Is Politics Insoluble?

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14 / Felix R. Livingston Thus, James Madison wrote in Federalist, No. 51, that "If men were angels, no government would be necessary" and "ambition must be made to counteract ambition." The Framers' "first principles" can be summarized as fol- lows. Because the judgments of a democratic majority will be as flawed as the orders of a tyrant, all forms of government must be limited.^^ To effectively constrain the coercive power of public officials requires free elections, constitutional restraints, such as the rule of law and due process, and a Bill of Rights. The most important right to protect is that of pri- vate property, the keystone of the free society. ^^ Finally, underlying America's institutions and moral traditions is the individual citizen who limits his desires and who is guided by the law of measure—democracy only works when there is a "belief in things higher than democracy." Thus, John Adams wrote that "virtue is the only Foundation of Republics." And George Washington, in his First Inaugural Address, stated that "there exists in the economy and course of nature an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness ..." Jean-Jacques Rousseau Following the American experience, a French Revolution tested a different set of principles. What Thomas Hobbes was unsuccessful in accomplishing for the EngHsh king,^^ Jean- Jacques Rousseau achieved for the French "people. "^^ In his Social Contract (1762), Rousseau assumed a state of nature in which all liberty and property were surrendered to the whole community. The resulting body politic was "directed by a sin- gle motive," a condition Rousseau believed necessary for the "people's" self-preservation.^^ In this Utopia, each citizen must yield to the "general will" as determined by a simple majority in matters of routine law- making and by a qualified majority in more serious matters.^^
Introduction / 15 Although everyone is bound by the sovereign, the sovereign cannot be constrained even by law in the social contract. The sovereign can treat citizens equally or it can create privileges and social classes. Rousseau believed that human perfection is only made possible by a sovereign that substitutes a com- munal existence for individual liberty. In such a society dissi- dents objecting to the general will are "forced to be free." Thus, Rousseau noted approvingly that in Genoa the word Libertas was found on the doors of prisons and the fetters of galleys. Rousseau's Social Contract fueled the violent demise of twelve French constitutions, each lasting about ten years, and provided a rationale for twentieth-century absolutism. Popu- lar ideas traceable to Rousseau are that majority rule should be the supreme authority, popular decisions tend toward the general welfare, and anyone who challenges majority rule damages the common good. Partly as a result of these ideas, the limited government that characterized America's found- ing has gradually been replaced by a majoritarian system that has vested tremendous power in the hands of the "people" or their representatives. Wilhelm von Humboldt Wilhelm von Humboldt and James Mill stand in sharp contrast to Rousseau. As a firsthand observer of the French Revolution, Humboldt wrote that "Constitutions cannot be grafted upon men as sprigs upon trees"—reason can only give form to long-standing traditions and moral habits.^^ Yot Humboldt, societies flourish because of individual creativity made possible by freedom, and liberty in turn, "increases in exact proportion as public freedom declines."^^ Humboldt's most important book on political theory is dedicated to discov- ering "to what end State institutions should be directed, and
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The Case for the Minimal State / 65
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John Stuart Mill I 67 ments." The s
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John Stuart Mill I 69 pable of find
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John Stuart Mill I 71 ends by grant
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Herbert Spencer' Herbert Spencer (1
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Herbert Spencer I 75 as long as A "
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Herbert Spencer I 11 themselves and
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Herbert Spencer I 79 so much labor
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Herbert Spencer / 81 strangled indu
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Thomas H. Huxley Thomas Henry Huxle
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Thomas H. Huxley I 85 and untrained
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Thomas H. Huxley I 87 hand, that es
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Thomas H, Huxley I 89 other specifi
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Thomas H. Huxley I 91 tution, adopt
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Popular Government^ All students of
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Popular Government I 95 [of 1884] a
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Popular Government I 97 the four es
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From Spencer's 1884 to OrwelPs 1984
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From Spencer's 1884 to Orwell's 198
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From Spencer's 1884 to Orwell's 198
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From Spencer's 1884 to OrweWs 1984
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Why Politics Is Insoluble* Eight ye
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Why Politics Is Insoluble I 113 pay
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Why Politics Is Insoluble I 115 lon
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^hy Politics Is Insoluble I 117 Let
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The Task Confronting Libertarians *
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The Task Confronting Libertarians I
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August 2, 1978 1. Is Politics Insol
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Appendix II Placement of Essays in
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Achilles, 24n Acton, John Emerich E
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anarchy: not result of limiting gov
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principles, 14; and the British par
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The Wisdom of Henry Hazlitt A colle
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Uurii IS POLITICS INSOLUpi Henry Ha
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