Postliberal economist Philip Pilkington argues that we can’t simply dispense with a market state, but must give it new purpose in a postliberal political economy.
The Roman customary law adopted by the Christian(izing) kingdoms and principalities or the Justinian code was not the Imperial law, nor the Roman theories of absolutist sovereignty. You jumped over hundreds of years of decentralized order to hit the centralizing aberration that was Charlemagne. But even he didn’t go as far as later Protestant counterparts and Louis XIV.
So no, we shouldn’t simply take Leviathan’s socialist, meddling institutions and make they “post-liberal.” They are rife with corruption and waste and suffer the well-known problems of monopoly and rational calculation. They fail because of economic law.
We do have an old and good common law, or civil law, in the West that is quite concordant with justice and can be perfected over time. No need to take every imperial appendage too.
Look at money instead of divination formulas my macroeconomic friend. Read Hullsmann on what a fiat currency does to public morality. We need sound, market money. The “market” feared by post-liberals is simply the phenomenon of family units engaging in voluntary production (a good, creative enterprise) and trade. Human flourishing results if the “market” was built in a culture of justice and goodness. Socialism is not justice. It’s stealing and a cartel at the point of a gun.
Thought provoking post, Philip. I'm glad you brought up tattoos as well. I posited years ago that the proliferation of visible tattoos was a harbinger of extreme social decay. It speaks to the nihilism and warped nature of society when so many people permanently mutilate their bodies.
Commandeering the market-state, in pursuit of common sense right ordering is a strong argument. I believe you are correct, that is how the world works. There’s no reason that the incentives of social engineering need beget lunacy.
You’re also right that you were Americans should be embarrassed by your country. I’m a Canadian in Cleveland over night: what a dump. The city is overrun with spaced out zombies, mostly black. When asked for money I gave a 20. They all said I was blessed. That’s a nice sentiment - being blessed by the cursed.
One problem with embracing the market state, it seems to me, is that human nature is such that whoever, "lefties" or "righties," takes the reins has thus taken unto themselves more power than they can possibly be allowed by justice and prudence to have. I'd rather see the rise of "self-sufficient communes" you mention (and they are rising) outside the market state -- embodying the vision of subsidiarity proposed by Pope John Paul Ii and others. Many of the married kids in my large suburban-based family are learning how to raise food and animals for just this reason. Regarding tattoos: not coincidentally, the most tattooed peoples, prior to the 21st century, were the least culturally advanced. We're regressing.
The Roman customary law adopted by the Christian(izing) kingdoms and principalities or the Justinian code was not the Imperial law, nor the Roman theories of absolutist sovereignty. You jumped over hundreds of years of decentralized order to hit the centralizing aberration that was Charlemagne. But even he didn’t go as far as later Protestant counterparts and Louis XIV.
So no, we shouldn’t simply take Leviathan’s socialist, meddling institutions and make they “post-liberal.” They are rife with corruption and waste and suffer the well-known problems of monopoly and rational calculation. They fail because of economic law.
We do have an old and good common law, or civil law, in the West that is quite concordant with justice and can be perfected over time. No need to take every imperial appendage too.
Look at money instead of divination formulas my macroeconomic friend. Read Hullsmann on what a fiat currency does to public morality. We need sound, market money. The “market” feared by post-liberals is simply the phenomenon of family units engaging in voluntary production (a good, creative enterprise) and trade. Human flourishing results if the “market” was built in a culture of justice and goodness. Socialism is not justice. It’s stealing and a cartel at the point of a gun.
Thought provoking post, Philip. I'm glad you brought up tattoos as well. I posited years ago that the proliferation of visible tattoos was a harbinger of extreme social decay. It speaks to the nihilism and warped nature of society when so many people permanently mutilate their bodies.
That was hilarious.
Commandeering the market-state, in pursuit of common sense right ordering is a strong argument. I believe you are correct, that is how the world works. There’s no reason that the incentives of social engineering need beget lunacy.
You’re also right that you were Americans should be embarrassed by your country. I’m a Canadian in Cleveland over night: what a dump. The city is overrun with spaced out zombies, mostly black. When asked for money I gave a 20. They all said I was blessed. That’s a nice sentiment - being blessed by the cursed.
One problem with embracing the market state, it seems to me, is that human nature is such that whoever, "lefties" or "righties," takes the reins has thus taken unto themselves more power than they can possibly be allowed by justice and prudence to have. I'd rather see the rise of "self-sufficient communes" you mention (and they are rising) outside the market state -- embodying the vision of subsidiarity proposed by Pope John Paul Ii and others. Many of the married kids in my large suburban-based family are learning how to raise food and animals for just this reason. Regarding tattoos: not coincidentally, the most tattooed peoples, prior to the 21st century, were the least culturally advanced. We're regressing.