Quote of the Month

Wrote Dr. Thomas Fleming:

Democracy, in declaring that every moral issue can be determined by majoritarian politics, is a corrosive and revolutionary force that first destroys the social, then the cultural, and now the moral order. It is on the verge of attacking the natural order: Do not be surprised if Congress, while outlawing pet chimpanzees, permits intermarriage among all primates.

previous

Democracy and Self-Determination

Gerard N. Casey reflects on the concept of political representation.

He writes:

In the arena of governmental justification, democracy is the only game in town, for if there is a fundamental article of faith in the contemporary world, it is not that God is dead or that soccer is the beautiful game; it is, rather, that democracy is a good thing. So entrenched, so widespread, so accepted is this belief that to call it into question is to invite bafflement, bewilderment, bemusement and, when it becomes apparent that one is not joking, dismay, disbelief, and derision.

And also:

[E]ven in our sophisticated modern states, however elegant the rhetoric and however persuasive the propaganda, some rule and others are ruled.

We may also be reminded of one of the many things the great and late Erik Maria Ritter von Kuehnelt-Leddihn said:

We are always ruled, there is no escape.

The blog comments link to an article by one Barry Loberfeld, who writes:

As the no-end-in-sight march of greater government demonstrates, there is no reason to think that democracy is a check on despotism. An electoral majority can indeed embrace the concept and agenda of unlimited statism. “Totalitarian democracy” exists, not merely as a troubling conjecture, but as a threatening possibility.

The Joy of Curmudgeonry also draws our attention to a classic quote by G.K. Chesterton:

It is a most extraordinary fact that all modern talk about self-determination is applied to everything except the self.

2 Years Old

On the occasion of this weblog's 2^nd anniversary, I am doing a self-interview.

Q: You run a blog in support of the Old European Order, but there have been a lot of off-topic posts?
A: What do you mean?

Q: Aren't you blogging a lot about the financial crisis? Isn't that off-topic?
A: Certainly not. This blog is about the decline of civilization; unchecked democracy, cultural decline, pervasive government, unsound money, etc. World War I destroyed civilization as we knew it, and we have seen much decline since too.

Q: Do you blame all of that on Woodrow Wilson?
A: His revolution certainly has a lot to answer for. He was certainly not alone, and there were pioneers before him. Also, there were people who came after him. World War I was an immense attack on the immune system of our civilization. There were diseases before, some of them quite severe, but that war destroyed the immune system, making our civilization vulnerable to so many modernist diseases. If it weren't for American intervention – and phoney neutrality, for that matter – the Old Order would have had a good chance of survival.

Q: You blame World War One on Woodrow Wilson? He certainly didn't start it! Didn't the Old Order do that?
A: The Old Order attempted suicide, but it was Wilson and his cronies who pushed it off the bridge.

Q: But since the monarchs started it, weren't they responsible for all those lost lives? Wasn't it right to emasculate them?
A: It was not the monarchs who pushed for war. Yes, they were responsible. They should have done more to prevent it. The fact is that the monarchs were not sufficiently serving as checks on the politicos. The modernist response to this, however, is to abolish whatever is left of checks. That's modernist logic in a nutshell.

Q: Emperor-King Franz Josef gave in because of old age. Isn't that an argument against monarchy?
A: That is indeed a republican argument against monarchy, whereas if a President is too old, that's a republican argument for reform, not abolition.

Q: You present yourself as an Adult Third Culture Kid. What do you mean by that?
A: A Third Culture Kid is a child who has spent a significant time in one or more other cultures than his own. An adult TCK is one such who has grown up.

Q: And you partly grew up in Africa?
A: Yes, I did.

Q: Doesn't that make you a multi-culturalist?
A: Certainly not! I respect – and to some extent even enjoy – other peoples' cultures, and I am partly a mix myself. However, the attempt at making a porridge of it all is indeed perilous. Moreover, Western culture – what's left of it, that is – must be defended. It has gone so far that we also need a restoration.

Q: What is the most valuable asset you bring with you from this “third culture” upbringing?
A: I believe it is the ability to see things from more perspectives, in particular to see your own society from the “outside,” as I was never quite like the others. We need to see through the “mist” created by the modernists.

Q: Do you believe that government should be of laws, rather than of men?
A: I believe in it as an ideal.

Q: But still you are a monarchist?
A: Modern democratic government is certainly rule by legislation, but there are more bureaucrats and politicians than ever, and that certainly is government of men. Laws seems to change more often than people change their shirts. We must remember that classical monarchy often governed under law that could not easily be changed at a whim. The Baron of Montesquieu defined monarchy as government with a monarch governing according to fundamental law.

Q: Gerald Ford is known to have said that the American Republic is a success, as it was a government of laws, rather than of men. What is your comment to that?
A: That must have been a joke. Well, many people make unintended jokes. Even at his time that was a joke. Even more so now.

