June 22, 2018

On Good Government

A good ruler cannot afford to think in ideologies. The flourishing of her community depends on the correct apprehension of reality and its dynamics. Any attempt to impose upon reality a pattern for which it is not yet ready is doomed from the start.

Therefore, the good ruler is a socialist when wealth needs to be justly distributed, a conservative when preserving the best traditions of her polity. He is an anarchist when allowing a small community to govern itself by its lights, and a reactionary when curbing the excesses of modernity.

“Do not repeat the tactics which have gained you one victory, but let your methods be regulated by the infinite variety of circumstances.
Water shapes its course according to the nature of the ground over which it flows; the soldier works out his victory in relation to the foe whom he is facing.

Therefore, just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions.
He who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent and thereby succeed in winning, may be called a heaven-born captain.”

---

Previous post

On Ideology Of what use is cleaving to a particular ideology? The more I see, the more I am convinced that ideologies are founded on some holy idea

Next post

Noble lies In his Republic, Plato defends the use of the noble lie as a means to social cohesion. This can be observed in any polity, of any