The Economic Basis of Politics Classic Reprint Charles A Beard 9781330116593 Books
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The imperious Burke likewise thought the theme worthy 'of his talents, but he soon gave it up, confessing defeat. I doubt, he says.
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The Economic Basis of Politics Classic Reprint Charles A Beard 9781330116593 Books
Beard, Charles A. 1922. The Economic Basis of Politics. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 99 p. Reprinted 1928.Until Jean Jacques Rousseau and Thomas Jefferson, governments of the leading western states, contained organs which represented the major economic interests of the states' populations. In England the Parliament had two houses; in France, three; and in Sweden, four. Spain also had a parliament. England's House of Lords represented the great landlords of the state; the House of Commons was composed of gentry who represented the rural communities and burgers who represented the urban communities. In France the three houses, or estates, represented respectively, the nobility, the clergy, and everyone else who had a political voice.
Rousseau and Jefferson replaced the political equality of economic interests with the political equality of all individuals, though Jefferson did not mean it; he was trying for a declaration that would not alienate anyone from support of the war for independence.
This book is an excellent one for reading along with John C. Calhoun's A Disquisition on Government.
I read Beard during spring of 2011.
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The Economic Basis of Politics Classic Reprint Charles A Beard 9781330116593 Books Reviews
This book was originally four lectures delivered by Charles A. Beard at Amherst College in 1916. The fourth lecture was revised when the book originally appeared in 1922, to try to keep up with events. If anything, the relationship between economic interests and the ability of governments to reflect the general will of the governed suffered an agonizing setback after World War One, when constitutions which provided universal suffrage, soon to include women in many countries, were abrogated by fascist forms of totalitarian political control leading up to World War Two. In 1945 a long chapter was added to attempt to relate events to that point to our understanding of the political possibilities which still remain open to those who might support some new constitutions.
Economics used to be much more stable than governments, and the early philosophers who had opinions on the role of the governed in systems of government assumed that the components of the system would represent various economic interests. Aristotle gets credit as ` "the father of political science" because he took it out of the sphere of utopian idealism where Plato left it and placed it on the strong foundation of natural history.' (pp. 4-5). For an ideal society, even then, "A city ought to be composed, as far as possible, of equals and similars; and these are generally the middle classes." (p. 20). A father of the United States Constitution, James Madison, wrote in Number Ten of the Federalist, on `the protection of the different and unequal faculties of men for acquiring property. "From the protection of different and unequal faculties of acquiring property, the possession of different degrees and kinds of property immediately results." ' (pp. 16-17).
There is a lot to be said for systems which can combine representatives of different interests and produce results which would be considered satisfactory to a majority. The form of political theory tending to demand this result most strongly is Rousseau's SOCIAL CONTRACT, which proposed giving a majority the power to impose "the general will." (p. 51). The French Revolution is considered an example of the inability of a vast number of people with no economic interests to run a society.
"Then followed the Revolution of violence and terror in which radical readers inflamed the disenfranchised by appeals to the gospel of Rousseau and to the proclamations of the bourgeois. To save themselves the latter had to resort to that other great source of authority, the sword. This instrument was wielded by Napoleon Bonaparte, a man who understood the relation of property to political power, and who, through his constitutions based on checks and balances, gave stability to bourgeois institutions." (p. 55). We still have some terror and proclamations of the bourgeois, but there seems to be little evidence than anyone is about to write a constitution with the checks and balances that can defeat the gospel that inspires those who are no longer fired up with zeal by the doctrines of Rousseau.
The United States was in a *nice country, if you can get it* category at the time of the American Revolution, with fundamental equality through land ownership available to those who were not involved in productive activities or being enslaved. Jefferson's choice of "the free-and-equal doctrine" (p. 58) was easier to proclaim in America because "There was no established clergy here. There was no titled aristocracy." (p. 57). Those who pictured themselves governing themselves in America had no reason to worry that "Jefferson, while justifying the revolt against George III, in fact challenged the rule of property which was guaranteed by the state constitutions drafted by his fellow revolutionists in that very epoch." (pp. 57-58).
This book is small, but there is some question if the simplicity with which it begins can lead to any enlightenment in the face of the complexity which we face. Chapter IV, The Contradiction and the Outcome (pp. 62-70), only leads to "In other words, there is no rest for mankind, no final solution of eternal contradictions." That idea comes from 1922, shortly before "No less drastic than its consequences has been a transformation in the functions of government, particularly in those which call for wholesale intervention in economic operations." (p. 71). Looking back in the spring of 1945 might have been more comforting than facing the end of 2003 with economic sanctions still in force against some political regimes which displease the global superpower more than any form of economic activity or illegal substance ever will. But the gross distortions of political economics in this book hardly extends beyond the restrictions which communism imposed on itself.
The first page of Chapter V, Economics and Politics in Our Revolutionary Age, mentions Lenin and Trotsky, "the early leaders of the Russian revolution." (p. 71). The problem they faced, representing a party which predated the vanguard of the economic system they intended to run, seems similar to the United States trying to establish a constitution for Iraq, a country in which people have interests which are not economic, the lack of security there now extending beyond the concern for property rights. Beard was even fearful. "But military men have, necessarily, a set of values which differ in many respects from civilian values; and the military interests, enlarged by universal conscription, will constitute a powerful influence in American affairs, with all that may involve amid the domestic and foreign contingencies of coming ages." (pp. 102-103). It is not likely that Beard was then worried about how long it might be before Iraqis act like civilians. Some might be wondering how long it will be before electricity will even allow economic activity.
Beard, Charles A. 1922. The Economic Basis of Politics. New York Alfred A. Knopf, 99 p. Reprinted 1928.
Until Jean Jacques Rousseau and Thomas Jefferson, governments of the leading western states, contained organs which represented the major economic interests of the states' populations. In England the Parliament had two houses; in France, three; and in Sweden, four. Spain also had a parliament. England's House of Lords represented the great landlords of the state; the House of Commons was composed of gentry who represented the rural communities and burgers who represented the urban communities. In France the three houses, or estates, represented respectively, the nobility, the clergy, and everyone else who had a political voice.
Rousseau and Jefferson replaced the political equality of economic interests with the political equality of all individuals, though Jefferson did not mean it; he was trying for a declaration that would not alienate anyone from support of the war for independence.
This book is an excellent one for reading along with John C. Calhoun's A Disquisition on Government.
I read Beard during spring of 2011.
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