It is a fallacy to even think of democracy on it's own as a best bet for humankind's ability to govern.
Anya, if the great sages of old couldn't get behind a democracy, or even define what a government should be without equivocating, what makes you think we modern era people know?
Yes, it is. Therefore I put forth the idea of a Constitutional Republic that would take the best of both Greek Democracy and Roman Republic forms of governing to form a "People's Government". Unfortunately, it is in the human nature to assign politicizations that will eventually undermine and overthrow that for a different ideology of governance.
Nov 21, 2023·edited Nov 21, 2023Liked by Classical Wisdom
Once again, enter Achilles, this time in the form of a Mr. Milei. Under "normal" circumstances, there is no need for such rough men. And were the situation not so dire, the demos would never turn to them. But it IS DIRE. And Agamemnon just wasn't getting it done. And so they will entreat the brash, rough, imperfect Achilles to enter the fray.
If you want to hear what God has to say to you, listen not with your ears or read with your eyes nor process it within the human mind, reach down into your heart and listen to the Holy Spirit within your God given soul.
The trouble with writing … is the would-be writers. And the supposed readers, too.
I just, finally, got a copy of A Confederacy of Dunces (it has been on the wishlist for years). Great, applicable, title - always & not just subject at hand. The author, John Kennedy Toole, shopped the manuscript around to some of the usual suspect publishers, who all turned him down.
So Toole decided to tool on down the road, take a roadtrip. Remember the tune Uneasy Rider?
I was takin' a trip out to LA
Toolin' along in my Chevrolet
Tokin' on a number and diggin' on the radio
Jes' as I cross the Mississippi line
I heard that highway start to whine
And I knew that left rear tire was about to go
Finding himself in Biloxi, MS, Toole committed suicide in ’69, age 31.
Toole’s mother later showed his manuscript to Walker Percy, who like Michael Crichton, got an MD degree but decided to “heal thyself” instead of practice “healing” & became a writer, instead. (Percy & Crichton both died of cancer. Comprehend the conspiracy dimensions as you will.)
Mom & Percy got ‘er done & in ’81 Confederacy of Dunces was awarded the Pulitzer for fiction.
“You can’t make this stuff up” goes the color-me-incredulous utterance.
But, by now, most of us, well, some of us reader/writers, can make it out:
Art imitates life which is all too consumed with imitating death.
Freud thought he was a doctor, too, & wrote about it … Charlie Bronson played him in the movie, & the four sequels. And Bruce Willis played him in the remake (which has “How far would you go to protect your family” printed above the title, “Death Wish” on the poster).
We need family to raise us up to majority-age. And those local statute-set age thresholds are when family gets alchemized abracadabra-metastasized into the larger majority family in which Mommy & Daddy are referred to as “government.” Which is also when the lost cachet of bio-mom/dad “Because I said so!” is reborn, mythical Phoenix fashion, complete with bloody talons & beaks.
What is objectively needed - to grow into wild, as opposed domesticated, maturity - cannot be had. Except randomly, rarely, out in the margins of that ringing-enclosing bell curve.
The last el presidente who believed, subjectively (but objectively utterly falsely), that he was in charge was John Kennedy. If Milei starts making progress a la the JFK template, the Toole box of “heal thyself” remedies is large. Like the shuffling (madness … remember Jethro Tull’s Locomotive Breath? Supposedly that was a song about the ‘population bomb’.) majority is large, loco, & motivated to bear down to keep the death dream alive.
"Cicero proposed that the ideal government, "is formed by an equal balancing and blending" of monarchy, democracy, and aristocracy."
I think that is the experiment here in the United States. President equals monarch, democracy equals the people, aristocracy equals House and Senate.
I think a Lynch Mob is the clearest example of how wrong a simple democracy can go.
The only example of a philosopher king that I can think of is Marcus Aurelius. That kind of person is few and far between.
I cannot remember for certain who replied to the question of "what kind of government did you give us?", I think it was Benjamin Franklin, and he said "a republic if you can keep it."
I think the attempt at a Democratic Republic here in the United States is a noble experiment. I think the jury is still out on whether or not it is going to work. I am at a loss as to what to replace it with however.
It is a fallacy to even think of democracy on it's own as a best bet for humankind's ability to govern.
Anya, if the great sages of old couldn't get behind a democracy, or even define what a government should be without equivocating, what makes you think we modern era people know?
