The Auron MacIntyre Show - August 14, 2023


From the Rule of Law to the Total State ｜ 8⧸14⧸23

Hosted by
Auron MacIntyre
Mentioned
Joe Kennedy De Juvenal DeJuvenel Rocky
Nick Land and the IQ Shredder ｜ 8⧸10⧸23 The Absolute State of Britain ｜ Guest： Harry Robinson ｜ 8⧸15⧸23

Episode Stats


Length

13 minutes

Words per minute

136.69

Word count

1,807

Sentence count

95

Harmful content

Misogyny

4

sentences flagged

Hate speech

3

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

As the regime jails political opponents, meme makers, and protesters while letting violent criminals roam the streets, it becomes increasingly difficult to pretend that we re in a nation ruled by laws, not men. Rule of law is understood as a bedrock principle in a constitutional republic, but it s become clear that many Western democracies, America included, have discarded this fundamental axiom.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 We hope you're enjoying your Air Canada flight.
00:00:02.320 Rocky's vacation, here we come.
00:00:05.060 Whoa, is this economy?
00:00:07.180 Free beer, wine, and snacks.
00:00:09.620 Sweet! 0.95
00:00:10.720 Fast-free Wi-Fi means I can make dinner reservations before we land.
00:00:14.760 And with live TV, I'm not missing the game.
00:00:17.800 It's kind of like, I'm already on vacation.
00:00:20.980 Nice! 0.94
00:00:22.160 On behalf of Air Canada, nice travels.
00:00:25.260 Wi-Fi available to Airplane members on Equipped Flight.
00:00:27.320 Sponsored by Bell. Conditions apply.
00:00:28.580 See AirCanada.com.
00:00:30.000 As the regime jails political opponents, meme makers, and protesters while letting violent
00:00:42.900 criminals roam the streets, it becomes increasingly difficult to pretend that we're in a nation
00:00:47.080 ruled by laws, not men. 0.52
00:00:49.660 Rule of law is understood as a bedrock principle in a constitutional republic, but it's become
00:00:54.740 clear that many Western democracies, America included, have discarded this fundamental
00:00:59.320 axiom.
00:01:00.880 In theory, these nations honor rule of law as a core value, but in practice, they've
00:01:06.060 abandoned it almost simultaneously.
00:01:08.660 Today, we'll be looking at Bertrand de Juvenal's seminal work on power to help us understand
00:01:13.420 why Western liberal democracies discarded rule of law and embraced the total state.
00:01:19.780 De Juvenal begins by defining his terms, explaining the critical difference between laws of nature,
00:01:25.500 nature, natural laws of society, and positive law.
00:01:29.520 Laws of nature are physical laws, like gravity, to which all matter and all men must submit. 0.94
00:01:36.480 If something is dropped from a height, it must fall, but clever arguments of a lawyer will
00:01:41.080 have no impact on this reality.
00:01:43.700 Natural laws of society emerge from the brute facts about their material conditions and the
00:01:49.360 nature of humans in that community, but the members of that society still have agency.
00:01:55.820 If the key water source in a village dries up, then the tribe must move on to survive. 0.75
00:02:01.380 They can choose to stay in their village, but the natural consequence will eventually be
00:02:06.360 death if action isn't taken.
00:02:09.060 Moral and civil law usually begin as extensions of natural law, and as long as the power of the
00:02:15.820 state confines itself to enforcing laws of this kind, its citizens maintain their dignity.
00:02:22.000 The barriers placed around human action are aligned with natural consequences and the good
00:02:28.380 that an individual would innately pursue.
00:02:32.000 While there are rules, man is free to pursue virtue because the law is not arbitrary, and he
00:02:37.800 can exert agency in the matters over which he would instinctively seek dominion.
00:02:42.660 This is the ideal mode of state power, but DeJuvenal acknowledges that it is utopian.
00:02:49.800 No government manages to restrict itself to this manner of law in perpetuity.
00:02:56.460 Positive law is initially created to buttress moral and civil law derived from nature, but
00:03:02.820 it can quickly grow beyond its original scope.
00:03:06.240 Inequality is the most natural of all truths, and the strong will seek laws to enshrine their
00:03:11.740 advantage while the weak seek champions who would use the law to elevate them.
00:03:16.880 While the law was initially bound together and made coherent by the natural circumstances
00:03:22.100 and inherited traditions of society, great and sudden shifts in circumstances can give rise
00:03:28.680 to factions which quickly assemble an array of positive law in their favor.
