Posts Tagged ‘numa’
Thursday, July 21st, 2011
Dear Friends,
It seems to me, if the Romans had fed, clothed and housed the civilian population of Carthage, history would not have been written in Latin and we might be worshipping Baal. Had the Allies fed, clothed and provided medical care to the German people during WWI or WWII then we would probably be speaking German. It is patent folly and moreover stupidity to provide logistical support to an enemy in wartime. The side that engages in providing logistical support for the enemy’s civilian population may be more civilized, on some level, but is it really civilized to facilitate barbarians wiping out civilization? I, for one, like civilization!
To be human hearted is noble and civilized. We all seek human heartedness in our lives and the good among us seek to bless society with human heartedness. To have empathy for the suffering of others is the table facet of human heartedness. The suffering of people, is the worldly manifestation of evil, and so it is unconscionable. We should all seek to lower the level of suffering in the World. It is in our personal interest to do so even when that suffering seems far away.
Lets say you have a full water skein. You notice it has a leak. Does it make sense to put your hand in and plug the leak? No, your hand will displace far more water than the small leak will loose in an hour. With dubious results of actually fixing the leak. We can safely say that the repair will do more harm than the problem. If we can adhere some material to the outside, temporarily, we can use the skein until it is empty then we can repair it properly.
The same is true of human suffering. It doesn’t make sense to magnify suffering, to diminish it, especially when it creates much more misery then the original problem would have. The intervention in Libya is an example. Had the war ended months ago, (as it would have), the suffering would be over and the people would be rebuilding. But the intervention, to fix a problem of suffering, has led to far more suffering, now the Elite must save face, so the war goes on…
Lets examine the misery in Somalia today. The war and a drought have led to… hard to believe… a famine. Apparently, a state of perpetual warfare and a people who rely on a mix of subsistence farming and international handouts, is not a path to prosperity. The International community is sending aid. Mostly Britain and the US. But the war with the radical Islamic movement, Al Shabab, is hampering efforts to feed clothe and provide medical assistance to the civilians under the control of Al Shabab.
Meanwhile people are starving who are not within the sphere of influence of Al Shabab. Why not simply feed the people who do not support Al Shabab? Why is it so important to provide logistical support for the radical Islamist movement trying to conquer the country and instill Sharia? Why not defeat them first then feed the people who emerge. To provide medical supplies, food, and other essentials, to the civilians under a tyrannical military is not feeding the people, it is feeding their tormentors. The supplies will never get to the people and if some does it will be seized and sent to the fighters extra will be sold to provide ammo and guns.
The food sent to Al Shabab will also be a terrific recruitment tool for them. Join and you will be fed. Not hard to comprehend. No way that could be a bad thing huh? Until the war is over and the country has a functional State, that can protect the property of the people, there will be no end to the famines. Providing logistical support to the civilians within the sphere of influence of Al Shabab will only lead to more war, famine and suffering and perhaps, Al Shabab’s victory. Doesn’t it make sense to provide support for the free people of Somalia and eschew supporting Al Shabab?
In the longer term the answer to permanently ending the cyclic famine in Somalia, is to defeat Al Shabab and establish a stable government. Then keep regulation low, taxes low, and keep a tight grip on public servants and government with a NUMA. If this is done the economy of Somalia will grow rapidly. Industrializing Somalia will break the cycle of famine there forever. What could be more human hearted than that?
When a country or ideology is engaged in an existential war then that ideology or country must engage in war. This is simply the framework of reality we have to work within. Civilized suicide is a sin. The loss of civilization to barbarism compounds the vice and is no virtue no matter the intentions. Clausewitz would be indignant at the notion of providing logistical support to the enemy population during wartime. Hsun Tzu would be clicking his tongue like a school marm at a rascally student…
By the way, “Death to Carthage!”
Tags: al shabaab, al shabab, civilization, famine, incentive, International Capitalist Party, logistics, market system, numa, poverty, regulation, rome carthage, somalia, tax, war
Posted in economy, Group Politics, Mercy, philosophy | No Comments »
Thursday, June 23rd, 2011
Dear Friends,
It seems to me that there can be an effective ad homonym attack made on me and my motives in writing my blogs. The assault could be that I stand to gain materially if the ideas that I write about are implemented. Unfortunately this is true. I do stand to gain if the ideas that I write about are implemented. Lets look further into it…
Take for example if the NUMA were implemented in some country other than the one I live in. The people of that country would enjoy genuine liberty because their government would be actually yoked. The Elite would be harnessed to the interests of the society as a whole instead of a faction only. This would indirectly benefit me in that if the tyranny of the World’s people is lowered then, as a member of the human race, I stand to gain as well. So in this example I can be vilified.
