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CHAPTER 17
A Warning to
Leaders and Legislators
CONSTANT, SYSTEMATIC
ENCROACHMENTS ON THE ECONOMIC RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE CAN LEAD TO WAR.
What kind of war? We cannot
know for sure. But there are clues:
- Most probably, the war would
be modeled after America's war against British encroachments; and
- It would be imprudent for
the next Washington, Jefferson, etc., to ignore the known principles of war
-- the most famous being those of Carl von Clausewitz.
Following
Clausewitz, the strategy of a war can be inferred from: its causes; its objectives; the
means and policies of the parties; etc.1 Its character, outline, and its
parts can be inferred from: the policies of the parties; their initial conditions; their
political demands; the relations between them; their capacities, capabilities, and
financial resources; the probabilities of the possible outcomes; etc.2
Therefore, we are not
really fully deprived of means of discovery.
The war can be simulated
using thought or gedanken experiments. These can be used to project in advance the
structure of the war, and the manner in which the war can or must unfold. The
important point here is this: we can anticipate the Plan of War. The more important
point is this: we must anticipate what must be done to avoid the war altogether.
The Gedanken Plan of
war is discussed in the next Chapter. The Plan is clearly theoretical and speculative.
It is by design neither comprehensive nor complete. Many factors, conditions,
uncertainties, dangers, alternatives, etc., are not discussed. The Plan contains no
discussion of: (1) how to organize, combine, and deploy forces; (2)
the methods for splitting enemy forces; (3) secret intelligence; (4) psychological
operations; (5) stratagems and deceit; (6) violence, insurrection,
and guerilla warfare; (7) flanking operations; (8) strategic and tactical
methods for disrupting or cutting lines of communications and lines
of retreat, etc. The intellectual basis for the Plan is strictly Carl von Clausewitz's
famous treatise, Vom Kriege or On War, first published posthumously by
Clausewitz's widow in 1832.
Thomas Paine wrote:
"Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered."3 In revealing aspects of the
Gedanken Plan of War, I do not deal with the hell of war; instead, I have three
purposes:
Purpose 1. I want to warn the leaders of the Money
Trust about the potential disasters they may have to confront if the current inequities,
failures, and predatory practices of the marketplace are intensified and globalized. The
People can retaliate against perceived economic attacks against their interests.
More important, the People can impose substantial costs on economic aggressors. A
powerful bank may be able to destabilize individual borrowers -- one borrower at a time; but the people can destabilize the whole financial system -- in one fell
swoop.
Purpose 2. I want to show how the Tyranny of the
Majority can be exercised to achieve with greater perfection what Thomas Paine called the
"Rights of Man."4 The Tyranny of the Majority can
defeat economic aggressions against the People. The Electorate can compel the
Legislature to fulfill the Will of the People. It can direct the Legislature to
restructure the whole Legal System and eliminate the net advantages of Big Business
and Big Government over the People.
Purpose 3. I want to warn Politicians and Legislators
about the causes of the economic instabilities that seem to be emerging everywhere.
The global struggle for world mastery over Man -- as economic servant or slave -- can
be most ruinous. The dominion of the Masters of the Marketplace over Man is not
possible without net advantages for the Masters -- at the expense of the Citizen.
The denying of this reality -- the reality of the corruption of the Legislatives --
can have cataclysmic consequences. If the Legislatives are not altered in the most
fundamental way, they risk assured global dissolution of governments from within.
John
Locke on the Foundation for Rebellion. Locke's warnings against the
destructive dangers to the peace anticipated both the American and the French revolutions.
Locke argued as follows: there is no reason why "honest men" would not rebel
against "mischief" [illegal attempts against liberties or properties];
why? because if "honest men" did not oppose "robbers or pirates," it
wouldn't be "because this may occasion disorder or bloodshed."5
The current economic mischief
is rooted in flawed legislative structures and judicial processes -- in deep inequalities.
Legislators must abolish completely all the unfair, all the unjust net advantages
that are implicate in the System of Laws (more on this in Book III). The principles
of duties and responsibilities must be absolutely consistent with the Principles of
Justice and Fairness.
John
Rawls on Justice. John
Rawls developed two principles of justice:
- "each person is to have
an equal right to the most extensive basic liberty compatible with a similar liberty for
others"; and
- "social and economic
inequalities are to be arranged so that they are both (a) reasonably expected to be to
everyone's advantage, and (b) attached to positions and offices open to all."6
UNFORTUNATELY, MANY
ASPECTS OF JUSTICE EFFECTIVELY VIOLATE RAWLS' "PRIORITY OF LIBERTY" AND
"PRIORITY OF JUSTICE." MOST PEOPLE ARE GIVING UP TOO
MUCH OF THEIR FUNDAMENTAL LIBERTIES FOR TRIVIAL OR DECEPTIVE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC
GAINS.
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See Carl von Clausewitz, On War (1832), edited with an Introduction and Notes
by Anatol Rapoport, 1968, at 241-249 (Strategy), 249-250 (Elements of Strategy), 367-371
(Absolute and Real War), and 401-410 (War as an Instrument of Policy). 2 Ibid., at 371-374
(Interdependence of the Parts in War), especially 373 (character and main outline of war),
374-388 (Of the Magnitude of the Object of the War, and the Efforts to be made),
especially 374 (capabilities), 375 (capacities), and 381 (financial means).
3 See Thomas Paine, American
Crisis I (1776), in Rights of Man, Common Sense, and Other Political Writings,
edited with an Introduction by Mark Philp, 1995, at 63.
4 See Thomas Paine, Rights
of Man (1791 and 1792), in Rights of Man, Common Sense, and Other Political
Writings, 1995, at 83-97 (Answer to Mr Burke's Attack on the French Revolution),
199-331 (Part the Second, Combining Principle and Practice).
5 See John Locke, Second
Treatise of Government (1690), edited by C.B. Macpherson, 1980, at 115.
6 See John
Rawls, A Theory of Justice, 1971, at 60 and 302 (Two Principles of Justice; The
Priority of Liberty and The Priority of Justice over Efficiency and Welfare); see also
John Rawls, Political Liberalism, 1993 and 1996. |
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