Thursday, June 4, 2020

The covenant of civilization

There is an unwritten - and ancient - agreement between the rulers and the ruled that underlies civilization.  It is so fundamental that it is basically the bedrock of civilization itself.  Back in the Dark Ages, "justice" was the responsibility of the people - specifically their extended family. Clan feuds were the norm - and this has echoed faintly down to our own times with stories of the Hatfields and McCoys. Government was weak then and so justice was rough. The deal that was negotiated between the states and their subjects over the next 600 years was that the State would administer justice, but do it as fairly as it could, making blood feud unnecessary.

Looking at what has been happening so far this year - the tyranny of Governors putting their citizens under house arrest, followed by those same governors allowing unhindered looting by mobs - makes me wonder when enough of the public decides that the government has reneged on the 1000 year old deal.  What percentage of the population needs to decide this?  My guess is less than 10%.

Looking at the rioters it calls to mind the endless ages of border raiding.  That ended a shockingly short time ago - the 19th Century in the United States as whites encroached on Indian land.  Remember, the deal was that the State would enforce justice fairly so that blood feud would no longer be needed.  

Things are not made any better by the collapse in credibility of the media.  When a majority of the population thinks they are being consistently lied to, that adds fuel to this fire.

20 comments:

Knitebane said...

The covenant is that we the people let government build a process by which they punish the criminals rather than us just hanging them from trees.

When the government stops punishing criminals, we the people start buying rope again.

When the government tells the police to stand by and let the criminals loot and assault people, the covenant has been broken.

Tacitus said...

As I see it the primary responsibility of civic authority has remained unchanged since the first huts were built. Whether you are the scruffy head man of a tiny village or the mayor of a great metropolis.....Job One is to keep your community from being burned to the ground.

Once you have that mastered then figure out ways to fix potholes and such. When everyone is pretty happy with living conditions and you have a few extra coins in the treasury feel free to address non life threatening issues.

I'd be willing to join a protest that expressed outrage at the Floyd case. But I'm puzzled....why is the first call not for the resignation of the Mpls Police Chief....and the Mayor?

Can you actually have a functioning government sans accountability? Not hearing much from Mayor Fry these days (I've started thinking of him as being the dim witted Futurama character). I suspect he's been sent to his room by the Democratic Powers that Be....who can see 10 EVs from Minnesota going up in flames...

TW

ASM826 said...

"Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

Unknown said...

"Law is the manifest will of the people, the conscious rule of the community. And when the mechanics of law enforcement break down, they must be re-established."

Glen Filthie said...

I'm curious, BP.

Awhile ago I believe you were decrying the fact that the men at those 2A rallies in Virginia were showing up with firearms. Given these recent events, do you still hold the same position?

Borepatch said...

Glen, my complaint about the Richmond rally was two fold:

1. It was going to be futile.

2. It was going to "scare the White Folks".

The situation is different when we're all Rooftop Koreans.

Toirdhealbheach Beucail said...

Borepatch, at some point the mobs start to turn on themselves. Then it will (truly) be border reivers circa 16th century Scottish/English Borders. Having nothing else to attack, they will attack each other.

We're all rooftop Koreans now.

Beans said...

What is missing in the current equation of civilization is the concept of noblesse oblige. That of the responsibility of the rulers to rule wisely and minimally, to do their best to take care of the ruled.

Our founding fathers knew about it. Some members of government get it. Trump gets it.

Unfortunately, most politicians and bureaucrats have long forgotten that they have responsibility for the 'little people.'

And that we elect leaders to work for us, not to rule us. But, instead, we have rulers and a hereditary ruling class of both semi-elected and non-elected rulers...

Thus, we get democratic poop holes that are now all on fire because the leaders refuse to lead, instead they insist on ruling and ruling poorly.

Heck, even Sauron ruled wisely, well, for Sauron.

Aesop said...

1) Richmond was utterly futile and pointless.
2) It scared the straights.
Only totally culturally and politically tone-deaf people didn't (and still don't) get this.

As to the topic at hand, the ship in drydock, exactly like a civilizational war, is launched by people sledgehammering out the support blocks.

That is exactly what is happening.
Half of the halfwits are doing it because they know they can't win any other way, and they've got the other half convinced to do it by telling them they can win this way.

Both halves of that Tard Army are going to be seriously disappointed with the outcome they achieve. In a Carthage-After-The-Third-Punic-War/Mayor-of-Hiroshima-in-summer-1945 kind of way.

Glen Filthie said...

Yeah well, Aesop, if nothing else we know it doesn’t take much to frighten you. You don’t speak for the normies, much less the “straights”.

Curious choice of terms, that. 😆👍

HMS Defiant said...

I'm familiar with the old argument of the left that somehow we who aren't them somehow broke "the social contract". I used to tell them I didn't sign any such contract and won't be bound by their definition of it. Now they have clearly stepped over the boundary of civilized life and adopted anarchy and revolution. That I understand full well. The beauty of things as they are here is that there's a lot of people like me who will never find any person guilty of shooting one of those scumbags that deservedly gets shot for looting, vandalizing, doing drivebys or making a pain int the ass of themselves.
I also get a kick out of all the liberals and progs that have suddenly realized that when the mob comes for you, the police aren't going to be there and have tried to buy guns over the last month or two and now awake to what they did in the name of social justice and making it hard to just buy a gun.

