Posted on 02/16/2009 9:46:22 AM PST by Tolik
Back in 1959 the philosopher Eric Hoffer had this to say about Americans and America:
For those who want to be left alone to realize their capacities and talents this is an ideal country.
That was then. This is now. Flash forward fifty years to the election of Barack Obama and a hard left leaning Democrat Congress. What Americans want today, apparently, is a government that has no intention of leaving any of us alone.
How could Hoffer have been so wrong about America? Why did America change so quickly? Can a free people willingly choose servitude? Is it possible for democracies to become tyrannies? How?
The answers to these questions were famously addressed in a few pages tucked within the greatest masterpiece of the classical world: Plato's Republic. On the surface, and to most reviewers of Plato's writings, the Republic is a dialogue on justice and on what constitutes the just society. But to careful readers the deeper theme of the Republic is the nature of education and the relationship between education and the survival of the state. In fact, the Republic is essentially the story of how a man (Socrates) condemned to death for "corrupting" the youth of Athens gives to posterity the most precious gift of all: the love of wisdom.
In the Republic, two young men, Glaucon and Adeimantus, accompany the much older Socrates on a journey of discovery into the nature of the individual soul and its connection to the harmony of the state. During the course of their adventure, as the two disciples demonstrate greater maturity and self-control, they are gradually exposed to deeper and more complex teachings regarding the relationship between virtue, self-sufficiency, and happiness. In short, the boys begin to realize that justice and happiness in a community rests upon the moral condition of its citizens. This is what Socrates meant when he said: "The state is man writ large."
Near the end of the Republic Socrates decides to drive this point home by showing Adeimantus what happens to a regime when its parents and educators neglect the proper moral education of its children. In the course of this chilling illustration Adeimantus comes to discover a dark and ominous secret: without proper moral conditioning a regime's "defining principle" will be the source of its ultimate destruction. For democracy, that defining principle is freedom. According to Socrates, freedom makes a democracy but freedom also eventually breaks a democracy.
For Socrates, democracy's "insatiable desire for freedom and neglect of other things" end up putting it "in need of a dictatorship." The short version of his theory is that the combination of freedom and poor education in a democracy render the citizens incapable of mastering their impulses and deferring gratification. The reckless pursuit of freedom leads the citizens to raze moral barriers, deny traditional authority, and abandon established methods of education. Eventually, this uninhibited quest for personal freedom forces the public to welcome the tyrant. Says Socrates: "Extreme freedom can't be expected to lead to anything but a change to extreme slavery, whether for a private individual or for a city."
Adeimantus wants Socrates to explain what kind of man resembles the democratic city. In other words, he wants to know how "democratic man" comes to be and what happens to make this freedom loving man eventually beg for a tyrant. Socrates clarifies that the democratic man starts out as the son of an "oligarchic" father -- a father who is thrifty and self-disciplined. The father's generation is more concerned with wealth than freedom. This first generation saves, invests, and rarely goes in for conspicuous consumption.[i]
The father's pursuit of wealth leaves him unwilling and unable to give attention to his son's moral development. The father focuses on business and finance and ignores the business of family. The son then begins to associate with "wild and dangerous creatures who can provide every variety of multicolored pleasure in every sort of way." These Athenian precursors of the hippies begin to transform the son's oligarchic nature into a democratic one. Because the young man has had no moral guidance, his excessive desire for "unnecessary pleasures" undermines "the citadel" of his soul. Because the "guardians" of the son's inner citadel -- truth, restraint, wisdom -- are absent, there is nothing within him to defend against the "false and boastful words and beliefs that rush up and occupy this part of him."
A 1960s revolution in the son's soul purges the last remaining guardians of moderation and supplants new meanings to old virtues: "anarchy" replaces freedom, "extravagance" replaces magnificence, and "shamelessness" replaces courage. The young man surrenders rule over himself "to whichever desire comes along, as if it were chosen by lot." Here Socrates notes the essential problem when a free society becomes detached from any notions of moral virtue or truth: desires are chosen by "lot" instead of by "merit" or "priority."