00:03:34.000 Law ceases to reflect the natural disposition and folkways of the people, and instead becomes
00:03:39.780 a momentary tool of situational advantage wielded by divergent interests.
00:03:45.800 Man loses dignity because he can no longer freely pursue virtue.
00:03:50.120 He is instead bound by arbitrary dictates that no longer align with the natural laws of society.
00:03:56.420 Did you feel it guys?
00:03:57.800 There's been a seismic shift in the legal system.
00:04:00.300 An oppressive legal precedent in place since 1971 was recently overturned by the Supreme Court.
00:04:06.000 The Americans who benefit the most are people of faith, so we need to get the word out.
00:04:10.520 It happened because high school coach Joe Kennedy used to take a knee in prayer on the field after games,
00:04:16.380 until praying in public got him fired.
00:04:18.200 But now the legal precedent that got him fired is gone, and to celebrate that victory,
00:04:22.440 the folks over at First Liberty Institute created the First Freedom Challenge.
00:04:26.960 They want people to fill local stadiums and pray after the game,
00:04:30.160 just like Coach Kennedy on his first game back, Friday, September 1st.
00:04:35.220 Here are three things that you can do to promote the First Freedom Challenge.
00:04:38.800 One, sign up at rfia.org and commit to praying on September 1st.
00:04:44.140 Two, record a short video message challenging people to take a knee in prayer with Coach Kennedy.
00:04:49.740 And three, share your video on social media.
00:04:52.820 Let the world know that the freedoms intended by our founding fathers are back.
00:04:56.960 Join me and take the First Freedom Challenge.
00:04:58.900 Sign up at rfia.org.
00:05:02.460 That's rfia.org.
00:05:05.380 DeJuvenal does not dismiss the plight of the dispossessed,
00:05:08.820 claiming that they often hold legitimate grievances against social ills caused by times of massive upheaval,
00:05:15.580 where those who hold power take advantage of instability.
00:05:19.800 Positive legislation is often called upon to adjust the social framework when rapid change takes place.
00:05:26.380 No social reality can remain forever static, and change must inevitably come.
00:05:32.980 But positive law always proves unequal to the task.
00:05:37.280 Ideally, legislative remedies would be thoroughly considered and carefully crafted.
00:05:42.440 But in reality, the making of laws is generally a rushed, emotional, and greedy exercise.
00:05:49.900 While legislation is called upon to remedy real problems, its creation is usually sloppy, short-sighted, and arbitrary.
00:05:58.000 The general disorder of capricious positive law becomes the answer to the specific disorder of societal upheaval.
00:06:07.860 As civilizations expand and increase in complexity, they embrace division of labor,
00:06:13.660 which creates additional social stratification and widens the disparities between social classes.
00:06:19.620 This, in turn, increases the chances of factionalism.
00:06:24.400 Citizens now lead very different lives inside the state and rely on a high degree of social coordination.
00:06:32.400 Religion and social heredity play a key role,
00:06:35.680 binding the very different lives of distinct social classes together,
00:06:39.740 orienting them towards a common goal in a predictable and reliable pattern.
00:06:43.780 The traditions and folkways which had naturally arisen from the character and shared experience of the people
00:06:50.600 now must be carefully passed down from one generation to the next
00:06:54.680 if they are to hold the different social classes fast to a common purpose.
00:07:00.400 The balance between expansion and social cohesion is delicate,
00:07:05.060 requiring the steady hand of a ruling class who understands the cost of trading long-term stability
00:07:11.260 for their own short-term gain.
00:07:13.780 Rulers who are too eager to indulge in personal enrichment or the accrual of power
00:07:19.280 can easily rupture the social contract by enshrining factional interests in the law,
00:07:24.760 warping the system around their temporary desires.
00:07:28.700 Mass expansion through colonization or immigration can provide rapid expansion
00:07:34.420 due to the influx of raw materials and labor, but also threatens social cohesion.
00:07:39.480 The more complex civilization relies heavily on the transmission of traditions and cultural norms
00:07:47.140 to create social continuity, and new arrivals, if left unassimilated, can disrupt overall coordination.
00:07:55.040 Rapid changes due to revolutionary technological advancement can also heavily disrupt social coordination
