Classical Advice For Modern Politicians
Aaron Miller ·
June 17, 2012 at 5:00pm
"... let him so temper all things, that the strong may have something to strive after, and the weak nothing at which to take alarm." —St. Benedict
Your turn.
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Oct '10
Re: Classical Advice For Modern Politicians
Public office should neither be sought nor refused.
Benjamin Franklin
Jun '10
Re: Classical Advice For Modern Politicians
From the great classical writer, P. J. O'Rourke (Parliament of Whores):
Edited on June 18, 2012 at 12:42amMar '11
Re: Classical Advice For Modern Politicians
Aug '11
Re: Classical Advice For Modern Politicians
“I object to you. I object to intellect without discipline. I object to power without constructive purpose.”
— Spock
(Not really advice, I suppose.)
Nov '10
Re: Classical Advice For Modern Politicians
"[I]n all the years I took my daughter to the playground, I never once heard another parent tell a child that if some kids have more toys than you do, that makes it okay to take some of them away…." -Steven Landsberg
"We all want progress. But … [i]f you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man." -CS Lewis
"When people get used to complying with micro-regulation, it’s but a small step to confusing regulatory compliance with the right thing to do — and then arguing that, in the absence of regulatory guidelines, there is no right thing to do." -Mark Steyn
Aug '10
Re: Classical Advice For Modern Politicians
Umbra Fractus:
"Is it really true that political self interest is somehow nobler than economic self interest?" -Milton Friedman
"A society which aims for equality before liberty will end up with neither equality nor liberty…. You can only aim at equality by giving some people a right to take things from others," -Milton Friedman
"When people get used to complying with micro-regulation, it’s but a small step to confusing regulatory compliance with the right thing to do — and then arguing that, in the absence of regulatory guidelines, there is no right thing to do." -Mark Steyn
"‘Democracy’ – as in a polling station and ballot box – is the last piece of liberty’s puzzle. What comes first are property rights, legal systems, freedom of speech and of conscience, a civil society rather than a tribal one. Absent those, the ‘cultural thing’ will out." -Mark Steyn
"Science is a subset of rationality; the former has a narrower scope than the latter. To ignore rationality when it does fall beyond the scientific enterprise would be an injustice to both reason and humanity." -Robert J. Asher
Nice ones!
Aug '10
Re: Classical Advice For Modern Politicians
DrewInWisconsin:“I object to you. I object to intellect without discipline. I object to power without constructive purpose.”
— Spock
And I object to Vulcans. Their alleged distinctions between logical and illogical often make no sense.
May '10
Re: Classical Advice For Modern Politicians
"Free rubbers." - Barack Obama
Re: Classical Advice For Modern Politicians
George Washington --
Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.
Jan '12
Re: Classical Advice For Modern Politicians
The state is actual, and its actuality consists in this, that the interest of the whole is realised in and through particular ends. Actuality is always the unity of universal and particular, the universal dismembered in the particulars which seem to be self-subsistent, although they really are upheld and contained only in the whole. Where this unity is not present, a thing is not actual even though it may have acquired existence. A bad state is one which merely exists; a sick body exists too, but it has no genuine reality. A hand which is cut off still looks like a hand, and it exists, but without being actual. Genuine actuality is necessity; what is actual is inherently necessary. Necessity consists in this, that the whole is sundered into the differences of the concept and that this divided whole yields a fixed and permanent determinacy, though one which is not fossilised but perpetually recreates itself in its dissolution.
GWF Hegel, Philosophy of Right, Addition to Par. 270
Note to libertarians: Hegel's state is not Plato's Republic. The right of subjectivity is acknowledged, but individuals who do not know patriotism are like hands severed from the body.
Edited on June 18, 2012 at 8:10amJul '10
Re: Classical Advice For Modern Politicians
No ill will toward smarter folks than me (which is almost everyone on this site) but, if these words made a difference why are we in this mess again?
Being able to describe a pile of what ever doesn't have mean much if you can and should not step in it again.
Jun '10
Re: Classical Advice For Modern Politicians
Umbra Fractus:
"We all want progress. But … [i]f you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man." -CS Lewis
That is perfect -- and perfectly obvious to everyone who thinks rather than just feels.
Jun '10
Re: Classical Advice For Modern Politicians
Highlama
Larry Koler: "For all problems of existence are essentially problems of harmony."
-Sri Aurobindo (Indian Nationalist and Philosopher) · 2 hours ago
Some years ago I discovered the definition of overcrowding: Living with people you don't like. · 14 hours ago
Very subtly put. It is true that mountain men found even another person in the same territory to be a little too crowded. And in other places -- and with harmonious interactions -- we don't mind nor do we comment on the number of people. Harmony is at the heart of all good and long lasting societies.
Jan '12
Re: Classical Advice For Modern Politicians
Boymoose: No ill will toward smarter folks than me (which is almost everyone on this site) but, if these words made a difference why are we in this mess again?
Being able to describe a pile of what ever doesn't have mean much if you can and should not step in it again. · 6 hours ago
Because we'd be in a worse mess if people did not reflect on public affairs then attempt to apply reason to them. Try living as the hippies did, only for the sensations of the moment. Or try to imagine the American Revolution without the influence of John Locke or William Blackstone. If a feeling-saturated romantic like Rousseau had been the guide, George Washington likely would have become another Napoleon.
Edited on June 18, 2012 at 10:26pmMay '10
Re: Classical Advice For Modern Politicians
We need more than excellent thoughts. We need excellent habits.
One nutritious meal won't save a person from a habit of junk food. Likewise, an occasional spark of wisdom isn't likely to do much for a couch potato. But if we can develop habits of seeking wisdom and speaking with careful deliberation, perhaps we can lead by example.
Churchill, Chesterton, Burke, General Washington — These men led not just with occasional wit but with habits of thoughtfulness and practiced eloquence. If more modern conservatives spoke with such discipline and well-deserved confidence in their views, I have no doubt that more people would truly consider conservativism. They would want and wonder.
I started this thread only because I read that statement by St Benedict, which was directed at abbots, and thought it seemed applicable to politics (if imperfectly, as Midge points out). But we would be better off if more people read such jewels of wisdom regularly and purposefully.
Beauty attracts investigation even when it is foreign and contrary.