Another example is if Capitalist Social Security were implemented in some other country than that which I live. The people in that country would start building societal/generational wealth. The prosperity and economic stability that such a system would provide would boost the economy of that country. As the years go on and the fund builds the amount of money available for starting a firm would grow to be enormous. This would allow large projects to be initiated locally with local resources. The increase in economic activity this would generate would directly benefit every one ion the planet and I live on the planet…
As the economy of any country is improved World aggregate demand is driven up. As World aggregate demand is driven up supply must necessarily be driven up to meet the demand. This is the basis of the aggregate supply aggregate demand model of macro economics. So even in this I would directly benefit. Again opening me to criticism that all I do is try to get people to implement ideas that are actually in my self interest.
Woe to me if regulation was periodically washed of redundant rules. This would again drive up economic activity in any country that did it. Again opening me to the criticism that I write in my self interest only. Regulations being as pernicious as they are a source of friction.
Greece being the poster child of stupid regulation. When regulation in a country becomes so onerous that economic activity must cease people go around it. When they do, as they must, they become more and more egoistic and less and less individualistic. This is the fundamental problem in Greece. The corruption in the society is manifested in endemic tax evasion, scoff law behavior, etc… All because regulation is out of control. The first step to repairing the problem is to overhaul regulation in Greece. Until that is done the Greek sovereign debt crisis will be combed over with less and less hair.
So here is another example of me writing in my own self interest! If the Greek sovereign debt crisis is solved I stand to personally gain money! Yes it is true. If the Greek sovereign debt crisis is actually resolved the US stock market would rise dramatically. I am invested in the US stock market so I stand to materially gain if my idea is implemented.
Never mind if my ideas are implemented in my own country! The added prosperity for the entire country would go up. I am a member of that society, so I would gain from it, directly and materially. Damming evidence to be sure.
Even my posterity would directly benefit from the implementation of my ideas. So even in this I have potentially corrupt motives. To improve the lives of my family and extended family. But even the lives of people that I know and even friends would be better off. You see; there is no bottom to my corrupt motives.
So in the glaring light of scrutiny, of my motivations in writing this blog and founding this party, I must be found guilty. Yes I admit it. I am guilty of wanting to personally benefit from improving the lot of Mankind. It is unfortunately true, that if my ideas are implemented the lot of humanity will improve, and I being a human will have my personal lot improved as well. I beg your forgiveness and understanding.
But the blogs will continue…
Tags: capitalism, capitalist social security, corruption, economy, elite, government, government spending, incentive, International Capitalist Party, jobs, market system, meritocracy, numa, politics, poverty, rational maximiser, regulation, regulation overhaul, standard of living, tyranny, wealth
Posted in economy, Group Politics, International Power, Law, philosophy | No Comments »
Thursday, March 24th, 2011
Dear Friends,
It seems to me that we all romanticize that which we know nothing of. Those that know nothing of war romanticize it and think they would emerge strong and heroic from one if they were involved. But whenever the real chance to become involved appears we recoil at the stark horror of what war really is. We romanticize marriage… until we are married… We romanticize many things but the reality of them always fails to meet our expectations.
Like the anti capitalists romanticize the worker. To a man, from Marx and Moser through Toonies and Marcuse, they worshipped work and eschewed it at the same time. Not that Moser was lazy like Marx or that Marcuse was the hypocrite Toonies was, but none of them had any real hands on knowledge, of manual labor. Yet they, and today’s anti capitalist like Obama, have never labored and would never labor yet they claim to worship the laborer.
But is it really a form of worship to subject a person to servitude? How many times have the romantic anti capitalists gathered sufficient masses to lever the reigns of government to their own ends. Whenever this has happened it has always resulted in economic stagnation, widespread poverty and outright starvation, but most importantly, political repression. History shows us one thing, that the Market System can exist under both tyrannies and republics but socialism and communism can only exist under tyranny.
Romantic anti capitalists have always used, as their willing pawns, the youth. Led by upper middle class youth, (the most dangerous people on Earth). The romantic anti capitalist revs up the youth to rise up and revolt. A few misled but bright young kids killed in smashing capitalism is a small price the anti capitalist is willing to let them pay.
Look at Mao’s cultural revolutions in the 1960s. What was the point of that? To instill in the people the political ethos of the right to revolution? Or to so demoralize the people they expended their will to fight on each other instead of examining their own lot. It was effective at culling the population and terrorizing the people. Mao used the youth, the most dangerous people in any society, to do his handy work.
