Neema Parvini (2022) - The Populist Delusion
Wednesday, August 24, 2022
The Liberal Political Theology | Neema Parvini
Neema Parvini (2022) - The Populist Delusion
The Rulers and the Ruled | Gaetano Mosca
indeed I am opposed to pure democracy precisely because I am a liberal.
I believe that the ruling class ought not to be monolithic and homogeneous
but ought to consist of elements which are diverse in regard to origin and
interests; when, instead, political power originates from a single source,
even if this be elections with universal suffrage, I regard it as dangerous
and liable to become oppressive. Democratic Jacobinism is an illiberal
doctrine precisely because it subordinates everything to a single force,
that of the so-called majority, on which it does not set any limits."
[...] From our point of view there can be no antagonism between state and society. The state is to be looked upon merely as that part of society which performs the political function. Considered in this light, all questions touching interference or noninterference by the state come to assume a new aspect. Instead of asking what the limits of state activity ought to be, we try to find out what the best type of political organization is, which type, in other words, enables all the elements that have a political significance in a given society to be best utilized and specialized, best subjected to reciprocal control and to the principle of individual responsibility for the things that are done in the respective domains.
"Who says organization, says oligarchy. [...] Historical evolution mocks all the prophylactic measures that have been adopted for the prevention of oligarchy." Robert Michels, 1911 |
Gaetano Mosca (1896) - The Ruling Class (Elementi di scienza política).
See also:
Tuesday, August 23, 2022
Who Ever Sets the Price of Gold and Silver | Stephen Mitford Goodson
There was an increase in trade and Rome became one of the most prosperous cities in the ancient world. [...] bronze coins represented national money and were paid into circulation by the state and each was only of value in as much as the symbols on which its numbers were recorded, were scarce or otherwise. This money was thus based on law rather than the metallic content. [...] This can be considered as an early example of the successful use of fiat money.
While fiat money is much criticised in some quarters, for example by the followers of Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises, there is nothing wrong with it, as long as it is issued by government, not by private bankers, and is carefully protected against counterfeiters. Non-fiat money, in contrast, has the serious drawback that who ever sets the prices of gold and silver, i.e. private bankers, can control the nation’s economy.
[...] in September 45 BC, Caesar found the streets and cities crowded with homeless people, who had been forced off the land by usurers and land monopolists. 300,000 people had to be fed daily at the public granary. Usury was flourishing with disastrous consequences. [..] Caesar fully understood the evils of usury and how to counter them. He recognized the profound truth that money is a national agent, created by law for a national purpose, and that no classes of men should withhold it from circulation so as to cause panics, in order that speculators could advance the rates of interest, or could buy up property at ruinous prices after such panic.
Caesar introduced the following social reforms:
- Restoration of property was done at the much lower valuations which held prior to the civil war (49-45 BC).
- Several remissions of rents were granted.
- Large numbers of poor citizens and discharged veterans were settled on allotments.
- Free housing was provided to 80,000 impoverished families.
- Soldiers’ pay was increased from 123 to 225 denarii.
- The corn dole was regulated.
- Provincial communities were enfranchised.
- Confusion in the calendar was removed by fixing it at 365¼ days from 1 January 44 BC.
His monetary reforms were as follows:
- State debt levels were immediately reduced by 25%.
- Control of the mint was transferred from the patricians (usurers) to government.
- Cheap metal coins were issued as the means of exchange.
- It was ruled that interest could not be levied at more than 1% per month.
- It was decreed that interest could not be charged on interest and that the total interest charged could never exceed the capital loaned (in duplum rule).
- Slavery was abolished as a means of settling debt.
- Aristocrats were forced to employ their capital and not hoard it.
Stephen Mitford Goodson (1948 - 2018) was a South African banker, author and politician who was the leader of South Africa's Abolition of Income Tax and Usury Party. He stood as a candidate for the Ubuntu Party in the 2014 General Elections.