For the son the democratic revolution in his soul is complete. In this stage "there is neither order nor necessity in his life, but he calls it pleasant, free, blessedly happy, and he follows it for as long as he lives." Socrates gives a brief illustration of the young man's new democratic life:
Sometimes he drinks heavily while listening to the flute; at other times he drinks only water and is on a diet; sometimes he goes in for physical training; at other times, he's idle and neglects everything; and sometimes he even occupies himself with what he takes to be philosophy. He often engages in politics, leaping up from his seat and saying and doing whatever comes into his mind. If he happens to admire soldiers, he's carried in that direction, if money-makers, in that one.
In short, the young man has no anchor, no set of guiding principles or convictions other than his thirst for freedom. His life is aimless, superficial, and gratuitous. The spoiled lotus-eaters of his generation have defined themselves simply by mocking all forms of propriety and prudence. What's worse, as these Athenian baby-boomers exercise their right to vote, they elect "bad cupbearers" as their leaders. The new cupbearers want to stay in office so they give the voters whatever they desire. The public, according to Socrates, "gets drunk by drinking more than it should of the unmixed wine of freedom." Conservative politicians who attempt to mix the wine of freedom with calls for self-restraint "are punished by the city and accused of being accursed oligarchs."
As conservative politicians court suspicion so do conservative teachers and academics who stubbornly hold on to objective measurements of performance: "A teacher in such a community is afraid of his students and flatters them, while the students despise their teachers or tutors." Conservatism becomes unpopular just about everywhere, to a point at which even the elderly "stoop to the level of the young and are full of play and pleasantry, imitating the young for fear of appearing disagreeable and authoritarian."
The explosion of boundaries and limits extends even to national identity itself, so that resident aliens and foreigners "are made equal to a citizen."
The citizens' souls become so infected with freedom that they become excessively paranoid about any hint of slavery. But slavery comes to mean being under any kind of master or limit including the law itself. Says Socrates: "They take no notice of the laws, whether written or unwritten, in order to avoid having any master at all." That is, any kind of "hierarchy" in a democracy is rejected as "authoritarian." But this extreme freedom, according to Socrates, eventually enslaves democracy.
As the progressive politicians and intellectuals come to dominate the democratic city, its "fiercest members do all the talking and acting, while the rest settle near the speakers platform and buzz and refuse to tolerate the opposition of another speaker." There are "impeachments, judgments and trials on both sides." The politicians heat up the crowds by vilifying business and wealth and by promising to spread the wealth around. The people then "set up one man as their special champion" and begin "nurturing him and making him great."
The people's "special champion" however transforms from leader to tyrant. He "drops hints about the cancellation of debts and the redistribution of land" and continues to "stir up civil wars against the rich." All who have reached this stage, says Socrates, "soon discover the famous request of a tyrant, namely, that the people give him a bodyguard to keep their defender safe for them." The people give him this new security force, "because they are afraid for his safety but aren't worried at all about their own."
Socrates describes the early weeks of the new leader's reign:
"Won't he smile in welcome at anyone he meets, saying that he's no tyrant, making all sorts of promises both in public and in private, freeing the people from debt, redistributing land to them, and to his followers, and pretending to be gracious and gentle to all?"
After a series of unpopular actions, including stirring up a war in order to generate popular support, the leader begins to alienate some of his closest and most ardent advisers who begin to voice their misgivings in private. Following a purge of these advisors the tyrant attracts some of the worst elements of the city to help him rule. As the citizens grow weary of his tenure the tyrant chooses to attract foreigners to resupply his dwindling national bodyguard. The citizens finally decide they've had enough and begin to discuss rebellion.
At this point in the dialogue Adeimantus asks Socrates incredulously: "What do you mean? Will the tyrant dare to use violence against [the people] or to hit [them] if [they] don't obey? Socrates answers:
"Yes - once he's taken away [the people's] weapons."