Because they have no experience. Knowledge without experience to temper it is very dangerous, it has led to the attempted extermination of more then just the Gypsies and the Jews at he hands of the Nazis, communists and socialists have murdered tens of millions of people. Che and Castro praised the willingness of the youth to kill in the name of the revolution. I have read, Che was fond of killing people tied up and begging for their lives, what a big hearted man.
Today the youth of the World have been urged to rise up… demand you be heard, and take back power from the tyrant! They are being wound up to run into the meat grinder of tyrannical politics. For their own good? Or for the mischievous purposes of a few Elite who would be kings. Do you think the kids running the revolutions around the World might be a tad wide eyed?
We all want liberty for the people of the World. Everyone deserves the right of self determination and is sovereign. The only system that has ever been devised that raises the lot of Man is the Market System. The youth who are rising today should instead seek market reform, lifting regulation, stomping down corruption in the civil service corps and strong protection of the property of every person with no exemptions. This would serve to raise the standard of living and more importantly teach the people of the middle East how to live in a republic, (what the unbiased media calls “democracy”).
The recent election in Egypt calling for immediate parliamentary elections and a rewrite of the Egyptian Constitution will certainly bring the Moslem Brotherhood into power to write the new Constitution and rule for the meantime. Does anyone think that regulation reform is on the agenda for the Moslem Brotherhood? Or that the wide eyed youth have the experience to force them to?
Tags: anti capitalist, anticapitalist, capitalist, communist, constitution, corruption, elite, government, government spending, incentive, International Capitalist Party, jobs, meritocracy, numa, poverty, rational maximiser, society, sophist, Sophistry, tyranny
Posted in economy, Group Politics, International Power, Law, media, Mercy, philosophy, polictics of class envy, Societal Myth | No Comments »
Thursday, February 17th, 2011
Dear Friends,
It seems to me that history, and the present, show us that the Elite in all societies need to be policed. Perhaps the societal upheavals we are witnessing lately could have been avoided, or maybe even stopped, by wise establishment of a Fourth Branch of Government, I am of course talking about a NUMA.
A NUMA would be a place for the people to express their dissatisfaction with the State. The NUMA would be tasked with following up “consumer” complaints against government or it’s services. If, for example, a person thought their property taxes were too high they would go to the local NUMA. The NUMA would look into the problem. Siding with the consumer in court if it came to that. One of it’s functions would be as a consumer complaints department against the government.
Another of it’s primary responsibilities would be to police government officials, with draconian measures, if necessary. Cameras in the parliamentarian’s chambers, recording all the time to be released in 20 years. No matter the hubris of an official, he or she loathes to be seen by history, as a fink. The threat of history and the more immediate threat of prosecution is what faces the corrupt politician.
Another important facet of the functioning of a NUMA is that, in the amendment chartering a NUMA, there would need to be a provision against any member or branch of government carving out some loop hole in Law. Allowing Congressmen to engage in acts legally, i.e. “Insider trading” that would be illegal for the citizen to engage in. Or for a member or branch to exclude itself from any legislation they pass on any segment, faction, coalition or any other grouping of people.
Pit a faction of government against the rest of government, make it their job, give them incentives to be active in their jobs and you have the means to reign in the avarice of corrupt officials. It is also important to keep a NUMA under control and not let it coerce other officials to enrich it’s interests or the interests of it’s members. This could be done by the regular police having police function over the NUMA. Cameras in their offices and the whole lot.
There is no question that if a person knows he or she will be held to every Law they pass, to the letter of that Law, they will be skeptical in their judgment. They will read the law and understand it before they vote, and be reticent to pass Laws, that will have a detrimental effect on themselves. Because no matter how thoughtful the individual, they are more thoughtful of their own personal interests, then they ever could be of another’s. It is human nature.
Elections would be where a NUMA would shine. The NUMA would have volunteers stationed at every polling booth. At least 2 from each of the main political parties. They would see that election laws are followed. They would inspect boxes as they came in, tag and release the boxes to be filled with ballots then seal the boxes with a number, equating to the polling station location, or some other convenient way. The NUMA along with international observers would insure a free and fair vote count.
A NUMA would enhance the economic wealth of a nation that is wise enough to adopt one. An official who is reported to the NUMA as requesting or taking bribes would meet immediate prosecution and if found guilty would go to jail. The replacement would be a little more wary of bribery. This would unfetter the market forces in that nation and would inevitably result in more small businesses. More small businesses would inevitably result in more employment. The chain of causality, no bribes leading to more small business leading to more employment, is clear as spring water.