Always worth a try... ;-)
Yes, it is. Therefore I put forth the idea of a Constitutional Republic that would take the best of both Greek Democracy and Roman Republic forms of governing to form a "People's Government". Unfortunately, it is in the human nature to assign politicizations that will eventually undermine and overthrow that for a different ideology of governance.
Once again, enter Achilles, this time in the form of a Mr. Milei. Under "normal" circumstances, there is no need for such rough men. And were the situation not so dire, the demos would never turn to them. But it IS DIRE. And Agamemnon just wasn't getting it done. And so they will entreat the brash, rough, imperfect Achilles to enter the fray.
If you you want to hear what God has to say to you , read the king James bible out loud.
If you want to hear what God has to say to you, listen not with your ears or read with your eyes nor process it within the human mind, reach down into your heart and listen to the Holy Spirit within your God given soul.
Government? Here’s welsh actor Anthony Hopkins objectively ~ wholly & completely ~ subjection’ing it & pinning it to the mat:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMFntyPFlqI
The best government? That’s a question for “on the spectrum” Temple Grandin types, she of the spiral weighing (& slaughtering) chute:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68decnATpIk
Desiring (or needing, even) a thing cannot make you have it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDVD3YTRAV8
The trouble with writing … is the would-be writers. And the supposed readers, too.
I just, finally, got a copy of A Confederacy of Dunces (it has been on the wishlist for years). Great, applicable, title - always & not just subject at hand. The author, John Kennedy Toole, shopped the manuscript around to some of the usual suspect publishers, who all turned him down.
So Toole decided to tool on down the road, take a roadtrip. Remember the tune Uneasy Rider?
I was takin' a trip out to LA
Toolin' along in my Chevrolet
Tokin' on a number and diggin' on the radio
Jes' as I cross the Mississippi line
I heard that highway start to whine
And I knew that left rear tire was about to go
Finding himself in Biloxi, MS, Toole committed suicide in ’69, age 31.
Toole’s mother later showed his manuscript to Walker Percy, who like Michael Crichton, got an MD degree but decided to “heal thyself” instead of practice “healing” & became a writer, instead. (Percy & Crichton both died of cancer. Comprehend the conspiracy dimensions as you will.)
Mom & Percy got ‘er done & in ’81 Confederacy of Dunces was awarded the Pulitzer for fiction.
“You can’t make this stuff up” goes the color-me-incredulous utterance.
But, by now, most of us, well, some of us reader/writers, can make it out:
Art imitates life which is all too consumed with imitating death.
Freud thought he was a doctor, too, & wrote about it … Charlie Bronson played him in the movie, & the four sequels. And Bruce Willis played him in the remake (which has “How far would you go to protect your family” printed above the title, “Death Wish” on the poster).
We need family to raise us up to majority-age. And those local statute-set age thresholds are when family gets alchemized abracadabra-metastasized into the larger majority family in which Mommy & Daddy are referred to as “government.” Which is also when the lost cachet of bio-mom/dad “Because I said so!” is reborn, mythical Phoenix fashion, complete with bloody talons & beaks.
What is objectively needed - to grow into wild, as opposed domesticated, maturity - cannot be had. Except randomly, rarely, out in the margins of that ringing-enclosing bell curve.
The last el presidente who believed, subjectively (but objectively utterly falsely), that he was in charge was John Kennedy. If Milei starts making progress a la the JFK template, the Toole box of “heal thyself” remedies is large. Like the shuffling (madness … remember Jethro Tull’s Locomotive Breath? Supposedly that was a song about the ‘population bomb’.) majority is large, loco, & motivated to bear down to keep the death dream alive.
Marniekhaw.Substack.Com is where I write. I support community-based governance.
"Cicero proposed that the ideal government, "is formed by an equal balancing and blending" of monarchy, democracy, and aristocracy."
I think that is the experiment here in the United States. President equals monarch, democracy equals the people, aristocracy equals House and Senate.
I think a Lynch Mob is the clearest example of how wrong a simple democracy can go.
The only example of a philosopher king that I can think of is Marcus Aurelius. That kind of person is few and far between.
I cannot remember for certain who replied to the question of "what kind of government did you give us?", I think it was Benjamin Franklin, and he said "a republic if you can keep it."
I think the attempt at a Democratic Republic here in the United States is a noble experiment. I think the jury is still out on whether or not it is going to work. I am at a loss as to what to replace it with however.