Thursday, October 28, 2004
Butler Shaffer and The System
A Rational Choice For November 2nd by Butler Shaffer
I cannot help but respect the opinion of Mr. Shaffer. His insight into the psychology and sociology of politics runs deep. I would like to catch a floating thought, though, in opposition to some elusive part of his thought (or that represented in him, here).
Shaffer writes of the power of many people choosing to refrain from voting. Deny so-called political systems their power, he recommends. What folly it is to support anyone but Bush when we consider the implication that consent is thereby given to tyranny from whoever the alternative might be.
It seems to me that the term political system may not be the most useful of terms, here. To speak of statist systems may perhaps work better, awkward and useless though it may appear on first sight. Lew Rockwell recently used a phrase that has captivated my attention, when speaking of the state as (I paraphrase) the union of power and privilege. If that is the state, let politics simply be understood as the domain of power. Let it be understood as a natural part of existence.
Let it be understood that in politics, it is legitimate to support one party against the other, as the better (or less bad) choice. Let's look forward with eagerness to a day when we can vote for the Peace and Freedom Party, after having consolidated into one camp, after a long and messy process, the lovers of those means of progress and civilization--with eagerness and not with dread, for while it may be messy, and while power may be unpleasant, the goal must always be to extricate power from privilege. And this comes by willingness to use one's power to the good, no less than to use one's privilege to the good.
I may or may not have put my finger on what troubled me.
[unfinished]
Link
I cannot help but respect the opinion of Mr. Shaffer. His insight into the psychology and sociology of politics runs deep. I would like to catch a floating thought, though, in opposition to some elusive part of his thought (or that represented in him, here).
Shaffer writes of the power of many people choosing to refrain from voting. Deny so-called political systems their power, he recommends. What folly it is to support anyone but Bush when we consider the implication that consent is thereby given to tyranny from whoever the alternative might be.
It seems to me that the term political system may not be the most useful of terms, here. To speak of statist systems may perhaps work better, awkward and useless though it may appear on first sight. Lew Rockwell recently used a phrase that has captivated my attention, when speaking of the state as (I paraphrase) the union of power and privilege. If that is the state, let politics simply be understood as the domain of power. Let it be understood as a natural part of existence.
Let it be understood that in politics, it is legitimate to support one party against the other, as the better (or less bad) choice. Let's look forward with eagerness to a day when we can vote for the Peace and Freedom Party, after having consolidated into one camp, after a long and messy process, the lovers of those means of progress and civilization--with eagerness and not with dread, for while it may be messy, and while power may be unpleasant, the goal must always be to extricate power from privilege. And this comes by willingness to use one's power to the good, no less than to use one's privilege to the good.
I may or may not have put my finger on what troubled me.
[unfinished]
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