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February 26, 2005
Oppenheimer, Franz. The State. New York: Fee Life, 1975.
xi. Examples of stateless societies.
ix. political self interest.
xii. Social contract theory claims that the rise of the state is a natural process.
xiii. Differentiation and specialization are natural developments but the state is not. The state is an expression of violent means over other individuals (history).
xv. There happens to become a subtle difference between a state and general robbery. Under the state there is less or no resistance, the robbers leave the victims alone to a certain degree so they may be more productive, as the profitability of the state is dependent upon the economic success of its victims.
7. How much land do we have on planet Earth? Was land allocated through political means?
14. One force impels all life, "hunger and love."
18. Agriculturalists are not warlike. Herdsmen can increase their populations faster.
23. Six stages of state development.
1. Small mobilized robbers. The bear steals honey and destroys the hive.
2. The beekeeper leaves honey so the bees survive the winter and protects them from other robbers.
3. The bees offer willful tribute for this protection. Is this the social contract?
4. A union between the genetic breeding of robbers and victims.
5. Quarrels erupt between neighboring clans. Lords discourage this as judges.
25. Is the human ego the same all over the world?
The murdered peasant no longer plows his fields.
34. The state comes into being through sexual propogation.
35. The gods of the victorious rule over the gods of the losers.
36. Liberalism is the law of equality.
-Has today's society gone past the mere legitimacy of the state and into something far worse in which people trust the state and their coercive means more so than the voluntary means of commerce? Is this anti-corporate mentality a result of democracies false claim to be ruled by the people? How do we fix this? Is teaching economics preaching to the choir?
40. Psychology belongs to the stage of development that it is set in society, not to the race.
41. States must grow through robbery to compete with other states.
42. The caste system distinguished between the roles of men and women.
45. The state grows to its maximum capacity which is held to the limit by the deaths of its people.
IV: The Holy Roman Empire is the maritime state.
The law of marginal utility leads to bartering, mutually beneficial exchange and is dependent upon peaceful encounters by foreigners. This develops cultural norms of hospitality and courtesy.
51. Listed examples of the trade between women and cattle. Incest has always been frowned upon.
52. Robbers are also merchants and must support the market. They steal what is valuable, and attempt to exchange it for liquid wealth.
57. Colonies can become strong enough to shake off their foreign rulers such as the US independence.
63. City dwellers are more accustomed to change, they are less superstitious, they are not afraid of the ghosts of their ancestors.
64. The Holy Roman Empire was the only city state capable of balancing consumption of population with production for a lengthy period of time.
-Suggested writing topic: Is the modern United States democracy just a copy cat of the Holy Roman Empire? Look at the foreign intervention in Iraq.
V. The Development of the Feudal State.
67. Everyone is at liberty to take as much of the un-cultivated land existing in masses as he needs and will or can cultivate. Why would you take more, when it would be an additional cost of maintaining your exerted property rights over it? Why would you try to horde air?
70. The state has and tries to maintain a monopoly over the power to trade.
77. What is a state within a state?
79. Free men block the power of the central government through ownership of private property.
80. Class is determined by wealth. Court positions are filled by relatives of the ruling class.
84. A shift back to the second stage of states development, the relationship between taxation and protection.
VI. The Constitutional State:
88. The division of property switches from lord taking most of the product to the peasant keeping most of the product.
95. Capitalism allied with plebeians leads to the modern constitutional state.
97. The three classes of society are: 1. financial owners, 2. captains of industry, and 3. workers.
The middle class is the transition of successful workers to higher classes. A political party is the organizational representation of a class.
100. Officials are subject to economic interests of their constituencies.
VII. The Tendency of the Development of the State.
102. The hope for the future lies in the cease and desist of the political means. A freeman's citizenship lies in his ability to partake in self governance.
106. The right to move from a location that is a precursor to freedom and justice.
Posted by djdamico at February 26, 2005 8:04 PM