The excess of liberty, whether in States or individuals, seems only to pass into excess of slavery.
Plato, The Republic (c. 370 BC)[1]
Showing posts with label abuse of power. Show all posts
Showing posts with label abuse of power. Show all posts
Thursday, August 6, 2020
Thursday, November 21, 2019
Milton on the power of “Kings”
For in
raising the power of kings immeasurably above the laws, by the same means you
remind almost all nations of their slavery, which they had not suspected. You also drive them more violently into
suddenly shaking off that sluggishness
in which they idly used to dream they were free men, by reminding them of something
they didn’t realize: that they were the slaves of kings. And they will judge the power of kings to be
the less bearable to them the more successfully you persuade them that such unlimited
power grew not as the result of their own sufferance of it, but that it
originated from the beginning with its present nature and extent just because
of the right of kings. So you and this
defence of yours, whether you convince the people or whether you don’t, will
needs be destructive, deadly and accursed for all kings hereafter. For if you convince the people that the right
of kings is all-powerful, they will no longer bear a monarchy; if you do not
convince them, they will not endure kings who obtain such illegal power as if
it were their right.
Milton, A Defence of the People of England (1651)[1]
[1] John Milton, Political Writings, ed. Martin Dzelzainis, tr. Claire Gruzelier
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), p. 129. Note: A
Defence of the People of England was originally published in Latin as Pro Populo Anglicano Defensio two years
after the execution of King Charles I which was on January 30, 1649. The above selection appears at the beginning of Chapter IV.
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Montesquieu on political liberty - and Harper
The French man of letters, Montesquieu, is best known for his famous work The Spirit of the Laws (1748), where he
develops the idea that political liberty follows from the separation of powers –
the legislative, executive and the judicial.
Montesquieu had studied and admired England’s mixed system of constitutional
government – the Houses of Parliament, the Crown, the king’s minister (Walpole),
and the respective checking of power.
His work had an enormous influence on the American founders of the U.S.
Constitution in 1787, and he was referred to extensively in May 1789 at the Meeting
of the Estates General, considered the start of the French Revolution.[1] (His influence waned as the Revolution became
more extreme). It is worth noting that Montesquieu dictated The Spirit of the Laws to any number of
secretaries over 20 years as the author was becoming blind. It was placed on the Pope’s Index of
Prohibited Books in 1751
Here is an excerpt from Montesquieu’s text, and it has bearing
on Harper’s Canada:
Democracy and
aristocracy are not free states by their nature. Political liberty is only found in moderate
governments. But it is not always in
moderate states. It is present only when
power is not abused, but it has eternally been observed that any man who has
power is led to abuse it; he continues until he finds limits. Who would think of it! Even virtue has need of limits.
So that one cannot abuse power, power must
check power by the arrangement of things. …[2]
[1]Judith
N. Shklar, Montesquieu. Past Masters.
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987), p. 111.
[2]
Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws. Cambridge Texts in the History of Political
Thought, eds.and trs. Anne Cohler, Basia Miller and Harold Stone (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1990), p. 155 (Part 2, Book 11, Chapter 4).
Friday, May 10, 2013
CBC Freedom - or else
Once again the CBC is under attack. This time it is worse than ever – and all
Canadians should be concerned, regardless of (democratic) stripe. Yet another omnibus bill has been introduced
to the House of Commons, and in Budget Bill C-60 a sneaky provision has been
added to give the Conservative government essential control of collective
bargaining at the CBC. In other words,
Harper is converting our national “public” broadcaster into a “state” facility,
adding to his ability to influence the news and its journalists. Our political ‘leader’
wants to be virtual ‘master’ of the CBC airwaves, bringing with him a
heightened level of personal rule which is not often found in a modern Western
democracy. The potential unity of thought will be profoundly debilitating to
the nation.
In a nutshell, Canada is undergoing a revolution, one that
is taking us back to the USSR. The
Puritan forefathers of Canada’s Conservative Party bear an uncanny historical resemblance
to the Bolsheviks – both were radical ideologues and rather oppressive. If the Canadian state takes control of the
CBC it will fulfill Harper’s dream of ‘holy discipline’ familiar to Calvin’s
Church. Also of some inspiration to
Harper are the Romans, and if only they had today’s broadcasting technology,
for they too held to a ‘religion of order’.
Canadians cannot afford to be indifferent to the fate of the CBC, as
Harper already controls the realm.
798 years ago, in the year 1215,
King John signed the Magna Carta, and
he was forced to do so, because English Barons challenged his centralization of
power. Essentially the document implied
that the King was not above the law. Unfortunately, Harper does not see himself
as a servant of the law (as represented by Parliament). And he has no sense of
the people’s inherent rights, which is why he is tyrannical with the CBC.
Borrowing from the English political philosopher Thomas Hobbes, Harper can easily
be described as having “perpetual and restless desire for power after power.” And if we consider Plato, who says that “The
measure of a man is what he does with power,” one finds ludicrous ‘leadership’
misguided by a puritanical sense of being ‘the elect’. Certainly, we can all agree that the Prime
Minister requires several degrees of restraint on the CBC, public or otherwise
- and immediately so.
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