From autumn 2017 to about the middle of 2019, I was a
member of an eclectic club called WriterBeat. A specially crafted, US-hosted
website was opened up by its administrator, Autumn Cote, to writers of many
diverse points of view. Politically, the group ranged from wacky far left to
Christian evangelist right, touching most points in between. The idea was that
any member could put an article out there, and others were expected to comment
and to interact with each other. The discussions were extensive and lively!
There were rules of procedure and politeness, not all of
which were followed. So, there were many disputes among the participants – not
all about politics. But overall, it worked quite well. Unfortunately, as it
became more successful, the site creaked more and more. And money could not be
found to re-develop it. So, it eventually had to be closed down.
During the almost two years I was involved, I kept the
comments I had made, on both my own and other people’s threads. This essay is made
up from some of the pithier extracts from those comments. Although many of the
ideas have been, more or less subtly, developed over the intervening years, this
is as good a brief summary as I can give – even now – of my ideas on politics,
government and related matters.
I have grouped the ideas under headings. Within each
heading, I have retained the comments in as close as possible to the order they
were made in. For a few, I have even given the month and year they were made
in. You will see that I predicted (at least) COVID vaccine issues, the “cost of
living crisis” and the main reason for it, and the shortcomings of AI, way back
in 2018-9!
Serendipitously, the number of these extracts equals the
number of “theses” Martin Luther nailed to that church door in Wittenberg exactly 500
years before I joined WriterBeat. So, without further ado…
Humanity
(1) Well, we all came from Africa in the first place
anyway... and those of us who now have pink skins stopped in Ukraine on the
way. At least that’s the theory I’ve been told.
(2) Humans, like flowers, grow as is natural to us, using
the natural resources we need in the process. And it is our nature to create
wealth, and to make the world when we leave it a better place for our species
than it was when we came in.
(3) It doesn’t matter who you are, only what you do.
(4) Human is as human does.
(5) Live your life. Be human; be yourself. Trade with
others as they trade with you. Always be yourself; cut out your own path in
life. Do what you can, and don’t worry about what you can’t. Accept
responsibility for what you as an individual do (unless coerced), but never
accept any of the collective responsibility crap like “we’re destroying the
planet.”
Political Philosophy
(6) A society is something we choose to join, choose to
remain in, and can leave as and when it suits us.
(7) The precautionary principle, in its true form, says we
should look before we leap.
(8) It should be the responsibility of those promoting the
existence of a problem to define the problem fully, and to prove that it really
is a problem.
(9) If you don’t have a clear idea of what is desirable and
what is not, how can you judge what is a reasonable risk and what is not?
(10) There is only one reality, even though different
individuals have differing views of it. Although many statements can’t be
easily tested for truth or falsehood, and some are neither true nor false,
truth exists and is objective. And that is so even when particular truths are
unknown, or poorly understood, or wrongly apprehended, either by one individual
or by many.
(11) Without an idea of truth, there cannot be acceptance of
truths. Without acceptance of truths, there cannot be agreement. Without
agreement, there cannot be any possibility of compromise. Without possibility
of compromise, there cannot be peace. Without peace, there cannot be
civilization.
(12) The philosopher part of me says “optimists are
sometimes wrong, but pessimists are always right.” And concludes that, if you
want to succeed, you must be (rationally) optimistic.
Ethics
(13) [October 2018]. If a parent is forced by law to
vaccinate their child, and the child has an adverse reaction to the vaccine and
dies, who is responsible?
(14) Before you can even think or talk about “caring” in a
positive sense, you must show care in the negative sense: “First, do no harm.”
Furthermore, caring must be a two-way process. You can’t expect anyone to care
about those that behave badly towards them.
(15) Karl Marx got it fundamentally wrong. It shouldn’t be
“From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.” It
ought to be: “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his
deserts.”
(16) My own vision is of a simple, cut down core set of
ethical rules and obligations, supported and (where necessary) enforced by an
honest, non-politicized system of governance.