00:08:01.780 as each faction struggles to find its place and fight for power inside a shifting paradigm.
00:08:07.280 No set of laws can predict everything, and during times of civilizational upheaval circumstances will arise
00:08:15.300 that demand new patterns of social coordination over which no body of law yet rules.
00:08:20.800 This is when deeply ingrained values and traditions are most critical,
00:08:26.300 because decisions are made rapidly and informally without significant deliberation.
00:08:31.800 If the people have a strong, common morality, then the behavior of leaders will be constrained,
00:08:38.680 even during these times of exception.
00:08:40.940 But if not, leaders can use these moments of instability to ensure advantage for themselves
00:08:46.160 or their social factions.
00:08:49.020 DeJuvenel says, quote,
00:08:50.340 It belongs to the creators of the new conditions, to the innovating elites, guided to the extent
00:08:56.140 needed by the spiritual authorities to create the code of behavior and the concepts of right
00:09:01.520 conduct which are needed to harmonize the new function with the order of society.
00:09:07.040 These innovating elites must consider, while innovating, the personnel whom they attract and
00:09:13.100 make ready for their reception frameworks of morals as well as the raw materials of their work.
00:09:18.360 Each function, in a word, has its law of chivalry and its duty of leadership.
00:09:24.580 In the social movement of today, the innovators have neither elaborated these laws nor been
00:09:29.500 conscious of these duties.
00:09:31.800 End quote.
00:09:33.540 The elites may set these rules in times of rapid change, but due to the slow destruction of a
00:09:39.740 shared culture and moral vision, they fail to recognize their social responsibilities.
00:09:44.440 The accelerated nature of modern technological advancement means increasingly frequent social
00:09:51.080 upheaval, which in turn creates more opportunities for social advancement.
00:09:55.700 The rapidity of this social elevation can create the illusion of equality through opportunity,
00:10:02.040 even incorporating the illusion into positive law.
00:10:05.280 But the factions of society will continue to exist.
00:10:08.360 The only real change is that those in positions of leadership and power are allowed to abandon
00:10:15.580 their duties and obligations to the weak under the guise of equality.
00:10:20.360 With no shared moral vision or acknowledgement of social hierarchy, the only duty for those 0.99
00:10:26.600 who are elevated by social upheaval is to secure their advantage during the state of exception
00:10:32.200 and enshrined it into law.
00:10:35.520 When the state originally governed an organic community, its powers were bound by other social
00:10:41.120 authorities.
00:10:42.800 The government was forced to share power with the church, regional leaders, community organizations,
00:10:49.080 and the heads of families.
00:10:51.420 The traditions of the people would not allow the state to usurp the authority of these natural
00:10:57.240 social institutions.
00:10:58.540 But as social upheaval becomes more common and change more rapid, the state will seek
00:11:04.680 to align with individuals who have been elevated by chaos to remove these competing spheres of
00:11:11.020 authority.
00:11:12.660 The juvenile sees the libertarian and authoritarian impulse as allies, not enemies.
00:11:19.540 Liberation and equality destroy those social institutions that restricted the elevated individual.
00:11:25.320 But those spheres of authority were also the only thing holding back the advance of government
00:11:30.440 power, and the state quickly comes behind, absorbing the responsibilities and powers once
00:11:36.360 wielded by those traditional organizations.
00:11:39.320 With the institutions of shared culture and tradition demolished, all spiritual authority is
00:11:45.020 undermined, and only state power can be called upon to quell the resulting chaos.
00:11:49.980 The structure of social duties which arose from natural law have collapsed from the top down,
00:11:57.040 and the state must claim total power over what has previously been an organic network of
00:12:02.460 distributed social authority if it's to restore order.
00:12:06.240 Without shared religion or folkways, only mass propaganda can be used to install what is now
00:12:12.500 an alien belief system into a population that can find no other way to generate social coordination.
00:12:19.560 Rule of law falls, and the total state is born.
00:12:42.500 Rule of law falls, and there Woman is a certain kind of beverage without any Hype, 1.00
00:13:11.180 You