Religion and Tradition
Thomas Fleming calls tradition "a body of wisdom and truth and a set of attitudes and behavior handed down from one generation to another. It is our parents' respect for their grandfathers that we reflect when we refuse to think ourselves wiser than our ancestors and do not presume to condemn their shortcomings." By following tradition, Joseph Sobran said that society can maintain continuity with the past, through words, rituals, records, commemorations, and laws:
There is no question of "resisting change." The only question is what can and should be salvaged from "devouring time." Conservation is a labor, not indolence, and it takes discrimination to identify and save a few strands of tradition in the incessant flow of mutability. In fact conservation is so hard that it could never be achieved by sheer conscious effort. Most of it has to be done by habit, as when we speak in such a way as to make ourselves understood by others without their having to consult a dictionary, and thereby give a little permanence to the kind of tradition that is a language.[43]
Consequently, we believe in an affection for the "variety and mystery" of human existence. We believe in a transcendent order as based in tradition, divine revelation, or natural law.
In addition, Russell Kirk said Christianity and Western Civilization are “unimaginable apart from one another.”[47] Cult-ure is simply religion (cult) externalized. Russell Kirk said that "all culture arises out of religion. When religious faith decays, culture must decline, though often seeming to flourish for a space after the religion which has nourished it has sunk into disbelief."[84]
Natural World
Cultivation of the soil provides direct contact with nature; through the contact with nature the agrarian is blessed a positive spiritual good. The farmer acquires the virtues of "honor, manliness, self-reliance, courage, moral integrity, and hospitality" and follows the example of God when creating order out of chaos. Through experience of the natural world and agrarian life people develop an awarness of the complexity and interconectivity of life, a resitance to abstraction, and a profound sense of thankfulness.
For those of us living in the technological consumerist future any awareness of this sacrament of life or of a meaningful connection with any kind of food production is criticaly missing. Quite often modern people are so ignorant of where food, water, or clothing comes from that they consider aquiring these things as primarily a monitary transaction. Being sheltered from their dependence on sacrifice and hard work they live in self delusion unaware that life is a gift from God by the labor of farmers and from the earth and all creatures. Farming itself becomes a technological industry. Citizens grow callous and unthankful and ultimately unable to sustain themselves without an artificial technelogical system. Their perception of reality becomes distorted and their ability to care for the world sacramentaly is destroyed. Any form of participation in the Agrarian experience, especialy in regaurds to food production, helps root people in the earthy and quite often brutal reality of how we receive our lives from God.
Beauty
Claes Ryn says that life has “an enduring purpose, but one that manifests itself differently as individuals and circumstances are different.”[52] He writes:
[T]he universal imperative that binds human beings does not announce its purpose in simple, declaratory statements. How, then, does one discern its demands? Sometimes only with difficulty. Only through effort can the good or true or beautiful be discovered, and they must be realized differently in different historical circumstances. The same universal values have diverse manifestations. Some of the concrete instantiations of universality take us by surprise. Because there is no simple roadmap to good, human beings need freedom and imagination to find it. Universality has nothing to do with uniformity.[53]
Family
To be human is to be familial. Any significant departure from the family rooted in stable marriage, the welcoming of children, and respect for ancestors and posterity—any deviation from this social structure makes us in a way less “human.” Furthermore, the family is the natural and fundamental social unit, inscribed in our nature as human beings, rooted in marriage, rooted in the commitment to bring new life into the world, and rooted in a deep respect for both ancestors and posterity. [Allan C. Carlson]
He defines family as "a man and a woman living in a socially sanctioned bond called marriage for the purposes of propagating and rearing children, sharing intimacy and resources, and conserving lineage, property, and tradition." [Allan C. Carlson]
The 'modern managerial society' is a threat to stable families. ADD FROM DH KNIGHT. . .
Liberty and Property
We believe that property and freedom are closely linked.
Many of our most famous political philosophers have strongly emphasized that liberty is intimately tied to the right to private property. Protection of the rights of private property was of utmost importance to the Founding Fathers as the y created the Declaration Of Independence and the Constitution. After all, they had just fought the Revolutionary War for which many historians claim was greatly inspired by the abuses of England in taking of private property. In fact, "Libe rty, property and no stamps!" was the first slogan of the American Revolution, according to Catherine Drinker Bowen.[3] Ms Bowen goes on to say, ". . . property was not a privilege of the higher orders but a right w hich a many would fight to defend. Men had indeed died to defend it in the war with England." (Emphasis added).
