Thank You Barry for once again. telling it like it is. Your assessment of our two “choices” is spot on. I’m enthusiastically supporting RFK Jr. He’s demonstrating great courage in answering the call. As always, words are insufficient to express the value of your presence and contributions.
In parallel with Marcus Aurelius' meditations, I am preparing spiritually for Easter with the Jesuit community (not my confession, but they welcomed me as a spiritual pilgrim, in fact a very
lost sheep -:)).
Since you mentioned Pascal, who gave up science for religion, I'll make a reference to a passage in the Bible, which I came across these days, and which Pascal probably knew it very well.
John 3:19 ... light came into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil things hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds be revealed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light...".
I am shocked by many passages that seem so timely and yet written more than two millennia ago. Just as Marcus Aurelius said nothing ever changes...
1. Notebook 7:1 "What is badness? It is that which thou hast often seen. And on the occasion of everything which happens keep this in mind, that it is that which thou hast often seen. Everywhere up and down thou wilt find the same things, with which the old histories are filled, those of the middle ages and those of our own day; with which cities and houses are filled now. There is nothing new: all things are both familiar and short-lived."
2. Notebook 9:14 "All things are the same, familiar in experience, and ephemeral in time, and worthless in the matter. Everything now is just as it was in the time of those whom we have buried."
3. Notebook 10:27 "Constantly consider how all things such as they now are, in time past also were; and consider that they will be the same again. And place before thy eyes entire dramas and stages of the same form, whatever thou hast learned from thy experience or from older history; for example the whole court of Hadrianus, and the whole court of Antoninus, and the whole court of Philippus, Alexander, Croesus; for all those were such dramas as we see now, only with different actors."
Great post Barry! You mentioned principles. Principles form a bedrock upon which we can judge a candidate's positions or a law's validity. This bedrock has slowly been eroded. For many, principles are shifting sands - what feels right.
In Liberty and Property, Mises explains that the goal of society is to create "a sphere in which the individual is free to think, to choose, and to act without being restrained by the interference of...the State". Why? Essentially, because centralized control is less efficient than the free market. Centralized control leads to poverty; the free market to overall prosperity. Centralized control requires submission and obedience. Society stagnates and declines. The free market demands self-responsibility and social cooperation. Society flourishes. At least it has a better chance of flourishing.
I rarely hear candidates speak about these principles - mostly us versus them. RFK, jr. is a rare exception. He's not perfect, but I do feel like he's genuine. That said. It really doesn't matter who's in the White House as long as the majority of voting citizens have no real understanding of the benefits of a free society. We're in a war of ideas. It is not between left and right. It is between empty promises of gifts from the public trough that lead to violence, degradation, and starvation and the very real promise that through discipline, effort, and the desire to be of value to our neighbor we can collectively survive and thrive in this life.
Thank you for framing the issues so well, as always. As a municipal debt analyst, I recall Trump and Atlantic City. I may not agree with many of RFK Jr’s positions on issues, but am inclined to believe that we could return to a nation where it is okay to disagree and engage in lively debate of the issues. Channeling my inner Feynman here, but just in the area of science, we watch as those who run afoul of the narrative are marginalized at best. If anyone reads The Uncertainty of Science, they will know it is the “wrong results” relative to retrying experiments that further innovation, not lockstep agreement with shoehorned settled theories. I think this is true of all disciplines I cannot imagine what it is like at universities today but when I was at Columbia, we discussed the Yom Kippur War. There were people from many nations, and none left the table in rancor (International House was my dormitory at that time). I listened to a speech RFK Jr delivered in Germany several years ago and thought, ‘I wonder. Could he be that person for these times?”
Thank You Barry for once again. telling it like it is. Your assessment of our two “choices” is spot on. I’m enthusiastically supporting RFK Jr. He’s demonstrating great courage in answering the call. As always, words are insufficient to express the value of your presence and contributions.
Vincent, Thank you for the kind note which is very much appreciated.
