QQQ

Quicksearch

Blog Administration

Open login screen

RSS Readers

Friday, June 15. 2018

Thanks, AVI

"I am a democrat because I believe in the Fall of Man. I think most people are democrats for the opposite reason. A great deal of democratic enthusiasm descends from the ideas of people like Rousseau, who believed in democracy because they thought mankind so wise and good that everyone deserved a share in the government. The danger of defending democracy on those grounds is that they’re not true. And whenever their weakness is exposed, the people who prefer tyranny make capital out of the exposure… The real reason for democracy is just the reverse. Mankind is so fallen that no man can be trusted with unchecked power over his fellows. Aristotle said that some people were only fit to be slaves. I do not contradict him. But I reject slavery because I see no men fit to be masters."

CS Lewis in his essay "Equality" 1943.

Posted by Bird Dog in Quotidian Quotable Quote (QQQ) at 13:56 | Comments (6) | Trackbacks (0)

Trackbacks

Trackback specific URI for this entry

No Trackbacks

Comments

Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

Murray Rothbard used this precise argument as support for libertarianism. If man is by nature good, then any kind of system should work. If man is by nature bad, what sense is there in putting one individual or group of individuals in charge of everyone else.

#1 Abelard Lindsey on 2018-06-15 14:15 (Reply)

I'm a libertarian, but this argument needs to be treated carefully. I agree it's dangerous to give flawed men power over other men. Nevertheless, part of the important function of civilization is to let people band together to protect themselves against the very worst powerful men. When we tackle an armed robber and help the police lock him up, we're exerting power. We have to make civilization do the job of exerting power only over the right men at the right time, which is a very neat trick.

#1.1 Texan99 on 2018-06-16 20:44 (Reply)

Is it possible that the rise of suicide rates can be linked to the increased expectations of an education grounded in socialism/unionism/feminist ideology? We have a steady increase in suicide that just happens to co-incide with the steady decrease in a religious faith and said faith being forcibly substituted with communist ideology. Do ya think that kids growing up in the past 40 years were deprived of something essential to provide them strength when looking at the human condition?

#2 Faculty Wife on 2018-06-15 14:22 (Reply)

Rise since when?
https://www.statista.com/statistics/187478/death-rate-from-suicide-in-the-us-by-gender-since-1950/

The increase over the last 50 years is minor.

#2.1 William O. B'Livion on 2018-06-16 12:54 (Reply)

I find it interesting that today's "Democrats" stand for the exact opposite, essentially an authoritarian socialist government that would control everything, be it your health care, your speech, your religion, your job and profession, and your rights to raise your children.

#3 Jim (Link) on 2018-06-15 14:39 (Reply)

"It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself." - James Madison, Federalist #51, The Structure of the Government Must Furnish the Proper Checks and Balances Between the Different Departments

I never have figured out the people who place such faith in government - does the government have some magic process for choosing only angels as employees or does the mere act of having your paycheck signed by the government make one angelic?

#4 Jerryskids on 2018-06-15 21:17 (Reply)

Add Comment

Name
Email	(Your e-mail will not show in your comment)
Homepage
In reply to
Comment	By commenting on this site you agree to the site rules listed here. Email addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for email notifications. Quick reference guide: [i] italics [/i], [b] bold [/b], [u] underline [/u], [url] (web address) [/url]. More tips here. Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (word), underscore are made via _word_. E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications. To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly. Enter the string from the spam-prevention image above: BBCode format allowed
	Remember Information? Subscribe to this entry

Maggie's Farm

Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page

Categories

Quicksearch

Links

Blog Administration

RSS Readers

Friday, June 15. 2018

QQQ