This, if I'm remembering right, was Zippy's argument for monarchism back in the day. I don't like Papism in general, but I do agree on that point, and my reasoning is thus: Much like guns, there will always be entrenched elites. When you criminalize being an entrenched elite, only the honest ones will refrain from using that power — the crooks will still do their thing, they'll just hide in the floorboards and have the sorcerers poison you to death instead of sending the brute squad to your door.
We ended up ruled by the Usury Tribe either way. There might not be a way to guarantee moral leadership, especially if God Himself has the same problem. In which case, monarchism is the sin of doing evil in hopes of good results.
Maybe that's the whole point of this mortal life. God wants to know who He can trust, and the way to find out is 1. give us the opportunity and 2. give us the incentive to trade Him in, in a controlled environment. If we are loyal to Christ when it hurts then Christ can trust us.
Similarly, God's annoying promises of "you'll be really glad you did this for Me, eventually, after you're dead, in ways I won't describe." He doesn't allow obedience to be an economic decision. He demands our choice be made on the basis of trust.
Oh, absolutely there isn't. There are no guarantees. On the other hand, if and when we find ourselves in the position of having to build a nation, I consider it at least a moral necessity to give the rulers the power to do their jobs, if they have the moral will to do so — which is easier in a monarchy than a democracy, since it requires less good guys to get done.
I would say Christ knows if He can trust us or not, I speculate that happens and we get to know that Christ trusts us. We aren’t left without comfort or consolation by a long shot, the peace of mind is a vastly underrated benefit. Edward Dutton recently interviewed a young lady, who came to Christianity, that part of it was she noticed her lefty college lecturers seemed basically miserable and weird in contrast to her teachers at Catholic school who seemed much more psychologically healthy and happy by comparison.
Well naturally occurring elites are inevitable in every society. Noblesse oblige was still a real thing, I think it played a part in why the UK didn’t go violent leftist for most of its history. The landlords weren’t absentee in the 18th century in England like they were in France (it’s easier to rationalize killing some faceless aristocrat than it is Lord George who sits in the same church with you every Sunday). Also during the first and Second World War, Englands elite famously went into combat arms. It’s harder to grouse about “rich men’s wars”, when Lord George great grandson is right next to you in a trench (I’ve seen the memorial Great War wall at Eton, a lot of rich kids met their end).
Of course the big obvious element in the room is pervasive Christianity. Even if the people involved aren’t personally Christian they seem to imbibe a lot of the values when they it’s just the water they’ve swam in their whole lives.
"The landlords weren’t absentee in the 18th century in England like they were in France"
In point of fact they were, but they exported it. The Irish Potato Famine's root cause was absentee English landlords. Ditto for East India Company. Conversely, the French Revolution was engineered by the Freemasons. It wasn't a peasant revolt.
Having known a few rich men in my life, I know they're just human. Different problems, different lifestyle, but normal human. People who want to be slaves are tempted to fantasize aristocrats into virtuous demigods. There'll always be men of power, but we have only one King.
Well yes and the Irish were violent, but not the English in England. I mean I think that actually proves my point. I’m not saying they’re demigods, I am saying is there are and were worse creatures than the old school English aristos.
Regarding the French, it may have started as an elite plot but King Louis was turned in by peasants and burghers of a small town. A lot of the peasants got on board.
But ultimately of course yeah, God is it. I think stratification is naturally occurring and I think it can be seen in scripture as well. The only real protection against anything is Christ. That’s why when it comes down to it, nothing really matters if men are in rebellion against God. It’s just that when stratification occurs it helps if those men were raised with an understanding of Christian charity and responsibility.
This, if I'm remembering right, was Zippy's argument for monarchism back in the day. I don't like Papism in general, but I do agree on that point, and my reasoning is thus: Much like guns, there will always be entrenched elites. When you criminalize being an entrenched elite, only the honest ones will refrain from using that power — the crooks will still do their thing, they'll just hide in the floorboards and have the sorcerers poison you to death instead of sending the brute squad to your door.
We ended up ruled by the Usury Tribe either way. There might not be a way to guarantee moral leadership, especially if God Himself has the same problem. In which case, monarchism is the sin of doing evil in hopes of good results.
Maybe that's the whole point of this mortal life. God wants to know who He can trust, and the way to find out is 1. give us the opportunity and 2. give us the incentive to trade Him in, in a controlled environment. If we are loyal to Christ when it hurts then Christ can trust us.
Similarly, God's annoying promises of "you'll be really glad you did this for Me, eventually, after you're dead, in ways I won't describe." He doesn't allow obedience to be an economic decision. He demands our choice be made on the basis of trust.
Oh, absolutely there isn't. There are no guarantees. On the other hand, if and when we find ourselves in the position of having to build a nation, I consider it at least a moral necessity to give the rulers the power to do their jobs, if they have the moral will to do so — which is easier in a monarchy than a democracy, since it requires less good guys to get done.
I would say Christ knows if He can trust us or not, I speculate that happens and we get to know that Christ trusts us. We aren’t left without comfort or consolation by a long shot, the peace of mind is a vastly underrated benefit. Edward Dutton recently interviewed a young lady, who came to Christianity, that part of it was she noticed her lefty college lecturers seemed basically miserable and weird in contrast to her teachers at Catholic school who seemed much more psychologically healthy and happy by comparison.
Well naturally occurring elites are inevitable in every society. Noblesse oblige was still a real thing, I think it played a part in why the UK didn’t go violent leftist for most of its history. The landlords weren’t absentee in the 18th century in England like they were in France (it’s easier to rationalize killing some faceless aristocrat than it is Lord George who sits in the same church with you every Sunday). Also during the first and Second World War, Englands elite famously went into combat arms. It’s harder to grouse about “rich men’s wars”, when Lord George great grandson is right next to you in a trench (I’ve seen the memorial Great War wall at Eton, a lot of rich kids met their end).
Of course the big obvious element in the room is pervasive Christianity. Even if the people involved aren’t personally Christian they seem to imbibe a lot of the values when they it’s just the water they’ve swam in their whole lives.
"The landlords weren’t absentee in the 18th century in England like they were in France"
In point of fact they were, but they exported it. The Irish Potato Famine's root cause was absentee English landlords. Ditto for East India Company. Conversely, the French Revolution was engineered by the Freemasons. It wasn't a peasant revolt.
Having known a few rich men in my life, I know they're just human. Different problems, different lifestyle, but normal human. People who want to be slaves are tempted to fantasize aristocrats into virtuous demigods. There'll always be men of power, but we have only one King.
Well yes and the Irish were violent, but not the English in England. I mean I think that actually proves my point. I’m not saying they’re demigods, I am saying is there are and were worse creatures than the old school English aristos.
Regarding the French, it may have started as an elite plot but King Louis was turned in by peasants and burghers of a small town. A lot of the peasants got on board.
But ultimately of course yeah, God is it. I think stratification is naturally occurring and I think it can be seen in scripture as well. The only real protection against anything is Christ. That’s why when it comes down to it, nothing really matters if men are in rebellion against God. It’s just that when stratification occurs it helps if those men were raised with an understanding of Christian charity and responsibility.