RFK Jr. 's courage is indeed off the charts.
No matter who is elected America is in for a rough ride; with RFK, though, we will get real leadership and belief in the Constitution.
In parallel with Marcus Aurelius' meditations, I am preparing spiritually for Easter with the Jesuit community (not my confession, but they welcomed me as a spiritual pilgrim, in fact a very
lost sheep -:)).
Since you mentioned Pascal, who gave up science for religion, I'll make a reference to a passage in the Bible, which I came across these days, and which Pascal probably knew it very well.
John 3:19 ... light came into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil things hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds be revealed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light...".
I am shocked by many passages that seem so timely and yet written more than two millennia ago. Just as Marcus Aurelius said nothing ever changes...
Perhaps lost but never separated from Nature.
Thanks for 3.19.
More on nothing changing in my Saturday post.
Looking forward, Barry! Thank you!
I found the texts in Marcus Aurelius -:):
1. Notebook 7:1 "What is badness? It is that which thou hast often seen. And on the occasion of everything which happens keep this in mind, that it is that which thou hast often seen. Everywhere up and down thou wilt find the same things, with which the old histories are filled, those of the middle ages and those of our own day; with which cities and houses are filled now. There is nothing new: all things are both familiar and short-lived."
2. Notebook 9:14 "All things are the same, familiar in experience, and ephemeral in time, and worthless in the matter. Everything now is just as it was in the time of those whom we have buried."
3. Notebook 10:27 "Constantly consider how all things such as they now are, in time past also were; and consider that they will be the same again. And place before thy eyes entire dramas and stages of the same form, whatever thou hast learned from thy experience or from older history; for example the whole court of Hadrianus, and the whole court of Antoninus, and the whole court of Philippus, Alexander, Croesus; for all those were such dramas as we see now, only with different actors."
Great post Barry! You mentioned principles. Principles form a bedrock upon which we can judge a candidate's positions or a law's validity. This bedrock has slowly been eroded. For many, principles are shifting sands - what feels right.
In Liberty and Property, Mises explains that the goal of society is to create "a sphere in which the individual is free to think, to choose, and to act without being restrained by the interference of...the State". Why? Essentially, because centralized control is less efficient than the free market. Centralized control leads to poverty; the free market to overall prosperity. Centralized control requires submission and obedience. Society stagnates and declines. The free market demands self-responsibility and social cooperation. Society flourishes. At least it has a better chance of flourishing.
I rarely hear candidates speak about these principles - mostly us versus them. RFK, jr. is a rare exception. He's not perfect, but I do feel like he's genuine. That said. It really doesn't matter who's in the White House as long as the majority of voting citizens have no real understanding of the benefits of a free society. We're in a war of ideas. It is not between left and right. It is between empty promises of gifts from the public trough that lead to violence, degradation, and starvation and the very real promise that through discipline, effort, and the desire to be of value to our neighbor we can collectively survive and thrive in this life.
Wow, Scott! I'm moved by your clear and beautiful expression of timeless truths and where we are today.
Thank you for framing the issues so well, as always. As a municipal debt analyst, I recall Trump and Atlantic City. I may not agree with many of RFK Jr’s positions on issues, but am inclined to believe that we could return to a nation where it is okay to disagree and engage in lively debate of the issues. Channeling my inner Feynman here, but just in the area of science, we watch as those who run afoul of the narrative are marginalized at best. If anyone reads The Uncertainty of Science, they will know it is the “wrong results” relative to retrying experiments that further innovation, not lockstep agreement with shoehorned settled theories. I think this is true of all disciplines I cannot imagine what it is like at universities today but when I was at Columbia, we discussed the Yom Kippur War. There were people from many nations, and none left the table in rancor (International House was my dormitory at that time). I listened to a speech RFK Jr delivered in Germany several years ago and thought, ‘I wonder. Could he be that person for these times?”
Thanks, Carol.
"Could he be that person for these times?" If we are ready to do our inner work, yes.