The enacting of a NUMA would be a win win for any country. Change the paradigm and you change the outcome. Follow the same path as others have taken and the outcome is obvious. Confucius said, “A fool follows a dangerous path when a safe one is at hand.” Tyranny follows tyranny and that is the normal course of human events.
Perhaps, just once, the Elite could take us on the safe path?
Tags: corruption, economy, elite, evil, good, government, government spending, Law, Lawyers, numa, politicians, politics, rational maximiser, regulation, tax, tyranny
Posted in economy, Group Politics, International Power, Law, Mercy, philosophy, polictics of class envy | 1 Comment »
Monday, January 31st, 2011
Dear Friends,
It seems self evident to me that a thing that has happened in the past is possible in the future. To argue otherwise is to argue history has no meaning and empirical evidence cannot be relied upon. This would require all science and knowledge to be thrown out logically. Since this is not possible then what has happened in the past is possible in the future. Both to the good and to the bad.
A good set of examples are the peaceful revolutions of the Eastern Bloc. The Velvet revolution in Czechoslovakia and the Solidarity movement in Poland were peaceful and led to stable republics. Even the nationalist breakup of Czechoslovakia into the Check Republic and the Slovak Republics were peaceful and led to little bloodshed. They are shining examples of how to move from a tyranny to a Republic.
Bad examples have been far more plentiful. From the revolutions in South America that led to “President’s for life” through revolutions that led to communist governments that murdered millions of their citizens to revolutions that ushered in theocratic regimes, with an end times philosophy that they shout from the rooftops, but the rest of the world is too scared to face and turn their heads in shame and willful ignorance.
Revolution usually means the ushering in of a new tyrant instead of replacing him with a true republic. The new tyrant is afraid, that the public outcry that brought him into power might oust him as well, and is vicious in keeping the people sufficiently down, to prevent this from happening. Then the people are shoved from mere tyranny, into being subject to the whims of a panicked despot, terrified of his people and willing to do anything as a result.
History shows us that when there is not a viable oppositions party the government devolves into tyranny. In the worst case scenario the government devolves to Lebanon in the 1980’s or Somalia today. In these cases we see the result of factions who are not interested in the good of society but only their own good. Willing to do any amount of harm to others to get their desires met, they show themselves to be the worst kind of child… The screaming brat. They scream at the injustice they feel and mete out far worse injustice on others without batting an eye. The people who control these factions are evil incarnate.
When historical conditions and decisions are revisited the results are always the same. For the good or for the bad it is the people who suffer the most. Possibly because the people are a blunt weapon in the war of tyrannical politics. Too blunt to force their will but powerful enough that no tyrant can stand it for long. This blunt weapon is perfect for the use of a potential tyrant. The potential tyrant convinces the people or at least a small cadre that they will be a benevolent tyrant and will serve the people… As fodder.
But if a new means were employed necessarily a new outcome would occur. If we add vinegar to soda then a chemical reaction occurs that boils over the container. But if we mix neutral water in the soda then we get a different reaction. It may seem like we must immediately change from base to neutral but that may cause negative side effects and this is exactly what we have been talking about. Changing an input to a situation changes the outcome.
What if, in cases where the people are fed up with a tyrant who has been in power for 30 years, what the people really need is a NUMA. A branch of government that is powerful enough to force the tyrant to follow his own laws. Chain the tyrant and he becomes a dog. Placid and protective. Unchained and roaming in packs, tyrants are subject to rabies and can turn on their masters, (the people). Dogs and tyrants require a chain. The best chain for tyrants, both benevolent and malevolent, is the NUMA.
Tags: constitution, despot, egypt, egyptian riots, elite, fourth branch, government, Hosni Mubarak, incentive, International Capitalist Party, numa, politicians, politics, poverty, revolution, riots, tyranny
Posted in economy, Group Politics, Law, Mercy, philosophy | No Comments »
Sunday, January 23rd, 2011
Dear Friends,
It seems to me the fundamental misconception, that world leaders and the public at large have about jobs and the world economy, is that the various countries of the world are in competition for jobs, when nothing could be further from the truth. The reality of the situation is, as more people move to specialization within the market system and away from subsistence farming the more demand for jobs grows, around the world. The flow of labor is like water always seeking a low point. It is the actions of government’s in their futile attempt to marshal the forces of the market, to get jobs within their countries, at the expense of jobs in another, that government‘s effect competition.
Most all economic historians agree that the depression was in large part caused by the Smoot Hawley act and other similar laws and tariffs passed around the world at the beginning of the 1930’s. Those anti global trade laws resulted in the collapse of international trade. Jobs were lost in every country. The unemployment rate rose to staggering heights despite the willingness of people to work. International trade is empirically, historically, even if counter intuitively, proven to create jobs.
