Enjoyed this very much (in fact it's one of the only pieces I've read of late, since I became immersed in my research on the US 4th Cavalry's 24th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, who liberated my town). As a onetime leftie who believed that we have a duty to shape society in our image (dressed up, obviously, as the Right Way Society Should Be) the arrogance of such control disgusts me. I think you would enjoy the writing of British Academic David McGrogan who writes News From Uncibal. He analyses the creep of the State into every aspect of life in the most compelling way I've seen.
I've always used the term "worldview" to describe one's view of what is right and what is wrong. When this view is particularly rigid, it creates enormous strain on all relationships. I recall a marriage counseling session in which my wife said "everybody I grew up with did it that way," to which the counselor replied, "But honey, Bill didn't grow up with you."
"Romans on the other hand turned basically everyone in the European part of the empire a flavor of Roman early on, then became a lot more Greek after they brought them into the fold, then became Christian much later despite their tiny initial population. This can happen slowly as in the Roman/Christianity case, or very quickly as in the case of Alexander the Great adopting very Persian tendencies as he was conquering them."
This is a pattern I've also noticed. Some of it could be described by the so-called "going native" effect, also highly visible by bello civili era Egypt (and the American West, too). The conqueror begins to adopt the customs of the conquered, and to identify with them in ever deeper ways. Maybe this local mimesis is priced into large, polyglot empires, where the indivudual governors, pashas and bureaucrats feel both the anxiety of aliens and a growing need to distinguish themselves as some more than functionaries.
„… most people don’t recognize that their own sense of what is most important changes over time, and thus was different in the past and will be different in the future.“
Yep. Also you’d have to be plain nuts to agree to five wives.
1. As a religious person, I consider it odd that people interpret the New Testament as a manual for good governance/arranging society. As I read it, it's a manual for individual behavior and salvation. There is no warrant in the NT, that I can see, for forcing people who don't adhere to its tenets to....adhere to its tenets (in order to achieve a better society).
2. One reason society is bad is that people are bad. But a bigger reason that society is bad is because government has power, and it is controlled by people, and people are...bad.
3. I find that in politics, as in life, it's always a good idea to ask "who is we?" It can clarify lots of things.
4. Your conclusion about limited government + freedom seems correct to me, but I always find it hard to explain why I come to the same conclusion. You do a much better job of it. Nice article.
Enjoyed this very much (in fact it's one of the only pieces I've read of late, since I became immersed in my research on the US 4th Cavalry's 24th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, who liberated my town). As a onetime leftie who believed that we have a duty to shape society in our image (dressed up, obviously, as the Right Way Society Should Be) the arrogance of such control disgusts me. I think you would enjoy the writing of British Academic David McGrogan who writes News From Uncibal. He analyses the creep of the State into every aspect of life in the most compelling way I've seen.
I've always used the term "worldview" to describe one's view of what is right and what is wrong. When this view is particularly rigid, it creates enormous strain on all relationships. I recall a marriage counseling session in which my wife said "everybody I grew up with did it that way," to which the counselor replied, "But honey, Bill didn't grow up with you."
Glad to see you back at the presses, Doc.
"Romans on the other hand turned basically everyone in the European part of the empire a flavor of Roman early on, then became a lot more Greek after they brought them into the fold, then became Christian much later despite their tiny initial population. This can happen slowly as in the Roman/Christianity case, or very quickly as in the case of Alexander the Great adopting very Persian tendencies as he was conquering them."
This is a pattern I've also noticed. Some of it could be described by the so-called "going native" effect, also highly visible by bello civili era Egypt (and the American West, too). The conqueror begins to adopt the customs of the conquered, and to identify with them in ever deeper ways. Maybe this local mimesis is priced into large, polyglot empires, where the indivudual governors, pashas and bureaucrats feel both the anxiety of aliens and a growing need to distinguish themselves as some more than functionaries.
„… most people don’t recognize that their own sense of what is most important changes over time, and thus was different in the past and will be different in the future.“
Yep. Also you’d have to be plain nuts to agree to five wives.
I don't know if you already subscribed to Ed West, but he makes similar points to you about nations versus empires
https://www.edwest.co.uk/p/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-good-british
1. As a religious person, I consider it odd that people interpret the New Testament as a manual for good governance/arranging society. As I read it, it's a manual for individual behavior and salvation. There is no warrant in the NT, that I can see, for forcing people who don't adhere to its tenets to....adhere to its tenets (in order to achieve a better society).
2. One reason society is bad is that people are bad. But a bigger reason that society is bad is because government has power, and it is controlled by people, and people are...bad.
3. I find that in politics, as in life, it's always a good idea to ask "who is we?" It can clarify lots of things.
4. Your conclusion about limited government + freedom seems correct to me, but I always find it hard to explain why I come to the same conclusion. You do a much better job of it. Nice article.