| Sunday,
October 29, 2000 The lively discussion on Alternative
Medicine over in mail has turned serious as such things do. When you
examine policies that affect people's health, you are very quickly brought
up against the principles of a Republic vs. an Empire.
In this election there is no candidate who chooses the Republic. We
have a choice of Emperors. Both are descended from consuls and senators of
the transition period when there was still some idea that we might restore
the Republic. Now that is gone: neither candidate even hints at a
Restoration. It is likely that neither knows the difference between
Republic and Empire..
Both will spend more on "education" -- as if the
schools in Imperial Washington, where the Congress does have the authority
to run the schools in any way it pleases, were so good that forcing the
rest of us to take heed of the imperial bureaucracy on educating our
children made the slightest sense. The fact is that Imperial Washington
probably has worse schools than you do wherever you live; yet we get to
choose between two candidates who both want to increase the power of
Washington over your local school. C'est la vie.
A Republic would attempt to build fine schools first, demonstrably
better schools, schools to be proud of, long before debating whether or
not to impose them on the rest of us; schools so good that we would be
eager to ask for help, and imposition wouldn't be necessary. An Imperial
system cannot afford that luxury. Under an Empire, the central bureaucracy
always knows best, by definition. They may not be correct. They are not
that arrogant. But they are convinced that no one can do better, and
therefore it is depriving the provinces of the best if the central schemes
are not imposed.
That is in theory. In practice, of course, these high ideals go away
and the central bureaucracy simply seeks power for the preservation of
power, and often forgets that the theory is that the Empire is the best
judge of the interests of the populace, and the Empire will provide
because the subjects cannot do it. That is when you get naked power,
masked gunmen with machine guns bursting in doors to protect people from
their own follies. But that is inevitable: no matter the high ideals of
those who set up an imperial bureaucracy, finding people who will
administer those laws and regulations, and who can be entrusted to be
uncorrupted by that power, and who will not personally resent any
challenge to the imperial power -- finding the angels to administer a
centrist bureaucracy is impossible. At least for men. Heaven is said to be
an absolute Monarchy. But then so is Hell.
Dr. Mark Huth raises the real question about health. What if citizens
choose what is demonstrably the wrong treatment? Choose to take that which
is clearly not only bad for them, but makes it nearly impossible for the
physician to do anything about it? And all this because products falsely
advertise themselves, or less blatantly, simply do not warn? Or do warn,
but the warnings are not understood? And what if it is very clear that it
is the least able citizen who succumbs to such blandishments, who harms
himself and his children; who thus becomes CLEARLY not the best judge of
his own interest? Dr. Huth can point to many such. So can we all. There
are pharmacias and injectorias no more than 5 miles from my house, places
that administer God knows what to anyone who asks and can pay. They have
no shortage of citizen customers.
And what if there is a large bloc of such citizens, clearly unable to
discern their own best interest? Not a majority, but a lot of them? Does
not a democracy have the right to protect the least able from abuse by
denying the implements of abuse to everyone? Should not we, who know
better, protect those among us who do not? Should we not close down such
places? And from that to the FDA bursting into a vitamin house to seize
tryptophan is not only a short step, but one that we have already taken.
Of such concerns for the less able are despotisms made, but we know
that, and we will be careful. We are, after all, only looking out for
those who cannot look out for themselves. It's for the children, and for
the childlike of any age, that we do this. They must not be permitted to
make such mistakes. And yes, of course this may lead to denying the rest
of us things we would not abuse, but this is a small price. It may lead to
absurdities such as the warnings on power mowers that one should not put
one's fingers under that mower when it is on. Certainly we know that those
who are likely to read and heed that warning would already know it's not a
good idea. But by setting up legal watchdogs to ensnare and bankrupt those
who do not clearly warn the less able of all conceivable dangers, we make
certain that the less able are warned of real dangers.
The question then becomes why allow those "less able", those
so stupid that they do not know not to put their fingers and toes under a
running power mower, an equal vote with those who do know better? What is
their qualification to be part of the governance of a Republic? There is
none. But we must not say that. Empires always insist on spreading
citizenship to all, and acting as if that were important. Therefore we
will empower judges and other aristocrats serving for life and thus are
not subject to the whims of the electorate to have the final sovereignty.
We will have empire.