The demand for low skilled employment is supplied from a giant pool of uneducated people on the planet. However, as jobs flow into an area the work force inevitably becomes more educated. Even the lowest skill job is civilizing. The need to meet a schedule, the need to be dutiful in time, money and personal management, gives people the sense of what it is to be “self interested rightly understood.” As the workforce in a low educated area become more and more active in the market the level of education rises.
As all this happens the demand for what was formerly “luxury” items increases. This demand must be filled from abroad. The increased trade grows the need for workers to handle the logistics and so forth. The demand for labor not only rises but the demand for educated labor goes up as well. When employment has neared saturation, of those that want to be employed, the cost of labor rises. This drives the demand for new low skilled labor to the next lowest area.
The point is, that the jobs don’t move, they evolve. Low skilled low paid jobs, evolve into higher skilled higher paid jobs, that are better suited to increase the expectations of the people… thus aggregate demand. Even the evolved jobs are not in direct competition, in the international marketplace, unless government regulation drives them away.
Here is the crux of why the Elite have a problem with international trade and globalism… It gives people and businesses, the ability to leave onerous regulation, and go where government policies are more favorable to free enterprise. The Elite want to pass poorly thought out regulation along with insane legislation, that the Elite carve out exemptions for themselves, with impunity. They want there to be no consequences to their actions, legislatively, to reflect the lack of consequences to their personal actions. All of which would be corrected with a NUMA.
So it is not that countries are in competition for jobs within the international arena of demand but the Elite want impunity for their actions on the job markets in their countries. That is why Smoot Hawley was enacted, to give the progressives in America, at the time, the ability to grapple the markets under control, without people and business fleeing to other countries. The market turned out to be far more slippery than the progressive Elite thought it would be, and the Constitution kept getting in the way, forcing the Elite to go back to international trade.
The countries that reengaged with international trade in the 1940’s, after the war, did very well economically, those that didn’t became Brazil, Venezuela, Mexico, Argentina etc… Their countries government’s became more introverted and more focused on protecting what they had than in opening up to international trade. They have made the same mistakes over and over. Enacting legislation in the 1980’s to protect their fledgling computer startups hobbled the rest of the economy is only one example.
We see over and over, everywhere we look, that countries that open up to international trade become more wealthy. As a nation, as a people and individually, the wealth of a nation grows. The modern example of China shows us the advantage to opening up to international trade. The fact that China has huge subsidies and is running down the road to oligarchal capitalism, headlong into the brick wall that blocks that road, is not in any way confounding. It is not the subsidies, the tariffs or the currency manipulation that has brought so much new wealth into China, it is international trade.
Tags: capitalist, constitution, corruption, economy, education, elite, government, group, International Competition for Jobs, numa, progressive, rational maximiser, regulation, smoot hawley, stimulus
Posted in economy, International Power, media, philosophy | No Comments »
Thursday, October 28th, 2010
Dear Friends,
It seems to me that writing legislation is like building a house.
Most legislation is never pointed at any particular thing. Take the drug policies of most nations. They are targeted at some nebulous idea of eradicating drug use. But they never actually look at what they really want to get and what compromises they are willing to make to get it.
If we further narrow down what we seek, as a goal, in the drug policies of a given nation, we might say, we want to keep our children off drugs. So we should give that priority over a shotgun approach. To lay out legislation without thinking in this way is like building a house without plans.
We show up at the job with a backhoe on site. Never laying out a line we guesstimate the sides and corners eventually joining the excavation. The cement truck pulls in and pours the footings filling the whole excavation using much more concrete than is necessary. Then we have lumber delivered and start framing. Unfortunately the footings are not square. So we have to make up for it in the framing of the walls. Then we close in the house with a roof. We don’t bother measuring the width of the roof so we order the wrong length trusses. What the hell we say they are long enough to reach the end of the wall… with no overhang. So we spike them in.
When we are done with our new house we find there are a few problems. Rain water sheets down the exterior walls getting in the poorly caulked windows. The rooms are either way too big or way too small for the use they are supposed to be put to and we find the our furniture doesn’t fit into the un-square corners. It is clear that building a house without plans or forethought is not a good idea. The outcome will fall far short of what is necessary.
So why is legislation different? No plan as to what is really wanted so no real thought can be given to the incentives that would actually result in the wanted outcome in real society. Is like our legislators randomly digging the footers for our new house.