Let me list some other pertinent quotes:
From the Virginia Bill Of Rights, 1776:
"SECTION 1. That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety." [4]
Voltaire wrote, "Liberty and property is the great national cry of the English. . . It is the cry of nature".[5]
Stephen Hopkins, from Rhode Island, in 1764 said, "they who have no property can have no freedom."[6]
According to John Locke, "The great chief end therefore, of Mens uniting into Commonweaths, and putting themselves under Government, is the Preservation of their Property." He also said, "Whenever the legislators endeavor to take away and destroy the property of the people, or to reduce them to slavery under arbitrary power, they put themselves into a state of war with the people, who are thereupon absolved from any further obedience,..." -- John Locke, 2nd Treatise of Government, 1690
"A power over a man's subsistence amounts to a power over his will", according to Alexander Hamilton (quoted from The Federalist #79, online at http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/ Federalist/fed79.htm).
John Adams said that "[t]he moment that idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the Laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. Property must be sacred or li berty cannot exist."[7]
"The Natural Rights of the colonists are these: first, a right to life; second, to liberty; third to property; together with the right to support and defend them in the best manner they can.", according to Samuel Adams.
"Nothing is ours, which another may deprive us of." --Thomas Jefferson to Maria Cosway, 1786. ME 5:440
And here is the famous quote from the much admired case, "BOYD v. U S, 116 U.S. 616 (1886)"[17], (referring to a decision by the English jurist, Lord Camden):
The principles laid down in this opinion affect the very essence of constitutional liberty and security. They reach further than the concrete form of the case then before the court, with its adventitious circumstances; they apply to all invasions on the part of the government and its employes of the sanctity of a man's home and the privacies of life. It is not the breaking of his doors, and the rummaging of his drawers, that constitutes the essence of the offense; but it is the invasion of his indefeasible right of personal security, personal liberty, and private property, where that right has never been forfeited by his conviction of some public offense. . ."
Madison understood that the protection of property is the foundation of all freedoms. He said, "... a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights. Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possissions."
He also said, "Government is instituted to protect property of every sort. . . This being the end of government, that alone is a just government, which impartially secures to every man, whatever is his own." [18]
For a scholarly analysis of the relation of liberty to property rights, see James M. Buchanan's book, Property as a Guarantor of Liberty.[14] I quote from his summary:
"The central argument is that private or several property serves as a guarantor of liberty, quite independently of how political or collective decisions are made. The direct implication is, of course, that effective constitutional limits must be present, limits that will effectively constrain overt political intrusions into rights of property, as legally defined, and into voluntary contractual arrangements involving transfer of property. If individual liberty is to be protected, such constitut ional limits must be in place prior to and separately from any exercise of democratic governance."
Limited Government and Self-government
The function of government is to secure the liberty of individual citizens. Freed from the burdens of indentured servitude and the depravation of life, citizens mature and then enter into the kind of industry best suited to result in Prosperity and Virtue ending in abundance, hospitality, and generosity. This belief, that the purpose of government is to secure the liberty of its citizens, necessarily entails limited government. Limited government alows opportunities for more self-government, improved representation, and choice in the political process. Since it is the nature of governments to seek greater power and control through tyrany, political philosophers have been very suspicious of polititions. Therefore the principles upon which this nation was founded sought to limit the power of government. That is why the United States Constitution did not perscribe a limited number of people's rights. Instead it deliniated clear boundaries and limits as to what government could and could not do leaving most of the power and rights in the hands of the people. This is the political philosophy known as "political liberalism."
Ownership and Responsibility
We believe that a man aught to be able to work the land which is entrusted to him to provide for his famliy diligently and industriously without unnecesary intervention or penelty from the governing magistrates. He should be able to sell his excess freely to his neighbors and be rewarded for his sucess and achevment. Everyone should take responsibility for himself as far as it goes and not expect to be rewarded for lazyness but work hard in order to be able to have something to give. We aught to have things we would like to do but cannot because our generocity prohibits it. Yet everyone should refuse to benefit from the misfortune of others nor receive from others what was taken from them without their consent. In this way each man can contribute to the general happyness and prosperity of everyone else.
