tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13305228.post8305118709974059464..comments2023-11-02T11:32:38.324+00:00Comments on The Joy of Curmudgeonry: The Democratic TendencyDeogolwulfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02197539477668018797noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13305228.post-16044486198507705992008-09-28T00:17:00.000+01:002008-09-28T00:17:00.000+01:00Mr Jeating, my email address is on my profile.Mr Jeating, my email address is on my profile.Deogolwulfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02197539477668018797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13305228.post-13036599775724037862008-09-25T14:17:00.000+01:002008-09-25T14:17:00.000+01:00Dearieme, on the matter of the oligarchic element ...Dearieme, on the matter of the oligarchic element in modern popular governments, I hope soonish to give my blog's-worth. I imagine that Mr Hume, at the sight of this strong growth out of democratic soil, would ask to be put back in his grave. Fortunately in his lifetime, he was not able to imagine anything quite so ugly.Deogolwulfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02197539477668018797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13305228.post-73080127732600005412008-09-17T01:37:00.000+01:002008-09-17T01:37:00.000+01:00Dear Mr. Deogowulf,at least, now you will know why...Dear Mr. Deogowulf,<BR/>at least, now you will know why I would not often comment on your site: It's 'cause of my ability to not properly articulate myself in English. :)<BR/><BR/>Even more seriously. [Trying to explain]<BR/>Reading your post I started to think of this scenario:<BR/>80 million Germans shouting 'Ah, Sean, you are so marvellous when it comes to criticise, mock, being ironic or even sarcastic; come on, make it better!<BR/>To cut it short: I'd have 'a problem'.<BR/>And that is why I asked the question above.<BR/><BR/>And now - with thanks to the Monty Pythons :) - for something completely different: Would you, trusting on that I am no spammer, give me your email-adress?<BR/>Mine is: <BR/>seanjeating at gmail dot com<BR/><BR/>The peace of the night.<BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/>What about, though, if : 'SeSean Jeatinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08978285783271305489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13305228.post-48409009059453113092008-09-17T00:12:00.000+01:002008-09-17T00:12:00.000+01:00Thanks for the comments, upon which I in my turn h...Thanks for the comments, upon which I in my turn have been too busy and too lazy to comment. On the matter of alternatives to democracy, Mr Jeating, I am not sure what you mean.Deogolwulfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02197539477668018797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13305228.post-70160875783510302202008-09-14T02:33:00.000+01:002008-09-14T02:33:00.000+01:00Dearieme "What would the great man make of the USA...<B>Dearieme</B> "<I>What would the great man make of the USA? On the face of it, it is a Republic of Laws, governed by an elected monarch. It claims to be a democracy. It seems to be an oligarchical kleptocracy, moderated by a judicial whim of iron. Its people are generous and hospitable, its policemen violent buffoons and its lawyers an affront to decency.</I>"<BR/><BR/>*gasp* ;)Ilíonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15339406092961816142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13305228.post-79126664823202999652008-09-14T01:56:00.000+01:002008-09-14T01:56:00.000+01:00As almost always, an interesting read. Thank you.I...As almost always, an interesting read. Thank you.<BR/>I see your points, and I tend to agree to most of them, but* I find myself confronted with the question I am seemingly not able to find a reasonable answer for: What is/can be a/the alternative?<BR/><BR/>Do you, or anyone of your esteemed readers, have it?<BR/><BR/>* ah, I 'love' yes-but constructions ... not. :)Sean Jeatinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08978285783271305489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13305228.post-27191082034648860732008-09-14T01:37:00.000+01:002008-09-14T01:37:00.000+01:00The fallacies of democracy are legion. But perhaps...The fallacies of democracy are legion. But perhaps the keystone of the whole foul arch is the way in which the public mind, the sovereign, the surrogate king, is always cause, never effect.<BR/><BR/>As befits a sovereign, of course. But this in a world of "education," a vast machine made to shape that mind from cradle to grave. La educación es la revolución! The man behind the curtain is not even a man, but something far greater and more grim - an institution.<BR/><BR/>A church, even. And if we acknowledge this cause behind the cause, we see democracy as what it is - theocracy. With or without gods or God. Tocqueville's phrase was "tutelary despotism." Indeed, we serve Jesuits without robes.<BR/><BR/>The irony is that, raised as good democrats, we see this equation as a QED indictment, sealed and delivered, of democracy. And if contradiction suffice, so it is. Condemning theocracy, democracy condemns itself.<BR/><BR/>But contradiction is small vice in a king. And consider the virtues of theocracy - especially our modern brand, centerless, godless and Popeless, Protestant to a fault. (What is atheism, but the ultimate Protestantism?) <BR/><BR/>Stability, <I>pace</I> Metternich, is the great virtue - and democracy has it. The public mind, great beast though it is, is a tremendous anchor, a vast lead ballast, fatally deluded but not mercurial, foolish but not fickle. Democracy is, or at least appears to be, the great remedy for revolution - and if we fail to praise it on this ground, we are less than honest.