Political patronage will keep the legislators from measuring anything very closely…After all it’s government money and is an endless font. More wording (concrete) is used than is needed. The walls are not exactly plumb perhaps because there is no scale for measuring legislation.
One of the Great Sages of Human history, Confucius I think, said; let a principality be governed by human hearted principles [leaders leading by example and actually following their own laws], and people will flock there from all lands. He was speaking ironically, because he knew that no such principality existed and would be many centuries away if it was even possible.
The illuminati who bestow our law don’t feel they should have to actually follow it. This makes them crooked. How can someone crooked lay out a plumb wall? They also have to make up for unintended consequences of pouring footers that are not square. The constitutionality is not square, because the footers were poorly built, but that cannot be helped, the right people on the Supreme Court will fix that. The roof is, the Executive branch, tasked with enforcing Law. Being only as sound as the Elite that run that branch. There will be some leaks. Like the SEC looking at Face book and porn instead for doing their job and watching the markets during the banking meltdown. Well actually, that was more of a gaping hole in the roof letting in a torrent not a trickle…
We find that the legislation doesn’t cover as much as we had hoped. The new law being barely utile despite much more materials going into it than was necessary. Not much is really covered by our new legislation but it will take lawyers thousands of man hours to figure that out. How do you suppose this legislation will hold up in an economic earthquake?
Costs go up and utility goes down, even as more legislation is needed to address the new problems in society, that crop up as a consequence of some pernicious incentive, from poorly thought out and worded legislation. Glomming on additions here and there to cover what was supposed to be covered by the original house, er legislation.
I wonder, if the legislators don’t even bother to read legislation they are enacting, maybe it’s because they won’t have to live with it… We will.
Time for a Numa?
Tags: corruption, elite, government, government spending, incentive, International Capitalist Party, Lawyers, legislation, Legislators, numa, rational maximiser, regulation, tax
Posted in Group Politics, Law, philosophy | No Comments »
Thursday, October 7th, 2010
Dear Friends,
It seems to me that true wisdom, foundational wisdom, stands the test of time. By time, I don’t mean the ideas are still talked about, like the Spartan civilization, but are still relevant.
Take Confucius. His philosophy is as relevant today as it was then. His theory of the Jen Man, (Gentleman), is meta-societal. The mean that the Jen Man lives is very similar to the Aristotle’s mean. No matter the society one finds himself in the Jen Man finds the moral mean. He is never off balance because he lives the mean.
Why would a person ever be off balance if they always lived the moral average of the society in which they live? To live the average makes a person average. Mediocrity in morality is not repellant. But the extremely moral person makes the average sinner feel inferior just as the reprobate makes the average sinner feel superior. No matter that comparing is a sin we all do it comparing is human nature. That is why the person who lives the golden mean is never off balance… Timeless advice from 550BC.
I look at the modern incarnations of sages and find them wanting. They are full of advice about selling your home or getting a date. There is nothing wrong or foolish about these things. But they are tied to this time and this place. Similarly Marx’s and Justus Moser’s philosophies were mired in time and place.
In the time and place it was written this type of philosophy can be quite useful and sagely advice. But it does not become foundational wisdom. Such foundational wisdom can be found throughout the ages and in many places. The Bhagavaad Gita is another ancient example from India.
When the founders of governments have these foundational insights in mind, the governments created by such men, are like niobium magnets to the iron filings of able people. People are drawn to those nations even against their own will.
An ancient example is Rome. As Livy described it, after Romulus founded Rome, he opened it up to immigration, anyone, no matter the reason they wanted in, could come. The result was Rome was filled with extremely ambitious and able men. It could be argued that the most ambitious people from all across the Italian peninsula and beyond settled Rome. Certainly Greeks from some of the Greek colonies on the peninsula at the time came and became Romans. When Numa Pompi wrote the Laws of Rome, Laws that would stand for 900 years, he had foundational wisdom in mind. With the combination of an ambitious people and well crafted laws, (for the time), Rome became one of the most advanced civilizations the planet has seen.
A modern example being the United States of America. The founders had, firmly in mind, foundational truths. They read and were familiar with, not only Christian doctrine and philosophy, but the philosophy of many others as well. In the Federalist Papers Madison refers to Aristotle, Smith, and Montesquieu. He discussed some of the spurious arguments socialists would bring up later and deftly explains the sophistry of them. The founders were well read and keen minded, individualists, in the sense that De Toquville had in mind. They understood human nature and the Constitution they wrote is a shining example of their insight.
