The God of the Machine - Tranche 20
Chapter X, Excerpt 2 of 3
The Economics of a Free Society
Marx’s theory of class war is utter nonsense; it has no reference in either class or war. It is physically impossible for “labor” and “capital” to engage in war on each other. Capital is property; labor is men. All that can occur is sporadic rioting and possibly destruction of property, for the very weapons of war in an industrial society can be produced and maintained only by “capital” and “labor” in combination. This was the significance of gunpowder; it is the product of a free economy. It is not a cause.
In feudal society, when men spoke of rights or liberties, they claimed them . . . referring to a permissive grant in the past. The principle was that man must pay for license to work or leave to walk about. When the productive element regained a measure of natural freedom, they indulged in an orgy of work. This unparalleled outburst of energy was beneficial by the increase of goods and knowledge. Goods and labor were in the free market, the society of contract; a great deal of land was not.
In general, while sneering at the profit motive of industry, the gentry never let a penny get by them. Thus, the upper class absorbed most of the material benefit of the emerging contract society and was at the same time relieved of its main duties. The deadlock of class can be broken by reverting through barbarism (leadership) to savagery or by advancing to the political organization appropriate to the society of contract. The only good that accrued at first was that America existed.
The Economics of a Free Society
Marx’s theory of class war is utter nonsense; it has no reference in either class or war. It is physically impossible for “labor” and “capital” to engage in war on each other. Capital is property; labor is men. All that can occur is sporadic rioting and possibly destruction of property, for the very weapons of war in an industrial society can be produced and maintained only by “capital” and “labor” in combination. This was the significance of gunpowder; it is the product of a free economy. It is not a cause.
In feudal society, when men spoke of rights or liberties, they claimed them . . . referring to a permissive grant in the past. The principle was that man must pay for license to work or leave to walk about. When the productive element regained a measure of natural freedom, they indulged in an orgy of work. This unparalleled outburst of energy was beneficial by the increase of goods and knowledge. Goods and labor were in the free market, the society of contract; a great deal of land was not.
In general, while sneering at the profit motive of industry, the gentry never let a penny get by them. Thus, the upper class absorbed most of the material benefit of the emerging contract society and was at the same time relieved of its main duties. The deadlock of class can be broken by reverting through barbarism (leadership) to savagery or by advancing to the political organization appropriate to the society of contract. The only good that accrued at first was that America existed.
Gavin Newsom cometh with a swagger worthy of a Hitler with a promise to do worse.
The question is how long it will take to recover after these barbarians have destroyed what is left of individual rights, capitalism, a society of contract?