As Pericles of Athens famously said,
"But while there exists equal justice to all and alike in their private disputes, the claim of excellence is also recognized; and when a citizen is in any way distinguished, he is preferred to the public service, not as a matter of privilege, but as the reward of merit. Neither is poverty an obstacle, but a man may benefit his country whatever the obscurity of his condition. There is no exclusiveness in our public life, and in our private business we are not suspicious of one another, nor angry with our neighbor if he does what he likes; we do not put on sour looks at him which, though harmless, are not pleasant. While we are thus unconstrained in our private business, a spirit of reverence pervades our public acts; we are prevented from doing wrong by respect for the authorities and for the laws, having a particular regard to those which are ordained for the protection of the injured as well as those unwritten laws which bring upon the transgressor of them the reprobation of the general sentiment."
Anti-Federalism and Anti-Statism
The classic British and American traditions have prized liberty just as highly as safety, as encapsulated in Benjamin Franklin’s dictum, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." When Mussolini first coined the word “totalitarianism”, it was not a pejorative slur, nor was it something connoting tyranny; rather, Mussolini used totalitarianism to refer to a humane society in which everyone was taken care of and looked after by a state which encompassed all of life within its total grasp. The oppressive totalitarian state always begins by being the compassionate totalitarian state.
If the traditional society was envisioned as helping people live virtuous lives, now the purpose of society is to keep people from suffering. Where as the first goal aims at removing impediments to virtue it left open the possibility of suffering. In fact it thought of suffering as something that could sometimes build character. The end result is a nation of mature, productive, strongly independent, and liberally generous people. The second goal aims at removing opportunity for suffering by limiting individual rights and "protecting" people from themselves. The end result is a nation of immature, lazy, and strongly dependent people with an entitlement attitude "cared for" by a state that encompasses all of life within its total grasp.
This is what we call the 'modern managerial society.' Of this kind of oppression C.S. Lewis said,
Of all tyrannies a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
As to the role of statecraft in society, Thomas Fleming says it should not be confused with soulcraft. He gives his summary of the paleocon position:
Our basic position on the state has always been twofold: 1) a recognition that man is a social and political animal who cannot be treated as an "individual" without doing damage to human nature. In this sense libertarian theory is as wrong and as potentially harmful as communism. The commonwealth is therefore a natural and necessary expression of human nature that provides for the fulfillment of human needs, and 2) the modern state is a cancerous form of polity that has metastasized and poisoned the natural institutions from which the state derives all legitimacy—family, church, corporation (in the broadest sense), and neighborhood. Thus, it is almost always a mistake to try to use the modern state to accomplish moral or social ends.[56]
Russell Kirk, for example, argued that most government tasks should be performed at the local or state level. This is intended to ward off centralization and protect community sentiment by putting the decision-making power closer to the populace. He rooted this in the Christian notion of original sin; since humanity is flawed, society should not put too much power in a few hands. Gerald J. Russello concluded that this involved “a different way of thinking about government, one based on an understanding of political society as beginning in place and sentiment, which in turn supports written laws.”[57]
Non-Intervention
We believe that as a nation, we should not be as involved in forign afairs except in charitable and relief work. Instead of a violent and interventionist forign policy why not build wells, roads, and other forms of infrastucture in the deserts. In this way we might win the hearts of our enemies through generocity or else suffer their hatred unjustly. The ancient orator was well aware of this when he said,
"In doing good, again, we are unlike others; we make our friends by conferring, not by receiving favors. Now he who confers a favor is the firmer friend, because he would rather by kindness keep alive the memory of an obligation; but the recipient is colder in his feelings, because he knows that in requiting another's generosity he will not be winning gratitude but only paying a debt. We alone do good to our neighbors not upon a calculation of interest, but in the confidence of freedom and in a frank and fearless spirit."
Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front
by Wendell Berry
Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.
And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.
When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.
So, friends, every day do something
that won't compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.
Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millenium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.
Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.
Listen to carrion - put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.
Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?
Go with your love to the fields.
Lie down in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.
As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn't go. Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.
Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front" from The Country of Marriage, copyright © 1973 by Wendell Berry, reprinted by permission of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.