Eight Principles to Unite the Republican Party

These are the 8 principle I think we as Republicans can all agree on. I understand that I am not the ultimate authority on these subjects, but this is my attempt to explain and articulate these ideas.

Through conversation and further reading and thought these ideas will evolve, but I will be aiming at seeking the truth of these principles. While I might not always get everything correct I have faith that if I employ the guiding light of truth I will at least be able to move in the right direction.

The Importance of Agreed Principles

Possessing a set of agreed principles produces many benefits to any type of association, from a family to a nation. It provides a common narrative and language that can unite people.

If you look at a company or industry you will quickly discover they have their own type of language. They may employ the language native to the country, so any speaker of that language could understand, generally speaking, the words being used. But certain terms and words will have different meaning than the common usage.

Language is more than just words, it is the meaning behind those words. It is this shared meaning that generates the narrative that binds a group together. Take a look at the word Racism. For most people racism means something like discrimination or hatred of a group of people based on race. To others it means power plus privilege.

To those with the first meaning, the narrative is that anyone can be racist by simply hating a group of people based on the immutable characteristic of race. The narrative of the second meaning only allows those who possess power and privilege to be racist. If someone or some group lacks either of those characteristic they are incapable of being racist.

Both groups would probably agree that racism is bad, but they will find themselves at odds because they do not share the same narrative of what is racism. The power plus privilege narrative allows those who believe in it the justification for hating groups of people if it is done by those who are viewed to lack power and/or privilege.

Those who follow the first narrative will see any hatred of a group of people based on race as racism, even if it is done by those who are perceived to lack power and/or privilege. This is why agreed principles, meaning a shared narrative, is so important.

The Republican Party has lost the sense of what it means to be a Republican. This is due to a loss of First Principles, grounding ideals that we all agree on and unite us.

Currently the slightest disagreement results in someone being called a RINO (Republican in Name Only) or not a real Republican. My hope in articulating these principles is to build a foundation that can bring us all together.

Note: These principles are presented in no particular order and are up for disagreement and discussion.

Principle 1: Sovereignty of the Individual

One of the greatest ideas of western culture is the primacy of the individual over the group. This idea sprung out of the Judeo Christian idea that each person is created with the divine spark within them.

Each person has the freedom to live their life as they see fit as long as they are not violating the liberty of others. This places the power, and the responsibility associated with that power, on the shoulders of each person.

This idea was expressed in the Declaration of Independence when it was written “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” Each individual consents to invest a part of their sovereign power into the government so that it can better protect the natural rights of the individual.

The individual is possessed of all natural rights, such as freedom of speech, religion, association, and self-protection. It is the choice of the individual to consent, not necessarily to agree with, to the government a part of their power so long as the government uses that power to protect and expand liberty and freedom.

When a government abuses this power, a government simply being a collection of individuals, the individuals can withdraw this consent and abolish the government and replace it with one more favorable to them. This does not mean that a violent revolution is in order, but could be done through the use of the ballot box.

Principle 2: Private Property

The idea of private property is that an individual not only owns their possessions and property but that they own themselves. This self-ownership was one of the greatest advancements in Western thought.

The natural extension of this thought was the death knell for slavery. If you as an individual own yourself than no one else can own you.

The idea that an individual can own something also lends itself to the right of privacy and the prohibition against unlawful searches and seizures. If you own something then no one has the right to take it from you without due process.

Ultimately this principle lends itself to borders. If you as an individual own something you have a right to grant or deny access to that thing or property. Taking this out farther, the state, which is a collection of individuals, can determine who is and is not allowed access to the country.

Principle 3: Fiscal Responsibility

This involves both taxation and spending. It is okay to have welfare programs as long as they work, create the desired outcome, and we have the money to maintain them. Republicanism sees debt as a pathway toward corruption and it must be avoided if a just and functioning state is to be maintained.

We know lowering taxes help the average person and boosts the economy. Money is most effectively used when the decisions are done by the individuals most invested in the outcome and success of those decisions.

This does not mean there is no role for the government to play in public works, but they should be financed as locally as possible. There is no reason the people of Utah should have to finance public works in Florida that they will never see the benefit nor will they gain personally for doing so.

So we want to keep taxes as low as possible, yet for this to be effective we have to be willing to also cut spending. Government spending is highly susceptible to corruption, contracts being awarded to friends and family members. We saw this with former Governor Kitzhaber and his girlfriend’s consulting firm.