For all the hate America rhetoric around the World, there is no other nation of Earth, that has so many people, from across the world, clamoring to get into it. If the American experience is so bad why do so many people seek it and vote with their feet for it? Remember actions speak louder than words. No matter how loudly a person says they hate everything the US stands for, if they seek to immigrate to the US, their actions bely their words. Because who seeks to immigrate to North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba, ETC…? No matter the extreme level of equality. Equally paid, fed, housed, clothed, health services and tyrannized.
That is because the foundation of those governments, are mired in a time and a place, and as a jealous reaction, to the surplus of supply, generated by the advent of the market system. Therefore they are doomed. No amount of tinkering can fix a car that never worked from the time it was brand new. No matter how well built an internal combustion engine cannot run on water. If the design is flawed there is no use… it must be destroyed and rebuilt.
So why would anyone in their right mind ever want to change the USA into North Korea? It defies logic. But that is exactly where the road leads that the Obama administration has put us on. Dragging the recalcitrant American people every step. The outright rage seen in the American electorate is clear evidence they have no interest in that destination.
Everyone agrees it is not a place anyone wants to go to… So why go there?
Tags: aristotle, confucius, constitution, foundational wisdom, golden mean, government, incentive, International Capitalist Party, jen, jen man, mean, mean in action, meritocracy, numa, sophist, Sophistry, sparta, spartan philosophy, true wisdom
Posted in Group Politics, Law, philosophy | No Comments »
Thursday, June 17th, 2010
Dear Friends,
It seems to me that people judge others by themselves. The best template we have to place others in is the one we ourselves have forged… And it is the one we know best.
That is why a thief is the most afraid of being stolen from. A liar always believes everyone is lying to them and an adulterer always is the most afraid of having someone cheat on them. It is in our nature. We all have faults and we project them on others.
That is one of the reasons that the uber rich are progressive if not actually communists. They believe that everyone is as heartless as they are. To them it is impossible to believe that another person would do a virtuous thing. Then turn around and do another. There has to be a catch. They themselves always have a hook. Basically they are the avatar of the man Thrasymachus and Nietzsche believed in.
Like Nietzsche’s book The Will to Power. (A dark book that chills the soul to read). Nietzsche is smart enough to know the tribulations en route and the end of the road that he proposes. Yet he goes ahead and proposes it. The path and the end is chaos. A state of perpetual war… man against man. Victory to the cleverest, strongest or most political. Mankind would very quickly shed the accoutrements that are given to us by our social nature. Like housing, ready access to food, transportation, heated homes, etc…
People of this ilk often become extremely rich. But not all extremely rich people are of this ilk, i.e. sociopaths. The ones that are however have the ability to sow much mischief in the world. Placing all mankind in the same box as themselves they can only see total government to curb mankind’s total greed. They have no concept that others have no desire for riches beyond what makes them comfortable. Beyond that to make one comfortable further riches only serve to gain more security. But at an acceleratingly diminishing rate of return. At some point the wealthy Neitzchian would get a better return, (in improvement in his or her lot in life), by investing it in science research. The security and improvement in the standard of living would accrue to him as well as society. And could possibly lengthen his or her life span.
What about Power? The ultimate goal of the self centered. Power rover others. Power to coerce action at another’s expense simply for the satisfaction of some whim. Like old king Di Xin, he, reportedly, had a pool filled with wine and ruled by his whim… Once Caesar and some friends were riding past a small filthy French town. His friends said to Caesar, “How would you like to live in such a wretched place?” To which Caesar replied, “I would rather rule there that serve in Rome.” Later Caesar overturned the Republican system that had served Rome well for most of a millennium.
If this is the template that you judge others by… Isn’t your view going to be skewed? If I am a self centered despot in waiting… I will think everyone else is too. When I get power I will gear my input on law to reflect my view of humanity. (Based on myself).
These are the Elite. The ten percent of any group that will take control. (The dross floats to the top). Rarely is someone put into power who did not seek it. Numa Pompey is the only one who comes to mind. (And that tale is probably more myth than reality). So When almost everyone who writes law is an utterly self centered, despot in waiting, is it hard to explain why we have law that is always written with an eye to serve some faction?
Lately every law, that is written and passed in the USA, is expressly for a faction against the overall good. Take the “Health Care overhaul”. It has as it’s purpose to redistribute wealth. From those that have health care to those that don’t. The actual reason the people don’t have it is never addressed. Except a background hum that they are poor. (The poor already had healthcare under Medicaid). Reality was never allowed into the debate.
The result will be much higher cost of healthcare for every American. Lower standard of care for normal Americans. A higher rate of structural unemployment… Among other negative effects. The Elite however will have no diminishments in their health care. They have a separate system. The rest of us are forced into the government “choices” by law. The Elite are not.