<BR/><BR/>But for me the fatal flaw is that the anchor drags. In the short term, democracy is remarkably stable. In the long it cannot save itself. Like the "autocracies" it so despises, our theocracy has no fixed center. Our democratic great-grandfathers would be slack-jawed at the Satanic inventions of folly to which their young have fallen prey. But they themselves had great-grandfathers, and of better mettle still. Lucifer's parachute is almost perfect.<BR/><BR/>The lassitude of our great drifting decent, even the rare transient reversal (consider how New York City has retreated from the brink), seems to the reader of history, all the more terrible and inexorable. It is almost enough to wish for some quicker degringolade. For the great direction is clear, and the suspense is brutal. <BR/><BR/>Perhaps there is no better guide than <A HREF="http://books.google.com/books?id=j9X5J0DPYcMC&printsec=toc#PPR3,M1" REL="nofollow">Froude</A>, who a century ago wrote: "The race of men who now inhabit this island of ours show no sign of degeneracy. The bow of Ulysses is as sound as ever; moths and worms have not injured either cord or horn; but it is unstrung, and the arrows which are shot from it drop feebly to the ground." Alas, the moths and worms have had their way. Ulysses needs a new bow. At least. And his sail seems further every year from Ithaca.Mencius Moldbughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16472157249344139282noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13305228.post-37214795168570583862008-09-13T18:44:00.000+01:002008-09-13T18:44:00.000+01:00What would the great man make of the USA? On the ...What would the great man make of the USA? On the face of it, it is a Republic of Laws, governed by an elected monarch. It claims to be a democracy. It seems to be an oligarchical kleptocracy, moderated by a judicial whim of iron. Its people are generous and hospitable, its policemen violent buffoons and its lawyers an affront to decency.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13305228.post-84734989407501179712008-09-12T21:52:00.000+01:002008-09-12T21:52:00.000+01:00This is an extraordinary piece of writing. I'll ha...This is an extraordinary piece of writing. I'll have to mull over it for a bit. But your analysis is exquisite.Magotty Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06039164409659890130noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13305228.post-81744046541530400422008-09-12T16:47:00.000+01:002008-09-12T16:47:00.000+01:00Apparently there are all sorts of creatures, disgu...Apparently there are all sorts of creatures, disguised as people, that act as though they are my commanders.<BR/>Funny isn't it.<BR/>I'm really not interested in them, their 'governments', their criminals, their police or their ideas.<BR/>Obviously they don't possess any products in which I might be interested.Sky Captainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15154273736917461358noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13305228.post-28605459720648158192008-09-12T16:12:00.000+01:002008-09-12T16:12:00.000+01:00But if a man does not like government messing in h...But if a man does not like government messing in his affairs, why does he become a democrat?<BR/><BR/>Does he "become" a democrat?James Highamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14525082702330365464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13305228.post-47662210863727482922008-09-12T08:50:00.000+01:002008-09-12T08:50:00.000+01:00"[I]t's taking me months just to read it as I keep..."[I]t's taking me months just to read it as I keep having to take notes or mark passages of interest."<BR/><BR/>I know the experience.Deogolwulfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02197539477668018797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13305228.post-19134592972148789012008-09-12T08:26:00.000+01:002008-09-12T08:26:00.000+01:00Indeed. The book is a veritable treasure-trove of ...Indeed. The book is a veritable treasure-trove of quotable quotes. Not having much spare time it's taking me months just to read it as I keep having to take notes or mark passages of interest. Not something I would normally do! Great stuff and jam-packed with sticks with which to beat the hand-wringers and whimperers.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13305228.post-44459603002783969122008-09-11T23:26:00.000+01:002008-09-11T23:26:00.000+01:00Ah, that's a great quote, Mr Horne. (I used it her...Ah, that's a great quote, Mr Horne. (I used it here: http://curmudgeonjoy.blogspot.com/2007/09/authority-and-freedom.html)Deogolwulfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02197539477668018797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13305228.post-47476276635557836462008-09-11T22:45:00.000+01:002008-09-11T22:45:00.000+01:00Bertrand De Jouvenel on where it's going:"Where wi...Bertrand De Jouvenel on where it's going:<BR/>"Where will it end? In the destruction of all other command for the benefit of one alone-that of the state.In each man's absolute freedom from every family and social authority, a freedom the price of which is complete submission to the state.In the complete equality as between themselves of all citizens, paid for by their equal abasement before the power of their absolute master-the state. In the disappearance of every constraint which does not emanate from the state, and in the denial of every pre-eminence which is not approved by the state. In a word, it ends in the atomization of society, and in the rupture of every private tie between man and man, whose only bond is now their common bondage to the state. The extremes of individualism and socialism meet: that was there predestined course."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com