[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Sign-in] [Mail] [Setup] [Help]
Status: Not Logged In; Sign In
|
Ron Paul See other Ron Paul Articles Title: Monarchy and War [Journal of Libertarian Studies 15, Number 1 (2000)] Modern history is nothing but an inventory of bankruptcy declarations. —Nicolas Gomez Davila I Monarchy is a form of government not well understood in North America. To many people in that part of the world, monarchy seems to be a totally obsolete, even childish, institution. The surviving monarchies, after all, might still play a symbolic or even a psychological role, but not a decisive political role. As a rationalist and a liberal (in the worldwide sense rather than in the American sense), I am also a monarchist who realizes that monarchy, combined with Christianity and Antiquity, was responsible for the rise and flowering of Western civilization, which is slowly assuming an almost global character. Yet, the modern mind is political rather than historical, and therefore is hopelessly tied to the spirit of his time. As Goethe wrote: He who cannot give account Of the last three thousand years Rests in darkness inexperienced though he lives from day to day. Such a person, intellectually nurtured by the boob-tube and newspapers, would be greatly surprised to hear British Prime Minister Disraeli say: The tendency of an advanced civilization is in truth Monarchy. Monarchy is indeed a government which requires a high degree of civilization for its full development. … An educated nation recoils from the imperfect vicariate of what is called a representative government.1 Democracy is, after all, the oldest form of government in which majorities rule over minorities.2 Democracy reappeared in a more civilized form in Athens, but when, in a truly political trial, Socrates praised monarchy, he was condemned to death.33 Remember also that Madariaga said rightly that our civilization rests on the death of two persons: a philosopher and the Son of God, both victims of the popular will. No wonder that Plato, Socrates’s follower, and Aristotle, Plato’s disciple, were fierce monarchists, and that the latter, when democracy returned to Athens, went into exile to avoid Socrates’s fate.4 Plato’s thesis that democracy naturally evolves into tyranny was also adopted by Polybius, who believed in an anakyklosis, a natural circular evolutionary process from monarchy into aristocracy, aristocracy into democracy, and democracy into tyranny. Indeed, reading Plato’s Republic, Books VIII–IX, one gets an exact description of the transition from the Weimar Republic to National Socialist tyranny. The historically conscious observer realizes not only that countries like Great Britain, Spain, and the Netherlands, which today are monarchies, went through republican periods, but also that Greece and Mexico, today republics, have already been monarchies twice. Still, the most “educational” case is that of Rome. If we had the opportunity, given our knowledge of history, to meet a Roman citizen in the sixtieth year before Christ, and told him that his country would soon become a monarchy, he certainly would have reacted most vigorously, blaming us for ignoring Roman tradition and mentality. Monarchy? A return to the authoritarianism of Tarquinius Superbus? Out of the question! Yet, Caesar already loomed beyond the horizon. Subsequently, if we had the chance to meet with one of his descendants in the year 260 after Christ and told him of his ancestor’s indignation about our naiveté and arrogance, he certainly would have shrugged his shoulders. “And now?” we might ask. “Now? We are still a republic. Look at signs everywhere declaring SENATUS POPULESQUE ROMANUS! A monarchy? As among Orientals and barbarians? Out of the question!” “But you have an Emperor!” “Ha ha! Imperator means general and there always have been generals in republics!” Yet, a few years later, Diocletian, the Imperator Augustus, had a golden crown put on his head and demanded proskynesis, the kneeling approach to his person. Then, even the most stupid Romans realized that the republic had gone the way of all flesh. Tacitus, indeed, had suspected it long before. There are still outstanding thinkers who have a deep respect for the monarchical order, for rational as well as sentimental motives. Yet, even the rationalist has to take the psychological factor into account, or he would cease to be a realistic rationalist. As a matter of fact, the increasing democratization of Western civilization has fostered monarchophile thinking, although only on a high level. Thus, it is not surprising that Theodor Herzl, the founder of Zionism, declared monarchy the best form of government, but, since no descendants of David survived, the aristocratic constitution of Venice should be studied in the planning of a Jewish State, whereas democracy, as the worst type of rule, was to be strictly avoided.5 History is already telling us how right he was. This introduction is necessary to understand the relationship between monarchy and war, and between monarchy and warfare. However, we are limiting ourselves here to the Christian monarchy in our civilization, and not discussing some abstract form of monocracy. (Bear in mind that arche is not kratos.) We must remember the words of Nicolas Gomez Davila, who wrote that without Christianity and Antiquity as their background, Europeans would be nothing but palefaced barbarians.6 Nor should we forget that war is a calamity to be avoided, one of the many results of our imperfections caused by Original Sin, even if soldiers, by and large, play a positive role in the New Testament. Many of our saints have fought in battles, from St. Francis to St. Ignatius. Still, eliminating, or at least limiting, war should be one of our goals. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 5.
#1. To: Ada (#0)
Monarchy is a form of government not well understood in North America. It was understood well enough that the battle cry during the Revolution was, "No King but King Jesus." ;)
But then cometh The Constitution and the usurping judiciary.
It was more like the activist judiciary. ;)
There are no replies to Comment # 5. End Trace Mode for Comment # 5.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest |
||
|
[Home]
[Headlines]
[Latest Articles]
[Latest Comments]
[Post]
[Sign-in]
[Mail]
[Setup]
[Help]
|
||