But how had the mystic thing been caught? Whisper it not, and I will tell; with a treacherous hook and line, as the fowl floated on the sea.Herman Melville
Weakening of the Congress and Change in the Political Culture
In the second decade of the 21st century, there was still a weak but visible tendency for change in the value systems of the Western societies. In more significant economic and social upheavals, some citizens of Western countries seem inclined to replace freedom with efficiency, and the possibility of individual choice – with consumerism and domestic comfort. Since the beginning of the new millennium, in the countries of the Western world, there has been an ongoing process of unification in ...
America – Back to the Old World?
The entire history of the American nation can be described by one phrase: “an aspiration for personal freedom and independence from the state.” Classical Americanism is a natural human aspiration that precedes the US Constitution. It is an expression of the will of the people to be left in peace to live their lives as freely as possible, without being stifled by the state.If there is a country whose name, when uttered, is the equivalent of “capitalism,” it is the United States. ...
The State that Promises Everything
Dash the nose from Phidias's marble Jove, and what a sorry remainder! Nevertheless, Leviathan is of so mighty a magnitude, all his proportions are so stately, that the same deficiency which in the sculptured Jove were hideous, in him is no blemish at all. Nay, it is an added grandeur. A nose to the whale would have been impertinent.
Justice – The Burden of the Modern State
“What is just?” is obviously one of the most-asked questions in the political history of the world. Its answer is, in principle, impossible. Many of us have often wondered how it is possible for a certain politician or ruler to be so ignorant and incapable of the position he holds. And to embody in such an amazing and incontrovertible way the definition of “remarkably stupid.” People often say that it is not fair for “remarkably stupid” politicians to be elected and to exercise ...
Justice in the Premodern State
Shifting the focus from “Who makes the decision?” to “How is a given decision made?” subjects the process of governing to the power of procedures and, in this way, limits the rulers. This process is carried out through written regulations, without the ruler’s right to decide being called into question. The creation of statutes governing how rulers make decisions has been known since antiquity and has gone through different variations, according to the specificities of the countries ...
Is it Important Who Rules
Unfortunately, the philosophical treatise with the most significant literary value, which became the most influential book in the political history of mankind, is Plato’s The Republic. I say “unfortunately” because The Republic is a masterfully created illusion. It suggests that it is possible to have a wise and good ruler who cares for the welfare of the state and who, through his own judgment, guided by his own ethical criteria, can adjudicate and govern justly. Plato suggests that this ...
From “Who?” to “How?
The question whose answer shaped the pattern of human behavior in all forms of states previous to the republic founded on written a constitution is “Who decides?”. After the first modern republican constitution and the establishment of constitutional monarchies, this question changed to “How is a given decision made?”Even in imitations of republics – the so-called “democratic republics” in the former communist world and its remnants, or those in one-party and theocratic ...