Sunday, March 26, 2017
The Developed World Populism Index │ Ray Dalio
On March 22, 2017 Ray Dalio published "Populism: The Phenomenon", a paper that analyzes the role of populism in today’s world and in history. Ray Dalio runs the $150 billion dollar hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest. The paper introduces a "Developed World Populism Index", which Dalio says measures the strength of populism over time. It’s a weighted index of the vote share of anti-establishment parties or candidates in national elections for major developed countries since 1900. The index shows that populism is now at its highest level since the early 1930s. Contemporary populism includes supporters of Donald Trump, UKIP in the UK, AfD in Germany, National Front in France, Podemos in Spain and Five Star Movement in Italy. "Populism is not well understood because, over the past several decades, it has been infrequent in emerging countries (e.g., Chávez’s Venezuela, Duterte’s Philippines, etc.) and virtually nonexistent in developed countries. It is one of those phenomena that comes along in a big way about once a lifetime — like pandemics, depressions, or wars. The last time that it existed as a major force in the world was in the 1930s, when most countries became populist. Over the last year, it has again emerged as a major force."
A portrait of President Andrew Jackson (1829-1837) hangs on the wall behind President Trump in the Oval Office of the White House. Jackson was a rich, bragging populist, who said: "I was born for a storm and a calm doesn’t suit me." Also: "Peace, above all things, is to be desired, but blood must sometimes be spilled to obtain it on equable and lasting terms." Trump like Jackson is a rich, bragging businessman, a narcissist and reality TV star, who never held any public office before. Calm doesn’t suit him either, and millions at the U.S. home front are prepared for storm and blood (see also HERE + HERE). |
"We believe that populism’s role in shaping economic conditions will probably be more powerful than classic monetary and fiscal policies (as well as a big influence on fiscal policies)," writes Dalio and three Bridgewater colleagues. Populism is a political and social phenomenon that arises from the common man, typically not well-educated, being fed up with 1) wealth and opportunity gaps, 2) perceived cultural threats from those with different values in the country and from outsiders, the “establishment elites” in positions of power, and 4) government not working effectively for them, according to Dalio. In other words, populism is a rebellion of the common man against the elites and, to some extend, against the system. In summary, populism is:
- power to the common man.
- through the tactic of attacking the establishment, the elites, and the powerful.
- brought about by wealth and opportunity gaps, xenophobia, and people being fed up with government not working effectively, which leads to the emergence of the strong leader to serve the common man and make the system run more efficiently.
- protectionism.
- nationalism.
- militarism.
- greater conflict, and greater attempts to influence or control the media.
Saturday, October 29, 2016
The Dawn of Transhumanism | Alexander Dugin
Ray Kurzweil, Google's transhumanism-guru, predicts that 20 to 25 years from now, humans will be a hybrid of biological and non-biological intelligence that becomes increasingly dominated by its non-biological component. |
"We are the future like it or not." Zoltan Istvan: The Transhumanist Wager. |
With USD 900 mio. Larry Page established Calico Labs in 2013 with Arthur D. Levinson, ex-chairman of Apple, as part of Alphabet/Google. Calico pursues a cure for aging and associated diseases. In 2014 Mark Zuckerberg, Sergey Brin, and Arthur D. Levinson established the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences to fund research in understanding living systems and promoting life extension (HERE). |
The only ones who are on the opposite side of post-humanism are consistent and fundamental traditionalists. They reject not only the final mutation, but all of Modernity, the very idea of progress and development, the scientific image of the world, and democracy and liberalism. Instead, traditionalists affirmed and affirm God, Church, Empire, caste, power, and folk customs. Not progress. The modern world is not progress, but the result of decline. It is the kingdom of the Antichrist. Fighting against H+ to reject the final transformation dictated by the very logic of the liberal ideology of Modernity while still accepting other aspects of Modernity is meaningless. Transhumanism is the inevitable tomorrow if we agree with what our today is. If we want to change our fate, we must go back in time and understand where we committed the fatal mistake. Holy teachings assert that the devil is capable of almost everything, but he cannot create man. He can only make a parody of man or manufacture his simulacrum. H+ is clearly a scheme of his (see also HERE + HERE).