Another way government spending gets out of control is that they are incentivized to lose. If a department is not producing results in the public sector they always claim the problem is that they did not have enough funding.

This ends up with ineffective programs increasing in size and requiring more money. The politicians who started these pet projects gain nothing by admitting they were flawed, in fact it could cost them their job. So they say the only reason it failed was due to not enough funding, often blaming the other party for obstruction of those funds.

The department heads go along with this because it looks good to run a department that is growing and it covers any wrong doing on their part.

This is simply a blame shifting tactic that has a high cost, both in terms of money and public trust. This is why government spending and programs should be as local as possible, it increases accountability and oversight by the public who is funding these programs.

Principle 4: Individual Virtue

In order to better understand this we must have a definition of what virtue is. Naturally virtue is going to have as many meaning as there are people, but for right now we are going to take it to mean doing what is morally right.

This is not a loud and publicly shared virtue but a personal and individual kind of virtue. It is not virtuous to disparage an individual because you believe they lack virtue, which is just a different type of virtue signaling.

There are a few kinds of virtue signaling. The first kind is shaming others for not being virtuous. When you do that you are implying that you possess more virtue than the person you are shaming. At that point is has become more about demonstrating publicly your virtue or the lack of virtue of another person.

The second kind of virtue signaling is the one often seen during protests. People publicly stating causes they support, not just because they think it is the virtuous thing to do, but because they are seeking praise from their peers and the public at large.

These types of virtue signaling seek to draw attention on the individual to be praised for their good deed or to punish those who seem to be less virtuous. Both are corrupting influences. The goal of virtue signaling is praise and attention, not an attempt to live a good life.

Instead virtue is trying to do what is right regardless of praise. To be clear, praise of virtue is not bad itself, but when the goal is praise or attention instead of virtue it tends to move an individual away from doing what is right to doing what is popular.

Individual virtue means that given the means and opportunity to do something wrong that you make the choice to do what is right. An example of this would be going into a convenience store that is very busy with your own coffee cup filling it up and walking out.

You could get away with this very easily and the clerk or cops probably would not do much to stop you, but morally it is still stealing. A virtuous individual would wait in line and pay for the coffee.

Principle 5: Rule of Law

In Republicanism the country is not ruled by a person or people but is under the rule of the agreed upon laws. This means that everyone, from the rich to the poor, the famous and infamous, the highest elected office and the common person, are all subject to the law.

This does not mean that all laws are just or that you have to agree with every law, but you must respect the law. If you find a law unjust or harmful, seek to change it through the legal means. We all must accept that there are going to be laws we do not like but must follow in order to maintain a functioning society.

The reason the rule of law is important is that it is a check on power. In order for it to function properly the law must be accessible and understandable by the average person. The Roman senator and historian Tacitus was correct when he observed that “The more numerous the laws, the more corrupt the government.”

When the law grows in complexity and is no longer understood by the average person, it loses its ability to check power and instead becomes a tool for the individual(s) in the position of power.

The rule of law breaks down and becomes corrupt when it is being used as a weapon to settle personal scores and vendettas as opposed to settling disputes between individuals. “In a free society the state does not administer the affairs of men. It administers justice among men who conduct their own affairs.” Walter Lippmann, An Inquiry into the Principles of a Good Society (Boston, 1937) p. 267)

Distributive justice or social justice, meaning the application of the rule of law that varies depending on perceptions of privilege, wealth, and opportunities, is a corruption of the rule of law and blind justice. F.A Hayek was correct when he wrote:

“…[T]he main difference between the order of society at which classical liberalism aimed and the sort of society into which it is now being transformed is that the former was governed by principles of just individual conduct while the new society is to satisfy the demands for ‘social justice’ –or, in other words, that the former demanded just action by the individuals while the latter more and more places the duty of justice on authorities with power to command people what to do.” F.A. Hayek The Mirage of Social Justice (1976) p. 65-66

It is this collection of power to administer justice that can corrupt the rule of law and it is the duty of the citizens to protect against that corruption.

Principle 6: Opposing and Limited Government

In order for a government to be able to perform its duties it must be invested with the power to carry out those duties. The founding fathers were aware that “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

This is why they structured the government the way they did. They intended the various branches to oppose each other as a way to check one branch from gaining more power over the others.

Republicanism believes that a government is necessary to protect the rights of the individual against the mob as well as outside forces. In this line of thought a government should adjudicate disputes between individuals and protect the country from other nations.

When you allow a government more and more power over your life, you give up your freedom for a false sense of security. If a government becomes too powerful it can become a danger to its citizens as opposed to a benefit to their liberty.