And so we have, two hereditary nobles contend for power, neither having
the slightest intention of restoring the Republic, neither having any
great qualification for office other than family connections. I am
told that only 17% of those eligible to participate in the primary
elections determined that these will be the two candidates from which will
be chosen our Tiberius. Neither is a bad man. But long ago a sage wailed
that surely the nation could find a better man than Calvin Coolidge. Now I
think there are many who long for a Coolidge. We will get, as Tiberius,
either Bush or Gore. With luck we can go from Tiberius to Claudius without
Caligula.
We have had luck. We have transformed the Republic into an Empire
without civil wars and lists of proscription. No President stood in the
streets of Washington with soldiers ready to strike down any to whom he
did not extend his hand. We have not had military units chasing down
Cicero to cut his throat in obedience to the whims of a popular
general.
John Stuart Mill said that a people insufficiently virtuous to govern
itself should count itself fortunate to have a Charlemagne or an Akbar.
So why have we come to this? Because we will not face the central
problem of a Republic: what do we do with citizens who are clearly unable
to be the best judges of their own interest?
One possible choice is the principle that no matter what we think of
any particular choice, we hold fast to the principle that each man is the
best judge of his own interest.
But then there are those who are so clearly wrong in their choices.
Shall we protect them? But clearly if they are in need of protection from
themselves, the rest of us are in need of protection from them. If we are
to deprive ourselves of options in the name of protecting some, are we not
justified in depriving them of the means for undoing our well meant
actions? Do we not need an emperor to protect us from democracy? And no, I
am not being sarcastic here. It has happened before. The ancients thought
it would always happen.
The problem is one of voter qualifications.
This is a matter we will never discuss, because to bring it up is to
make oneself the target of charges of racism, and being a racist is
equivalent to being a Nazi, and to be a Nazi is automatically to be guilty
of a hate crime, and hate crimes are far worse than ordinary crimes, and
must be punished. And what defense has anyone against an accusation of
thoughtcrime?
Clearly a Republic ought not be governed by those unable to read.
Equally clearly, we have the means to test ability to read as part of the
voting process: you enter the voting booth, and if you don't pass a short
reading test, your vote is not counted. Such a system invites vote fraud,
but we probably have the technology to make it fair and equitable. We
could at the same time throw in a simple test of arithmetic, say the
multiplication of three three-digit numbers, pencil and paper being
supplied. You are permitted to use a calculator on the theory that if
you're smart enough to do that, it's sufficient. You could include a short
history test, and while Palm Pilot and other such devices would make that
an "open book" examination, so what? If you're unable to tell us
whether the Civil War began closest to 1688, 1700, 1776, 1812, 1860, 1898,
or 1914 should you be choosing our president? If you cannot multiply 135
by 638 using pencil and paper or a calculator, should you be voting in
bond elections? We could certainly eliminate the clearly unqualified.
We won't do any of that, of course. We are thus left with the dilemma:
how do we have government to benefit those unable to govern themselves
while entrusting the selection of that government to those very people?
And since that can't be done, we will inevitably move toward an Imperial
system in which the only choice is who shall be Emperor.
So we choose our Tiberius. Will we be spared Caligula? Very likely. Our
Empire is softer, kinder, more benevolent, and so long as the central
authority is not seriously challenged, a great deal of personal freedom
can be allowed, so long as one understands that this is benevolent gift
from the Empire, not a fundamental right of the citizen. And perhaps it is
all to the good. Perhaps it is not such a high price to pay, to save those
who cannot properly be the best judges of their own interest.
I recently sent mail to subscribers. If you subscribe and did not
receive mail, look first at badmail to see
if you are on that; then send to me telling me when and HOW you
subscribed, and whether or not you have got one or more mailings from me
to the subscriber list.
Very recent subscribers will do no harm reminding me they did not
receive the recent mailing, but do check the badmail list.
If you are on the badmail list I presume you'll be able to figure out
what to do, In reporting NEW ADDRESSES please give me the OLD MAIL ADDRESS
as well as the NEW MAIL ADDRESS, and be sure to tell me which is which!
Also the name under which you subscribe will help. And if you paid and I
missed getting you on the list at all, apologies: please tell me WHEN and
HOW you subscribed. My records are not well organized but I never throw
much away...
I am keynote speaker at a conference on Directed Energy Weapons, and
will be gone Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.
MONDAY Evening: I am in Albuquerque and this is not the time to do the
weekly pages change. I spent most of the day on airplanes. Sigh.
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