Great essay, but I think when you enshrine equality it’s not mediocrity that you get, but the lowest common denominator…degeneracy. Only way to make everyone equal is to pull everyone down to the same level.
Interesting, will have to ponder this. I do understand the problem with letting everyone vote. Less sure about meritocracy being an inherently bad thing...heres my half baked thoughts.
1) To vote you should have to have kids (adopted counts) own property, and pay more into the government than you recieve. Serving in the armed services offers a waiver.
2) The orgins of the aristocracy were meritocracy. Some tribes man was bigger and stronger than the rest and earned a leadership position by earning the respect/fear/trust of his peers. He passed these rights on to his sons who, inherited the fathers loyal soldiers but may or may not have possessed the attributes that made the father a leader. Maybe he has a rebellion and gets replaced by an upstart. Eventually, some guy ammasses enough resources and has a way to consistently and safely transfer them to his progeny that a stable aristocracy is created. If the aristocracy continues to provide some sort of value to those under them and fend off external threats, they will likely remain in power. The aristocracy was replaced because they retained the privledge, lost their virtue, and abandoned their responsibilities of providing a job, a sort of financial safety net, protection, and moral leadership. The aristocracy abandoning their responsibilities leads to class warfare. I do believe in the idea of a merit/inherited aristocracy. You become an aristocrat by either inheriting or createing wealth. Both can be considered aristocrat's if they see their privledged position not as one to exploit the peasants who are "equal" to them, but recognize that the well being if the peasants is to some extent their responsibility. The peasants are expected carry out their own responsibilities with virtue, otherwise the aristocrats have no moral responsibility for their well being. This means not shipping your workers jobs off to China. If you do that your not an aristocrat and should not be surprised to get a populist peasants rebellion.
Thank you for this essay. It makes me more aware of how dangerous words can be when the original meaning changes. For example, "all men are created equal" originally meant equally endowed with the inalienable right not to be killed, enslaved, or robbed, although "men" didn't necessarily extend to women, children, or males of certain races.
You correctly imply that it has come to mean that some people can be killed, enslaved, and robbed to provide other people with the "right" to education, healthcare, a "living wage," and any number of other things that people want. The right to "vote" is one of the most egregious errors.
I complain about the word "equity," but it grew out of the misinterpretation of "equality." Likewise, meritocracy grew out of the misinterpretation of merit to mean a measurable "expertise" rather than earned ability of all kinds. And, of course, merit was not originally meant to confer a right to rule.
I've started reading "The Bushido of Bitcoin" and appreciate your insights. I've been contemplating how the virtues of stoicism--wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice--have been perverted or denied altogether in our culture. Virtue itself has been perverted into virtue-signaling while denigrating the very concept of virtue. I expect to read more about similar ideas in your book.
- To claim that people are not created equal is a fascist approach.
- The excellence you are striving for, who defines it? Is it an universal standard?
- Athenian democracy was different from modern, so what? Why should it be our base model?
- Why don't you write a piece on russian "democracy" and see how it fares? There exists all the pieces you mention: the muscle flexer, the elite, the narod etc.
Actually, I'm gradually growing apart from your philosophy. I can't shake the thought of you covertly carrying a russian ideology/heritage. Please disclose your ties to russia, if there are any. That would a warrior-move.
Great essay, but I think when you enshrine equality it’s not mediocrity that you get, but the lowest common denominator…degeneracy. Only way to make everyone equal is to pull everyone down to the same level.
True.
Interesting, will have to ponder this. I do understand the problem with letting everyone vote. Less sure about meritocracy being an inherently bad thing...heres my half baked thoughts.
1) To vote you should have to have kids (adopted counts) own property, and pay more into the government than you recieve. Serving in the armed services offers a waiver.
2) The orgins of the aristocracy were meritocracy. Some tribes man was bigger and stronger than the rest and earned a leadership position by earning the respect/fear/trust of his peers. He passed these rights on to his sons who, inherited the fathers loyal soldiers but may or may not have possessed the attributes that made the father a leader. Maybe he has a rebellion and gets replaced by an upstart. Eventually, some guy ammasses enough resources and has a way to consistently and safely transfer them to his progeny that a stable aristocracy is created. If the aristocracy continues to provide some sort of value to those under them and fend off external threats, they will likely remain in power. The aristocracy was replaced because they retained the privledge, lost their virtue, and abandoned their responsibilities of providing a job, a sort of financial safety net, protection, and moral leadership. The aristocracy abandoning their responsibilities leads to class warfare. I do believe in the idea of a merit/inherited aristocracy. You become an aristocrat by either inheriting or createing wealth. Both can be considered aristocrat's if they see their privledged position not as one to exploit the peasants who are "equal" to them, but recognize that the well being if the peasants is to some extent their responsibility. The peasants are expected carry out their own responsibilities with virtue, otherwise the aristocrats have no moral responsibility for their well being. This means not shipping your workers jobs off to China. If you do that your not an aristocrat and should not be surprised to get a populist peasants rebellion.
These are very good {half baked} thoughts.
I agree with both
Thank you for this essay. It makes me more aware of how dangerous words can be when the original meaning changes. For example, "all men are created equal" originally meant equally endowed with the inalienable right not to be killed, enslaved, or robbed, although "men" didn't necessarily extend to women, children, or males of certain races.
You correctly imply that it has come to mean that some people can be killed, enslaved, and robbed to provide other people with the "right" to education, healthcare, a "living wage," and any number of other things that people want. The right to "vote" is one of the most egregious errors.
I complain about the word "equity," but it grew out of the misinterpretation of "equality." Likewise, meritocracy grew out of the misinterpretation of merit to mean a measurable "expertise" rather than earned ability of all kinds. And, of course, merit was not originally meant to confer a right to rule.
I've started reading "The Bushido of Bitcoin" and appreciate your insights. I've been contemplating how the virtues of stoicism--wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice--have been perverted or denied altogether in our culture. Virtue itself has been perverted into virtue-signaling while denigrating the very concept of virtue. I expect to read more about similar ideas in your book.
Thankyou for this very thoughtful comment. 🙏🏼
Short comments:
- To claim that people are not created equal is a fascist approach.
- The excellence you are striving for, who defines it? Is it an universal standard?
- Athenian democracy was different from modern, so what? Why should it be our base model?
- Why don't you write a piece on russian "democracy" and see how it fares? There exists all the pieces you mention: the muscle flexer, the elite, the narod etc.
Actually, I'm gradually growing apart from your philosophy. I can't shake the thought of you covertly carrying a russian ideology/heritage. Please disclose your ties to russia, if there are any. That would a warrior-move.
😂😂😂😂