Aesop said...

Stay classy, Glen. When the only club in your bag is ad hominem, keep whacking away with all you've got.

Glen Filthie said...

Look who’s talking.

Glen Filthie said...

Borepatch, one last question and I’ll leave you to it... do you think that maybe “the white folks” need to be scared? Sure, the pawns in this thing are black... but the people using them are as white as you and I....

Richard said...

Breaking of the social contract goes way back. Gun control laws, abolition of the death penalty, using the organs of state security in illegal ways (way back before the coup against Trump), etc. Perhaps people wake up for a while in the immediate aftermath of an incident but then it is business as usual.

Murphy(AZ) said...

Personal animosities aside for the moment, the question we should be asking is: What now?

Politicians, corporations, church leaders, sports figures, one after another are "taking a knee," with breast beating apologies for whatever wrong they may have committed against whatever possible aggrieved victims, and a silent plea to not burn their building, loot their businesses, or vote against them in the coming elections.

Year after year, our "so called" leaders have ignored the elephant in the room. These riots and destruction have happened before for basically the same reasons. They happened again because the reasons weren't addressed after the first time. They are happening now for the same old, tired, reasons. Economic inequality breeds increased crime; increased crime brings harsher law enforcement. Lax prosecution breeds frustration in law officers, and yes, there still are some people in uniform who just shouldn't be trusted with a badge.

Which brings me back to my question: What now?

I know what I will continue to do. I know I'm not the terrible person "they" accuse me of being; I wasn't raised that way. My family isn't racist, neither are we ruthless law-breakers. I would never allow it.

But please tell me: in what infinitesimal sliver of the vast cosmos does it make even the slightest sense to defund or disband civilian controlled law enforcement? While I and my neighbors aren't "Rooftop Koreans" yet, it won't take much to change that if we perceive that the Rule of Law is crumbling.

Borepatch said...

Glen, I think that people in the cities need to be scared right now.

P.S. I used the term colloquially, but you know that.

Beans said...

Re: The Aesop/Glen debate up top.

From my experience, the Richmond thingy actually opened up valid conversations with 'normies' if you designate 'normies' as non-gun owning/gun hating people. I saw more traffic from first timers at the Walmart counter after Richmond than I've seen in years, and most people were very vocal about wanting their questions answered and were steered by other customers to Bass Pro or one of the gun shops where 'people of the gun' and not 'people of the Walmart' worked.

It's really paying off now, in contrast. 23K Violent Insurgents with guns left no garbage, fires, broken windows, dead bodies, looted buildings behind. Unlike the peaceful protestors behind the fake sympathy for NOTMURDERED Floyd.

And, to top off the fun, a lot of people who haven't paid attention to how crooked the media has been since way before the 2016 elections now are seeing it as the media reports of non-violent protests while standing in front of looted and/or burning buildings.

In reference to race relations, there are people questioning Muh Diversity at a larger and more vocal rate than I've experienced it. Heck, I live in a socialist college town and the people at the local supermarket - the customers - are openly talking about what went wrong and many - part-time socialists who are customers - are finally seeing the negatives and admitting to the negatives of our very racist non-racism policies.

The people are tired. Tired of being lied to, of the impeachment process, of the lies of Covidiocracy, and now of race and police relations (especially as the real truth behind NOTMURDERED Floyd's death by heart and drug attack come out.

Richmond was successful at the time. And now, in contrast, it is much more successful than ever could be hoped.

Roy said...

Glen asked Borepatch a simple question. Borepatch answered it in a simple, easy to understand way.

No acrimony, no insults, and no name calling.

Aesop weighs in. In his post he uses words such as "culturally and politically tone-deaf people", "halfwits", and my favorite: "tard army" to describe people who... disagree with Aesop. Okay, fair enough. Everyone is entitled to his own opinion.

Glen then responds with: "...if nothing else we know it doesn’t take much to frighten you." Which, if you read a few of Aesops posts, appears to be true on its face, and: "You don’t speak for the normies, much less the “straights”." Which is absolutely true. Aesop speaks for no one but Aesop. But then he accuses Glen of "ad hominem", when Glen used no such thing. (It's called projection and is a trademark of leftists and democrats.)

I kind of expect that from Aesop. Right or wrong, he is incapable of making a point - any point at all - without acrimony and a sprinkling of ad hominem insult.

Aesop thinks he knows absolutely everything about everything, yet he doesn't appear to know the difference between a dry dock and a building way except that they both have something to do with ships.

It doesn't matter though. To Aesop, everyone but him is nothing more than a "toothless banjo picker".

((((PING!)))

McChuck said...

If you haven't learned to be racist yet, nothing short of being skinned alive while watching your wife and children raped to death will ever teach you.