(17) Everyone should be held accountable for the reasonably
foreseeable effects of their voluntary actions on others.
(18) In my view, a good person – to a first approximation –
is one who is peaceful unless attacked, honest to those who are themselves
honest to him or her, respects the human rights of those who respect his or her
human rights, and strives to be economically productive.
(19) Moving the goalposts is a sure sign of bad faith.
(20) In my view, dishonesty is like physical aggression.
No-one should ever use it, except on those that have used (or tried to use) it
against them.
(21) If you think that people ought to make sacrifices for
some cause, then to be credible, you yourself must make sacrifices for that
cause, that are far greater than what you are asking of others.
Economics
(22) Today’s governments are like Robin Hood in reverse.
They steal from the politically poor, and reward the politically rich.
(23) Different people need different items in order to do
the things that bring them happiness.
(24) (Mis-quoting George Orwell): Economics good, politics
bad.
(25) [May 2018]. I reckon that my food and booze costs at
the supermarket have gone up 40% in the last four years. That’s mainly due to
increased energy prices from green policies.
(26) Four things which, in my opinion, are necessary to
support a decent economy. Sound money, property rights, an objective justice
system and a free market.
(27) Money is power; the power to do what you want. It gives
you the power to make choices. On the other hand, lack of money leads to lack
of power.
Politics
(28) There has got to be political diversity – and the more
of it, the better. Because each individual is different, and not everyone can
thrive under all political conditions.
(29) Personally, it’s the political system I have no faith
in. Corporate misconduct is a consequence of that, not a cause.
(30) As long as politics exists, we need political units to
be as small as possible; because that is the only way to provide competition
between different régimes,
enable people to vote with their feet, and stop the bastards simply taxing and
regulating us out of existence.
(31) As long as a state exists, the worst individuals will
seek to take control of it.
(32) Politics (the way in which we humans organize ourselves
for maximum benefit to all) should be based on ethics (the knowledge of right
and wrong).
(33) Who is this “we” of which you speak?
(34) Any society which tolerates only one point of view and
one set of policies, and which people can’t leave without suffering a
significant penalty, will eventually shake itself to pieces.
(35) Myself, I have no doubt that the root of the problem is
the political system, devised by Plato, and whose latest incarnation was
created in the 16th century by a gentleman called Jean Bodin in an
attempt to shore up the power of the French king. The political state has to
go. The two most important questions, for me, then become: (1) What do we
replace it with? (2) How do we get from here to there?
(36) The current political system – world, regional,
national, local – is obsolete and a failure. Wars, debts, taxes, financial
crises, bad laws, overpricing and unreliability of energy supplies, media lies
and propaganda, paranoia and dissatisfaction, all arise from this. The state is
out of date – as are the supranational governmental organizations like the EU
and UN.
(37) Politics is dishonest, real science is honest, and the
two cannot mix.
(38) That’s the nature of the current political system. It
brings to the top the worst scum; those that think they have rights that others
don't, those that want to force their own choices on to others, those that won’t
take responsibility for the effects of their actions on others, those that want
draconian regulations for others but not for themselves.
(39) The state, on the other hand, is just a giant
bloodsucker.
(40) The political class divide mainly into two types. One
(the “left”) is driven mainly by envy and hatred. They hate people who are
different, or people who are better than they are. Particularly they hate those
who earn a good living through their own efforts. So, they want power in order
to keep those people subjugated (or worse). The other side (the “right”) are
driven far more by selfishness and greed. They want power and riches (unearned,
of course) so they have something to be able to strut, and to feel good about
themselves for. Then of course there are the really bad guys, the ones that
have both sets of these characteristics. Tony Blair was a perfect example.
(41) To understand what is going on in a country, you need
to look to media from outside that country.
(42) Centralized systems always fail eventually, and for one
very obvious reason: they have a single point of failure!