Thus ends Book VIII of Plato's Republic. I won't spoil the marvelous ending (Books IX and X) but I would like to spend a few moments drawing some conclusions about the overall message of this fascinating text and its relevance for 21st century Americans.
First, those of us who are incapable of self-mastery will always shamefully prostrate ourselves before messianic political leaders. The progressive left in America has spent countless generations destroying the guardians of our inner citadel: religion, family, parents, and tradition - in short, conservatism and limits. When we exhaust the financial and moral capital of previous generations (and future ones, as with the current stimulus bill) we will dutifully line up at the public trough, on our knees. Citizens capable of self-mastery will always choose to be left alone. In other words, they'll always choose limited government.
Second, freedom without limits paves the way to tyranny by undermining respect for the law. When politicians play fast and loose with the law it becomes easier for them and for the people to see special champions as alternative sources of rule. Today in America the objective basis for law is being attacked on campuses and even in law schools as too authoritarian and too insensitive to the subjective experiences and personal narratives of criminals. The SAT exam has also been under assault for the same reasons. As Socrates warned: extreme freedom will instill a paranoia about any kind of "master" including objective measurements of right and wrong, and of merit based forms of achievement. But when the citizens become enslaved to their vices they'll dutifully cry out for another kind of master.
Third, is the crucial role of education, which is the underlying theme of Plato's Republic. The ethos of American education has been for many decades saturated with a simple mantra: choice. What's worse, those few remaining educators who chant the old, Socratic mantra of "judgment" are vilified and harassed by the modern day lotus-eaters as hateful conservatives. Socrates predicted that all of this would happen in a democracy. But it is judgment not choice that enables a young person to erect a citadel in the soul. This eliminates the need for tyrants, and for bailouts too.
Finally, there is a question on the minds of many conservatives today: How does one convince the younger generations of Americans to distrust the growth of the State? Is it possible for Americans to recover the desire to be left alone in order "to realize our capacities and talents" as Eric Hoffer says?
I've read that in Iran, many young people chafe at the pervasive despotism there, but when the burning desire for freedom threatens to boil over, the government in Tehran eases its restrictions on the use of personal satellite dishes. Electronic Soma for the digital age.
Hat tip: Larrey Anderson
[i] As Max Weber noted in his classic work, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, the men who built America were guided by deferred gratification and a sense of limits, not by reckless notions of vanity, pride, and display.
Our 'defining principles' can only be taught in a 'basic training' type school. -- Every 18 year old should be required to attend a constitutional boot camp before they are franchised to vote. --
-- No service, - No vote.
You are welcome.
4+ years of concentrated treasure written by the best people.
"No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffused and Virtue is preserved. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauched in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders." - Letter to James Warren, November 4, 1775
Thanks!
See my post #20 for some trends i see in our society.
There are more, of course. Large cities - that existed for a while, but grown tremendously in XX century - nessecitate dependence. When you are on your farm with a handful of other people, you depend on yourself. In the city you MUST depend on somebody else to run transport, pickup garbage, etc, etc. On the famous red-blue maps, especially more detailed - by county - you can see the blue cities and red countryside. My understanding is that the city grows is practically over. Suburbs are not rural areas, but new technologies do allow people to spread out. This trend will continue. When flying, I can’t stop getting amazed how green everything is under the wings. Few minutes, and we are out of the metro area, and then all green there. Leaving cities will work in favor of getting personally responsible for the things again. Eventually.
I wish I had thought of it when I began here.
You have inspired me.
ditto to that, excellent post.
Look, it's sort of like everyone coming to realize that the best way to move forward on the economy is to let the big banks fail. Likewise, the best way for us to re-establish a free market Republic is to let the current system die. Hussein is the perfect solution - let him and his lib friends bury the corpse. We can restore a New USA after the reset point.
“Our ‘defining principles’ can only be taught in a ‘basic training’ type school. — Every 18 year old should be required to attend a constitutional boot camp before they are franchised to vote. —
— No service, - No vote.”
