of government surveillance and control "for the greater good," and to stifle free speech. The left are being taught to be intolerant.
The problem as I see it is that good people (mostly on the left) simply can't comprehend that their government has become so corrupted and that authorities are not to be trusted. Many on the right understand this.
Most people are good, kind, decent folk and can call BS when they see it. I judge this from experience and from daily interactions. It's the government that's become hopelessly corrupt and uses massive propaganda to "nudge" people into accepting their narratives.
What a terrific complement to "America's Revolutionary Mind". It took thousands of years and the best people in human history for at least one group (Americans) to finally grasp that force does not produce virtue. Only the 'absence of force', as protected by a moral government, can ever provide an environment where virtue and all the good things that come from it can grow.
Something is niggling at me about entail and primogeniture. Those ideas have links somehow to the entire issue of American Indian tribes and reservations. Not sure I can think this through to a cohesive conclusion, but I now have a puzzle to work out.
Great essay, as per usual.