Government
(43) From my point of view, there is sensible regulation and
there is political regulation. Sensible regulation is regulation that can be
shown to be beneficial overall, holds everyone responsible for the problem for
their own share in it, and doesn't impose any more costs than the benefits.
Political regulation is regulation that is made or enforced for some other
purpose, such as environmental policy, or just to give bureaucrats an excuse to
hassle people.
(44) Whenever government does something, it almost
always gets it wrong.
(45) Isn’t it amusing that the really big villains always
end up supporting political movements that want to ban the things they made
their money out of? Gore with tobacco and Strong with oil, for example.
(46) Government should provide a free market and justice,
then get out of the way.
(47) Any business, which acted
financially in the way that today’s governments do, would be in bankruptcy
court very quickly.
Democracy
(48) The skills needed to win an election are all but
diametrically opposed to those needed to govern well.
(49) Democracy divides.
(50) Democracy is a failure. As I’ve explained elsewhere,
first it divides people into party factions, then the parties all converge in
their outlook. And they all adopt essentially the same policies; policies
designed to give the state more and more power, to screw good people, and to enrich
themselves and their cronies.
(51) Any system that lets ten people gang up and tell nine
people what they may or may not do, isn’t going to be sustainable.
Europe
(52) The whole European project was mis-sold to us back in
the 1970s. We were lied to, and those of us with long memories don’t forgive
such a thing.
(53) If you like the EU so much, why don’t you simply
emigrate to it? The Remainers can leave, and the Leavers can remain. Problem
solved!
(54) Brussels is probably my favourite European city; for
me, it has all the good things of Paris, but without the Parisians.
Nationalism
(55) Culturally, I am an Englishman.
(56) I have no feeling at all for the political entity that
is called “the United Kingdom.” Other “peoples without a country” feel this too
– like the Basques, Catalans, or Kurds.
(57) What exactly is a “country?”
(58) On what basis does anyone have the right to rule over
others in a “country?”
(59) Who sets the borders of these “countries?”
(60) Why should anyone prefer one “country” over another?
(61) Under what circumstances is it morally right for one
“country” to attack those who live in another?
Globalism
(62) Economics should be global, politics (very) local!
(63) A world government is exactly the wrong direction to go
in, because it could (and would) make policies that harm large sections of the
population, and allow them no option but to form alliances to violently fight
for their rights. Just as is starting to happen now in the USA. The result of
worldwide “democracy” would be worldwide civil war.
(64) The UN, far from being a benevolent body working for
the good of everyone, is the main driving force behind attempts to destroy our
human civilization, and clear a way for a world in which all but the political
élites would be slaves.
Religion
(65) Neil's Three Precepts of Religion. (1) If you let me
have my religion (or lack of it), I’ll let you have yours. (2) Every one of us
has the responsibility to make our own relationship to the source of our
creativity. (3) If two individuals have exactly the same religion, one of them
is surplus to requirements.
(66) There are, no doubt, some very bad individuals
around, that also happen to be Muslims. But that is not a good reason to make
false accusations about, or to fan hatred for, Muslims in general.
(67) If you won’t practise what you preach, why should
anyone listen to your sermons?
Education
(68) Q: What’s the opposite of diversity? A: University.
(69) Get government out of education. Period. Stop. End.
Finish. The firing of the bureaucrats and the bad teachers will follow quickly.
And the end of any idea of “national curriculum.”
(70) The purpose of education is to teach people how to think
straight, and how to learn. Once they have those, they can educate themselves.
Environment and Energy
(71) I can remember beautiful summers like 1959, 1976, and
2003. I can remember horrible winters like 1962-3, 1978-9 and 2010-11. I can
remember it being hot, cold, wet, dry, calm, stormy and every which way in
between. I can even remember the “hurricane” we had in 1987! But I am not left
with any impression of decadal scale change in any of these things.
(72) To use some nebulous idea of “environment” as an excuse
to damage the environment for other human beings is a very cheap trick indeed.
