![]() ![]() Paying lip service to Australian voters does not help anyone in the long run. And ultimately, you will lose an election. You are first nothings and only represent your electorates. Those celebrating the consensus among ‘first ministers’ would benefit from a lesson in representative democracy. ![]() This is evidenced by the national cabinet, that non-institution that has effectively replaced the report-frequently-but-never-do-anything Council of Australian Governments (COAG), issuing its support for The Voice. And we seem to be at that same period where the centralisation of government is enabling the current woke fantasy to play out. Stoic philosophy presents a practical way of dealing with Woke nonsense, but like the fall of Rome, it provides little solace for those wanting something more from life than simply accepting government patronage. Acting in this way enables us to live a good life. External circumstances, including our own bodies, are beyond our control and therefore amoral. The logic behind Stoic philosophy, as set out by Epictetus in Enchiridion, is that we must focus on what we can control and see only our reactions to external events as good or bad. Our Woke present and its government-led disunity resembles this period in many ways. However, the continued centralisation of government that was largely complete by the time of Aurelius enabled the tyrants that followed, signalling the beginning of the end for Rome. Key to Rome’s success was the ‘Romanising’ of the Empire, which meant a common language and approach to civilisation that led to a period of apparent tranquillity. Himself a Stoic philosopher, Aurelius is known as the ‘last of the good emperors’ who oversaw the end of the ‘majestic period’ of Rome. It was the Stoics who provided the greatest relief for citizens subjected to out-of-control governments following the death of the original Philosopher King, Marcus Aurelius. But that doesn’t mean conservatives cannot benefit from philosophy. Unlike the green-left, conservatives find it very difficult to chuck tantrums and jump up and down until someone subsidises their activities or otherwise gives them a handout at public expense. ‘That’s great, because they are opening this huge philosophy factory just down the road,’ the father mockingly replies. ![]() Our current economic policy reminds me of that meme where a daughter says to her father, ‘I’m going to study philosophy at uni.’ And it begs the question, whose values are we talking about in this so-called values-based capitalism?Ĭoming to grips with the lessening value one’s pay packet provides under Labor is not the kind of value most of us are interested in. Regrettably, finding solutions to the practical problems of the day-to-day political economy is not as fun as engaging with pre-Socratic philosophers. ‘It is weariness upon the same things to labor and by them to be controlled.’įor in this line, all is revealed about the values-based capitalism being pushed onto voters: flogging the dead horse of socialism, rolling it over and flogging the other side. This role is where we might differ in ideas about the ‘proper’ role of government in Australia.īut to interpret the Treasurer’s use of Heraclitus more fully, I urge readers to focus on the less famous line that follows: Here’s why.Ĭapitalism is an economic system based on markets supported by the private ownership of the means of production, with a distinctive role for the state. Using Heraclitus’s statement to signal that we need a ‘new’ type of capitalism is misguided. We both are and are not.’ We are all part of the economic system of capitalism, but we do not all agree on the role of government in the economy. My copy of The Fragments of Heraclitus translates his most famous line as: ‘Into the same river we both step and do not step. ![]()
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