Q: Your blog may be considered by many not be exactly friendly to American ideas. Do you consider yourself Anti-American? Do you hate America and Americans?
A: Absolutely not! I am opposed to a whole lot that comes from that part of the world, but far from everything. A lot of Americans – and also some non-American fans of America – consider their fight for independence an act of bringing the world out of darkness. I find this concept repulsive, and it is false. However, I do not consider myself anti-American. Given recent developments in those United States, it would not surprise me, though, if I were classified as a “terrorist,” being a foreign dissenter. We must also remember that the ideas of liberty in large part came from Europe. The further we get from Wilson's revolution – and American independence, for that matter – the more it comes clear that the rejection of monarchy was not particularly wise. I went to an international elementary school, where the largest nationality group was American. I find it hard to understand how I could hate Americans or America.

Q: Do you consider an American monarchy a viable option?
A: Apart from perhaps the Kingdom of Hawai'i, no. I think it was unwise to abandon monarchy, but it would also be unwise to “return” to monarchy for that nation with no tradition for monarchy. It would be better to return to earlier republican traditions. Wilsonian mass democracy should be rejected. I support the Ron Paul movement, which supports going back to earlier republican traditions domestically and ending the Wilsonian World Order.

Q: Let me get this straight; you focus mostly on monarchy, but also on other issues of ills in our time?
A: I do nothing of the kind!

Q: Would you please explain?
A: Focusing is nothing I do more or less. I either focus or I do not. I have maximum one focal point at a time. Focusing is nothing I do on this blog. I emphasize certain issues more than others. Some issues are simply off-topic.

Q: Getting into the English language now? Isn't that going a bit high, since you're not a native English speaker?
A: Abuse of terms is a phenomenon also in other languages. Abuse of the word focus is not exclusive to the English language. Besides, I'm an international school brat, so mastering English isn't my worst problem.

Q: You do seem nitpicky with words?
A: The decline in language is part of the modern decline. It is part of the problem with modernism. The philosophy that words don't matter must be fought. Besides, Kong Fuzi told us that when words lose their meaning, people lose their liberty.

Q: When your scope is so wide, are there really any topics that are off-topic?
A: If I started posting general public speaking advice, that would certainly be off-topic. Astronomy, also, would be off-topic, unless it somehow, e.g., is related to the weakness of “omnipotent government.”

Q: You have an affection for aristocracy. How does that align with John Maynard Keynes being a nobleman?
A: Being an aristocrat does not necessarily make you right. Neither does being a monarch. Monarchy and aristocracy are good concepts in general, but I do not deny that there have been bad monarchs and bad aristocrats. The American electorate has elected a gang of no-goods in Washington, D.C. who do everything to make the crisis worse. That should be enough to put decent and intelligent people off any positive view of democracy. That said, Keynes was not born an aristocrat, he was created a Baron. Also, the peerage became extinct upon his demise due to his inability to produce an issue. He had no new generations of his own to worry about when he left this world and the rest of us with the long run.

Q: Do you believe Lord Keynes was intelligent?
A: I hear they say he was. I have no reason to belive he wasn't. I believe you can be extremely intelligent without understanding economics. The MIT students who later have ended up in Wall Street making and using models that have serious problems when it comes to economic reality are probably very smart. I have no reason to believe that they are not extremely intelligent. Especially when you are very smart, it is important that you are wise enough to understand that your central management of society and the economy will not work out well. Perhaps that was a major part of the problem with Woodrow Wilson as well.

"Modernist" Explained

Sir Humphrey explains what a modernist is:



H/T: Lew Rockwell, the LRC Blog

Nepal

“The Prime Minister of Nepal” is – on these two last days of March – making an “official visit” to the Kingdom of Norway.

On this occasion, the readers are reminded that Wilson Revolution Umplugged does not recognize the Republic of Nepal.

Long live King Gyanendra!

This Crazy World

Peter Schiff with a lot of sense, as usual, on Morning Joe:



Judge Andrew P. Napolitano, Lew Rockwell, and Peter Schiff on Freedom Watch about following in the footsteps of the Weimar Republic and Zimbabwe:



There is international political opposition to the crazy spending, notably in Germany and the Kingdom of Spain. So the Sunday Times reports.

"Earth Hour" and George Carlin

David Kramer of the LRC Blog recommended watching the late George Carlin for “Earth Hour”:

Nepalese Restoration?

Over at the American Chronicle, Mr. Rudra Sharma reflects on the prospects of a restoration.

Daniel Hannan MEP

Daniel Hannan MEP put the British Prime Minister in his place earlier this week:



The interview with Neil Cavuto:



The interview with Glenn Beck:



The interview with Sean Hannity:



On Channel 4:



The MEP deserves much credit for this much needed attack on Mr. Gordon Brown and his crazy economic policies.