This is why small federal government and active local government works best. It allows those closest to the problem to address it in the way most suitable to themselves. A government can also take up tasks the responsibilities that cannot be effectively solved by the private sector, such as monitoring drinking water and disaster relief.

Yet it should be up to the locality to determine how much of a role they want their government to take. A good rule when thinking about where to draw that line on government power is to ask yourself if you would be comfortable with those who hold opposing political beliefs to possess such power. If you answer no than to do not grant that power to the government, because at some point in the future they will be in that position and will not be shy about using that power against you.

When former President Obama was in office I heard a few of my Democrat friends remark that they wished he could just implement the policies he was advocating for. When I pointed out this was a bad idea they often dismissed me as a Republican who just opposed Obama. Yet I doubt they would be comfortable placing the power they wished for former President Obama into the hands of President Trump.

In order to secure liberty for the individual a government must be limited in its power and the best way to accomplish this goal over time is to create a government with opposing powers limited by the rule of law.

Principle 7: Civic Duty

Duty does not mean blindly following orders, but taking the responsibility to do what is needed and expected of you as part of a civilized society. This can take many forms, from military service to public office to voting.

In order to maintain freedom and liberty for individuals, those individuals must willingly accept the duty and responsibility for their own life as well as for the betterment of those around them. Take an interest in what is going on in your local community and help out where you can.

In times of war, join the army or the National Guard, and do not dodge the draft (if it is implemented). In times of peace volunteer as a firefighter, participate in jury duty, and follow the law. Be sure to stay up on current events as best you can and participate in the system by voting.

The world is a better place if everyone does what is expected of them and takes on as much responsibility as they can handle to improve the country. The amount of good and change you as an individual are capable of will amaze you once you accept your duty.

Generally speaking civic duty should never be forced but willingly accepted on an individual level. Each individual is best situated to determine how much responsibility they are willing to accept. By accepting that responsibility at an individual level the country and the world will improve as will each individuals life.

Principle 8: Inalienable Natural Rights

Human beings are possessed of inalienable natural rights, such as but not limited to free speech, freedom of association, the right to bear arms, and religious liberty. Since each individual is possessed of these rights only the individual can make the choice to give up any part of those rights.

These rights can come from God, or are simply part of the natural order of the universe. This is important because it sets those rights outside of man-made structures and orders, such as government.

Being part of a society you naturally must also give up part of your right, in the hope that by doing so your freedom will be increased. For example, an individual might willingly submit to a prohibition against yelling fire in a crowded theater, limiting free speech to protect the right to life.

These rights come from outside of man-made institutions and as such man made institution only have authority over them that the people allow. This is the social contract between the individual and the state. The state does not grant you your rights but it can negotiate limits with the individuals within the state.

Just like any other negotiation it is up to the individuals to determine what they are going to accept. This does not mean that acceptance is permanent, but the negotiation is a continuing and ongoing part of living in society.

Even if you disagree with a limit put into place, you still have the right to use your freedom of speech to seek a redress of your grievances. Remember the four boxes of liberty, the soap box, the ballot box, the jury box, and the ammo box.

This is why any sort of limit placed on natural rights should be done with a great deal of skepticism, care, and consensus. Failure to do properly consider these things will lead to conflict and both sides entrenching themselves, focusing more on winning against the other side as opposed to seeking the truth and doing what is right.

Republicanism

In the Republican Party you will find many different types of people with different ideas. This variety makes it hard to reach a consensus and agree on policy and candidates. Yet if we all hold these principles we can discuss and argue in good faith with each other knowing that we all are presenting our ideas for move toward freedom and liberty for all.

With these grounding principles we tend to fall back into our groups or tribes. As history has shown tribes fight and destroy each other and do not advance civilization forward. The Republican Party has lost this shared narrative, but if we agree on these principle, or at the very least the meaning and narrative behind them, than we can unite and be a positive force for change in this country.

I am reminded of the words of Benjamin Franklin when he was asked what kind of government have we got at the close of the constitutional convention in 1787 as he left Liberty Hall. He replied “A Republic, if you can keep it.”

A Republican system only works if the people are willing to make it work, this takes duty, responsibility, individual virtue, and respect for what has come before. Let’s rediscover our shared narrative and unite to make life better for each individual in this country by allowing them the freedom and liberty to choose their own path, their own responsibility and duty, and to live the moral life they think is best.