-I agree with this and have been saying this for a long time. Citizenship should be just as hard or harder to get than a driver’s license. Also, if you don’t pay any taxes, you don’t get the right to vote. You have to have skin in the game. Voting to limit another person’s rights when you have nothing at risk is another form of tyranny.
You make an excellent point. If the United States fails as that Russian author predicts, I’d be only too happy to chose to live in the section of former states where personal responsibility, liberty and fiscal accountability are the order of the day. Given his map, I’d say I am headed to the Southern States and Texas.
I actually would feel a lot more at peace in a smaller country with real libertarian convictions. Maybe Ron Paul might end up being Jeff Davis’ successor.LOL
One, and only one, problem is that we no longer hold our politicians accountable for what they do. If this stimulus fails, they should all go.
People like the idea in theory that people who have more money than they should pay more taxes. It sounds nice.
But it ignores two things. First, the rich don't really pay any taxes; the tax is built into the price of the product and you pay it when you by the gallon of milk whether you realize it or not. And the tax is paid in lost opportunities, which are hard to quantify but real.
So raise the tax on some rich guy, and watch the prices go up on everything you do, and watch the investment dry up and marvel as you find yourself unemployed, standing on the pavement as marginal businesses are pushed over the edge into failure.
And the other problem is, as you say, if a majority of the people don't pay tax (or at least they don't see the tax that they really do pay) then they have no qualms about voting to increase the tax. They aren't going to pay it (they think) someone else will.
I've always favored some kind of flat tax, but flat starting right from the bottom up. If you're a citizen, you owe the same percentage as anyone else. Rich or poor, you're a citizen. Pick a percentage, I don't care what you pick but everyone pays the same. If you want to raise the tax, fine, but you raise it on yourself too.
And I tend to favor the idea that only people who are net taxpayers should have the vote on anything to do with tax issues. If you get a welfare check, a government subsidy, a government paycheck of any kind, you don't vote on tax issues. Its a conflict of interest.
Somehow being an actual Nazi, or at least being thought of as one, is instant death to someone’s political, academic or cultural career (and for good reason.) But being a communist/Marxist is both able to be fashionable and somehow shielded from receiving an accurate label.
Particularly since they are, in effect, one in the same.
Take care.
Good article but through it all, Plato, Socrates or even the author of this piece even intimates that in its simplest form, there is the hidden hand of pure evil driving us into the abyss. IOW, NONE of this is happenstance, but by design. Man’s nature is such that without a reverence for God and Godly principles, we are automatically doomed to go the way of all previous great civilizations. The hidden hand of evil knows no compassion or remorse; its only desire is to rule.
I'm still a young guy...it's only been about ten years since I was last in my twenties :-D
Yes and yes.
Flat tax or FairTax, I’d take any instead of our byzantine scisophrenic system.
Unfortunately, here I pessimistic. I don’t see congress voting on any reasonable solution.
No. They are voting for what they are voting for right before our very eyes. The next four years are going to be long and costly.
I think it might have something to do with the N-odd million of people who will die between now and the glorious return of your "New Republic". That and the fact that tyranny is the default state for man over the last few millenia. There have only been a few short periods of just governance. So I suppose most people get worked up over the thought of millions of their fellow Americans enslaved or killed and the loss of liberty for generations. But perhaps thats just an overreaction ;p
The Left has seized the language. Thus pederasty is now a synonym for merriment, and who’s against being merry, abortion and infanticide are choice, and who’s against choice, and Communism is progressive, and who among us is against progress?!
Oh, and so called “racism”, a concept invented in Moscow, instantly associates the “racist” with the likes of the good Dr Mendele, whereas in reality what’s called “racism” is no more than ethnic rivalry or ethnocentrism. The Left has seized the conceptualization of ideas in the culture and imposed it on us all with no opposition from the clueless Right, which has readily adopted these euphemisms and misdirections as their own (just watch the language used on this forum.)
Is Revolting Cat! a reference to a feline acting to overthrow its masters, or an evocation of of one with a gruesome visage? You know, just curious...
Remember that all great men in history were gay..... that is the current thinking.
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