That said, his rose-colored view of democracy is not to be commended. It is interesting how Mr. Hannan rejects his rising to the position of Prime Minister based on his own minimal government philosophy and how politics works, whereas the “solution” so often seems to be more democracy. This is not an uncommon way of thinking though.

AngloAustria thinks Mr. Hannan should be made King.

The Austro-Swiss Border 90 Years Ago

90 years ago today, the Austro-Hungarian Imperial and Royal Family arrived at the Austro-Swiss border in an Imperial train and departed Austria – under the protection of the icon of this weblog, Lt.-Col. Edward Lisle Strutt.

Stefan Zweig reported in The World of Yesterday that he met the Imperial train when reentering Austria. Also, Stefan Zweig committed suicide in the Brazilian Imperial City of Petrópolis in 1942.

Stefan Zweig was at the Austro-Swiss border, at Feldkirch, when the Imperial-Royal Family departed the land. He regretted the loss of the old European culture. He departed this world in the Imperial City of Brazil, the town that above all represents the old order of Brazil, seeing no hope for civilization.

At Feldkirch, the Emperor-King issued the Feldkirch Manifesto, declaring the November 11 power renunciation – so often referred to as an abdication, but erroneously so – null and void, and denouncing the authority of the republican government. It was thanks to the Lt.-Col. that the Emperor could leave as Emperor. The power renunciation was bad enough. The republican Chancellor, however, had demanded an abdication as a condition for departure. Strutt put him in his place.



Previously.

Eckartsau 90 Years Ago

90 years ago today, the Austro-Hungarian Imperial and Royal Family departed the hunting lodge at Eckartsau, where the Emperor-King and his family had been in internal exile since the end of the war, under various protection, the last three and a half weeks led by this weblog's icon, Lt.-Col. Edward Lisle Strutt.

The family left for external exile in the Helvetic Confederation in an Imperial train, also under the protection of Lt.-Col. Strutt.

Hunt Tooley on the Habsburgs

Dr. Hunt Tooley of the Independent Institute and Professor at Austin College has recently posted on Habsburg history at Design of a Violent Century.

He promises more.

The Stamp Act

A dozen score and four years ago today, the Stamp Act was passed.

The Printing Press

The Western Confucian has an interesting list of material on the U.S. Federal Reserve's recent decision of “starting” to “print” money.

Brussels Sensitivity Tyranny

The EU bans “sexist” language. So the Daily Mail reports (via LRC).

Kong Fuzi told us:

When words lose their meaning, people lose their liberty.

In Defense of Gold

Dr. Robert P. Murphy defends the gold standard.

Stossel on Bailouts and Bull

John Stossel's Bailouts and Bull (in 6 parts, all in one player):




H/T: Tim Swanson, Mises Economics Blog

Peasant as Master

I have an article over at the Intellectual Conservative in connection with the Lincoln bicentenary on the “grand” concept that anyone can be President.




Update: Also at The Monarchist

"Old World Unlimited Government"

Over at Taki's Magazine, Dr. Kevin R. C. Gutzman laments how the Constitution of those United States is ending.

I have no doubt Dr. Gutzman is an excellent constitutional scholar. However, he ends his article with the following paragraph:

New in America, but old everywhere else. It seems that the Constitution is stone, cold dead, and no one even notices its absence anymore. America, like the Old World countries of 1789, has unlimited government. My unhappy guess is that we will soon see what it is worth.

If only! If only what we were getting is Old World “unlimited” government!

Tax Haven Setback

Tax havens of Europe are giving in on bank secrecy. So the AFP reports.


H/T: David Kramer, the LRC Blog

The February Revolution

Four years short of eight dozen years ago today, the February Revolution broke out in the Russian Imperial capital.

U.S. Constitution

Eleven score years ago today, the United Constitution took effect.

Mob Quote

Dan Eldon was a young photojournalist on assignment for Reuters in Mogadishu, Somalia, ready to leave for Nairobi on July 12, 1993, when he was called to the scene of a bombing by UN forces. An angry mob stoned him to death. The young man's life was cut short two months and six days before he was to turn 23.

I learnt of Mr. Eldon's tragic death several years ago, unable to recall exactly when. I have also known of his posthumously published books for some years.

This weekend I picked up The Journey is the Destination from the local library.

Less than a year before his stoning, Mr. Eldon wrote:

The hardest situation to deal with is a frenzied mob, because they cannot be reasoned with.

A frenzied mob was what brought him down.

Yet, we are told that rule based on the masses is the best form of government devised.


Mr. Daniel Robert Eldon had been a schoolmate of yours truly. I did not know him personally or otherwise.