Edits: 6/6/18 Spelling error 'boarder' to 'borders.'

Logos and Skyrim: Shouting Order From Chaos

The video game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was released on November 11^th 2011. Having played the last two installments in this series I eagerly awaited this game. I watch trailers, I read articles on it, and looked through reviews of early game play.

The game revolves around the story of the hero, the Dragonborn, and the return of dragons to the world. A hero using sword and sorcery to fight dragons seems like pretty standard video game fair but the game was a huge success.

It was not until 2017 that I realized the story of Skyrim was more than just a game, but rather a retelling of a powerful older story full of symbols that I knew but never recognized. This is the story of the hero and his journey.

This significance came to me as I was replaying Skyrim and listening to Professor Jordan Peterson. This is my attempt to untangle the importance of the hero’s journey to the individual and society through the game Skyrim.

The Hero’s Call

The game starts with the hero in the back of a cart with rebels and criminals, bound, on his way to his execution. This is an odd place for a hero to be yet this is how the journey starts.

The people with the Dragonborn are dangerous. This hints at the idea that the Dragonborn himself must be a dangerous person as well. The philosopher Carl Jung would say that the hero has integrated his shadow. Meaning that to be a hero you must accept that you are capable of evil and struggle against that capability.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn describes this more clearly when he wrote in The Gulag Archipelago that “Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart -- and through all human hearts.” This is also seen in the Judeo-Christian concept of original sin. Meaning that sin or evil is within all of us and that is something we all must struggle with our whole lives.

Failure to recognize that you are capable of evil (Pride?) or recognizing it and refusing to resist it will cause an individual’s evil side to grow. It is this internal struggle within ourselves that we see played externally in the hero’s story.

The Dragonborn is also bound and on his way to execution. He was captured while wandering, seemingly without aim. This points to the idea that without a goal and without responsibility a person will find themselves in a bad place and on a fast track to death. This is seen played out clearly in young men without direction joining a gang or someone getting into drugs.

Humans have evolved our eye sight in order to have aim so that we are better at finding food. On one level humans have evolved the ability to aim in order to survive. Yet in order to aim clearly on a conceptual level we need to be able to articulate what it is that we want. It is hard to hit the target if you do not know exactly what the target is. Speech helps us clarify the thing at which we aim.

The Dragons Return

The hero is taken into a town and has his head placed on the chopping block. As the headsman raises his axe you hear someone shout, “what is that?!” A dragon lands on a tower above you and shouts, causing a hail of rocks. Chaos ensues.

It is this dragon’s shout (Speech) that frees the Dragonborn. He is freed from the execution as well as aimless wandering. In a very real, giant and dangerous way, responsibility hits the hero hard and calls directly to him. It says I am the biggest problem here, you need to deal with me or watch your world burn.

Dragons as a concept have been around for a long time. Professor Jordan Peterson sees the dragon as an amalgamation of predators of our early ancestors, combining the traits of snakes, birds, and large cats (like lions). If that was not bad enough it can also breathe fire and is intelligent. Despite the danger of dragons they possess gold, meaning there is something of value to be gained by defeating them.

Professor Peterson goes on to say that dragons as a symbol are the problem of all problems. From an evolutionary stand point the biggest problem our ancestors faced were predators. The dragon, the ultimate predator, logically stands in for the idea of problems.

It is from this reasoning that you see hero stories. Of course people would tell stories of the person who willingly went out into the world and killed those predators. Not only did they end the problem that predator posed, but they would be able to bring back food and perhaps a fir to keep them warm.

This is the reason dragons have gold. If you extract the idea out farther it explains that within problems are something useful and solving those problems will allow you to be rid of the predator and to bring back something of value to make things better, for yourself and society.

The society the Dragonborn finds himself in is in the middle of a civil war. On one side you have the Stormcloaks and on the other you have the Imperials/Empire. The motivations of these two groups are complex but for now all we need to know is that they are at war with each other, they were both at the execution and they both know that the dragons have returned.

If you approach these groups in the game it is clear that they are refusing to deal with the dragons and are still focused on fighting each other. To them it is more important to battle one another than it is to deal with the return of the dragons. They are blind to the real problem, the dragons, and what it could mean for the world. Instead it is up to the hero to take on this problem himself.

The dragons are returning all across Skyrim, but as you progress through the game you find out that they were not hiding somewhere but were in fact dead and are being brought back to life. Relating it to the real world you can see these old problems coming back to life.

