Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Thomas Gordon, Cato's Letter 38, I.2.2

The gist of this letter is that many politicians will try to make the they govern believe that government is for experts and not for them to stick their noses into. They will then misrepresent the voice of the people in the political forum and proceed to plunder and oppress the people. These are "not Governors, but Jaylors and Spunges, who chain them and squeeze them, and yet take it very ill if they do but murmur; which is yet much less than a People ought to do." Politicians need not be experts. For governing "Honesty, Diligence, and Plain Sense are the only Talents necessary...."

According to Gordon, the voice of the public should have influence in government because it is in the public's interest that the government be good and it cannot be bribed. A politician, on the other hand, can be bribed and can find it in his interest that the government be oppressive and plundering.

On this last point, Gordon is mistaken. Votes can be bought. There is no unified voice of the people. Perhaps Gordon didn't realize this because he didn't conceive of a government which would command enormous wealth redistribution schemes with which to bribe the people by having them share in the plunder. For his definition of government is "a Trust committed by All, to the Most, to One, or a Few, who are to attend upon the Affairs of All, that every one may, with the more Security, attend upon his own[.]"

Also, Gordon draws a stark contrast between England and other countries, namely Turkey, as if English government weren't prone to precisely the corruption he describes. I doubt that.