(73) A global rise of 2 centigrade, in my opinion, would be
a good thing. Roman and Minoan civilizations, for example, thrived in times
when they had warmer conditions than the average of the last several thousand
years.
(74) There has to be a point at which we can say, woah, now
the air quality is acceptable considering all the other things we need and want
to do.
(75) If the wind don’t blow, the power don’t flow. If the
sun don’t shine, ain’t no solar on the line.
Species Extinctions
(76) My view is that those, who want to help a particular
species, should get together with like-minded fellows, buy a piece of its
habitat, and establish a colony.
(77) Name 100 species humans have extinguished in the past
century, and provide proof.
(78) There’s nothing wrong with letting some areas run wild
if the owners of those areas like the idea, but humans must come first.
Science and Technology
(79) In science, skepticism is always healthy, even on those
occasions on which it finds nothing wrong with the established view.
(80) These days I get pissed off by the planned obsolescence
and change-for-the-sake-of-change that is so rampant in today’s software. Each
version of Word I’ve used since Word 2003, for example, seems worse than the
last.
(81) When science becomes politicized, it ceases to be
honest, and thereby ceases to be science.
(82) It is those who do understand the scientific
method – make predictions, test them, modify or reject the hypothesis as
necessary – who have lost faith in the way it is being misused by those with
political agendas.
(83) [February 2019]. If the corporations do manage
to politick to avoid responsibility, I can see the whole AI “market”
potentially falling flat, because people simply won’t want to buy their
products. Too much risk.
The Future
(84) Government should be like a referee in a football
match, or an umpire at cricket. Its job is to make sure that everyone plays the
game according to the proper rules. It is no part of a government’s function to
take any part in the game itself!
(85) The first duty of any government is to deliver peace.
For everyone. Both inside and outside its borders.
(86) In my view, in the short term we need smaller political
units, not bigger. And in the medium (but still pretty damn short) term, we
need to get rid of the political state, along with its ideologies, and (at
least) its powers to tax, to make bad laws and to exempt itself and its cronies
from the laws it makes.
(87) (Governance should be): Like an umpire or a referee,
whose remit is to deliver justice and to keep the game of life moving, but not
to enforce the ideology or policies of any faction or movement. I like to think
that such a system would, indeed, become world-wide; but in a very
de-centralized way.
(88) Any change for the better has got to start by changing
nation states into something better. Change must begin at home.
(89) We need a new system of governance, that allows people
maximum freedom to associate with whom they want, holds all individuals
responsible for the effects of their actions on others, delivers objective
justice, and doesn’t allow anyone to impose their culture, religion or
political ideology on those who don’t want them.
(90) Myself, I look for a much more de-centralized system,
in which governments are smaller, non-politicized, and far less active than
they are today.
(91) If you truly want to create fairness and justice, why
not just let people experiment? Have a laid-back, non-politicized government
that doesn’t seek to impose any particular ideology. It should prohibit a few
things like murder, theft, violation of rights and breach of contract, but
otherwise it should let people associate with whom they want, and organize
their societies how they want.
(92) My own preferred system of governance will be
de-centralized. It will be based, not on a political ideology or on the
sovereignty of a state, but on two very simple principles. First, that everyone
is responsible for the effects on others of their voluntary actions. And
second, that each individual deserves to be treated, in the round and as far as
practicable, as he or she treats others.
(93) A peer-to-peer network of many small communities, not a
single monstrous world-wide hierarchy of superstates, nations, states, counties
and municipalities, is where we the human race should be heading.
A feisty limerick about a far-right US Christian
(94)
There
was once a young man called Messano,
Who made
love to a fortepiano.
But the
hammers did hit
Him so hard, he cried “Quit!
From now on, I'll do it a mano.”
In conclusion
(95) Spring is the time for renewal, for replenishment of life energy. Time to walk in the sunshine, and enjoy the warmth. Time to feel hope again after a long season of dark, decay and discomfort.
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