With Elitist theory, as I have explained, we can clearly see why…
But, I am told, there is no need of a NUMA.
Tags: caesar, capitalist, corruption, elite, elitist theory, group, health care, human nature, International Capitalist Party, Judge Others, Law, numa, ourselves, sophist, Sophistry, Thrasymachus
Posted in Group Politics, Law, Mercy, philosophy | No Comments »
Thursday, May 20th, 2010
Dear Friends,
It seems to me that government’s propensity to normalize deviancy threatens us all. Due to Government’s ability to deliver catastrophe on a society.
Normative deviancy is a sociological term that describes why some groups make catastrophically wrong decisions. It is a theory that takes into account the environment in which a decision is made. Basically, When a group of people are set up there is usually some thought put into keeping complexity low, keeping connections loose, ensuring rigorous debate, etc… but as time goes on small deviations become the norm. Then small deviations become larger then become the new norm. Until catastrophic failure of the group or decision-making process takes place. Catastrophic failure becomes inevitable.
The group could be the House of Representatives. Some of the deviations we see. (that have apparently become the norm) are, not reading bills before voting on them, protecting members that take bribes, reacting before sufficient facts are in, and putting a faction’s good over the good of society. These are not all the examples I can come up with but the list becomes tedious.
Not reading bills before voting. How could this ever go wrong? No potential for catastrophic failure of the decision making process there…
But seriously, lawmakers don’t even read ten page bills before voting. This has great potential to be used against an unwary congressman or congresswoman. People vote for a person because they believe that that person will make good decisions regarding government. How can a person make a decision about a bill they have not read?
When a lawmaker is so sloppy, about his job that they don’t read bills they are voting on, it says they don’t take their job seriously. When people see that the leaders in society don’t take their jobs seriously when their jobs are so important, lawmakers pay is over $174000 a year, with benefits better than anything in the private sector, so if a congressman has so little regard that he doesn’t even take the minimum effort in doing his job… why should we? Imagine the subconscious pernicious incentive this is to society… on top of the potential for abuse of the system.
Protecting members that take bribes, sexually bother pages and aides, are ignorant of tax law, ship horses through the US mail calling it official business, cashing in postal vouchers for cash to buy drugs, drunk driving leaving the scene of the accident death resulting, the list is endless. With this caliber of people running our government how can we go wrong? Blackmail is only one of the potential problems that could lead to catastrophic decisions that could result.
Jumping to conclusions before all the relevant data is in. Some examples are when rep. John Murtha, (God rest his soul), Accused the US Marines of war crimes. The facts came out that the US Marines were innocent. But the damage had been done. The war effort had been undermined. President Obama even acknowledged that he didn’t know the facts then attacked a police officer. Again wrong. Over and over members of our government publicly make statements without sufficient knowledge to make them. Over and over they are proven wrong. How many of you have read of heard the story of the Little Boy Who Cried Wolf? Being wrong over and over undermines one’s credibility. When it is an elected member of the government it undermines the credibility of the government.
Putting the good of a faction of society over the good of all of society. This is not a new problem. Madison wrote about it in the Federalist Papers, #10. Faction is pernicious because it is necessary for the political process. But even as the power of faction impels political power it undermines that power by corrupting it. Often putting the good of a faction of society over the good of all society is in the political interest of a party. Like illegal immigration. Everyone knows in their heart what is right. (fix immigration law to reflect the need, seal the boarder to prevent more illegal immigration and enforce the law) But every one in the political process wants to game the system. They want to reap the political favor of a potentially large faction. So the interests of society are stepped on. The result is that human beings in the USA are treated as subhuman… to enhance the political power of the Elite that are courting them. No irony there.
The private sector goes to great lengths to prevent these types of things from occurring. Perhaps because the threat of jail is ever present in the private sector but is totally absent the government. That problem is answered by the NUMA… Perhaps because the private sector must succeed or fail. (Unless it is politically favored. Then the taxpayers will bail them out. Even as the lawmakers, in the back pockets of those firms, vilify them… I think I hear Braer Rabbit, “Please don’t throw me in that briar patch.”)
Another possibility is that the dross floats to the top.
Tags: Catastrophic Desisions, congressman, congressman's pay, congresswoman, constitution, corruption, desision theory, evil, good, incentive, International Capitalist Party, Law, lawmaker, normalizing deviancy, normative deviancy, numa, pernicious, pernicious incentive
Posted in economy, Group Politics, International Power, Law, media, Mercy, philosophy | No Comments »