The ghost of Communism has spread across college campuses and work itself into a multi headed dragon (hydra). Authoritarianism attempting to shut down free speech, people in masks looting and rioting in urban areas, and religious extremists murdering innocent people being excused due to Political Correctness. These dragons have been resurrected and are currently running free across the world until a hero is willing to step up.

Sky Shattering Thu’um

In Skyrim the hero has the power of a Thu’um or a shout. This is a type of magic that allows the hero to do amazing things simply by speaking words. The way the hero gains this power is by slaying dragons, absorbing their power and reading words of power from the past on dragon walls.

Words, spoken or written, are a person’s attempt to manifest an idea into the real world. By reading these words on the dragon walls, what the Dragonborn is doing is building his power based on the foundations of what has come before. He is resurrecting the culture and giving it new life.

The benefit of slaying the dragons is to gain power in order to use additional words. When the hero finds a dragon wall he cannot read all the words, only part of it stands out. This is the logos revealing itself to the hero, who will carry it into the world.

Logos is the root of the word logic and comes from a Greek word meaning, ground, plea, opinion, expectation, word, speech, account, reason, proportion, discourse. Logos in the West is a term used when describing Jesus as being the Word of God. Yet before that in Western philosophy the term was used by Heraclitus to mean “a principle of order and knowledge.”

It is a complex word and concept which Jordan Peterson describes as meaning something like “the articulated Truth.” (A YouTube video of Peterson explaining Logos here). When the Dragonborn kills a dragon and gains the power to shout, the game is acting out this idea. The idea that if you willingly go out and face down problems (dragons) you will gain knowledge and power (logos) which you can bring to the world to make it a better place.

Rescuing your Father from the Underworld

This is a common theme in mythology as well as in video games. Beowulf goes into the depths and fights Grendel’s mother, Pinocchio goes to the bottom of the ocean to save Gepetto, and the Dragonborn makes his way to Sovngarde.

These are all great stories in their own right and to dismiss them as superstition and fairy tale would be to miss out on the essence behind the story. First we must look at what the Underworld and the Father is and why the Father is in the Underworld.

The Underworld is the place you go when you die, an unknown place, a place that cannot be known. The Father is the old king or rather the culture built by those in the past. In these stories death is not the end, but rather a turning point. It is same idea that is represented by the tarot card death. Culture is always dying and being reborn because chaos is always pushing against order and to maintain order change (or chaos) is needed.

So the hero goes out into chaos, brings a part of that chaos back so that the culture can change in an attempt to maintain order. The hero going into the Underworld (chaos or the unknown) is his attempt to bring back something of value that will, hopefully, update society so that it will not collapse into chaos.

In Skyrim the main adversary is Alduin, a soul eating dragon that can rain chaos from the sky with a shout. He was defeated in the past through the use of an Elder Scroll (a fragment of the divine), yet this was only a temporary defeat. The Dragonborn must use the Elder Scroll and learn what the heroes of the past knew so that he can deal with the problem of Alduin and restore order to the world.

The hero does not destroy culture or society, but instead builds on it to make it better. He joins with the old heroes to defeat Alduin, using their power and his own to defeat the problem once and for all.

It is with the defeat of this dragon that order is restored to the world. Yet when the hero returns from the Underworld he sees several dragons flying overhead spreading across the world. This means that there are still problems in the world but the world is a little bit better with one less problem.

The Hero’s Song Lives On

The hero’s journey is the journey of each individual. The man who wakes up at 5am and goes to work all day so his kids will have a better future then he did is a hero. The mother who spends countless sleepless nights caring for a sick child is a hero. The hero is inside of us all and in order to access it we must understand that we are both hero and monster. That both good and evil is inside of all of us and that the first thing we must do is recognize that struggle and actively take part.

Each individual must use his logos to find what he is aiming at and shoot. There is no guarantee that you will hit your mark or that you are aiming at what you think you are. Yet by speaking the truth as clearly and as best you can you will have a chance of hitting the mark.

If society is falling apart the answer is not to tear it down and start over. Rather it is to deal with the problems by building on and renewing the foundation. Preserving the traditions of the past while updating them to meet current situations.

The story of Skyrim and the hero’s journey is so popular and powerful because it is the story of ourselves. We must look honestly at ourselves, recognize the problems in us and in our world and try to solve them by taking willing responsibility of them. It is in the solving of these problems that we ease the suffering of life for ourselves and those around us as well as in the world at large. The great thing about the story is that anyone no matter how inadequate or useless has this potential inside of them. That potential could be called the divine spark within us all.