GOVERNMENT – Page 5 – REVIEWS AND VIEWS OF LIFE

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCE

Technology is a key to social need which has not been well served in the past or present and could become worse without pragmatic accommodation.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Daughters of the Baboo Grove (From Chian to America, a True Story of Abduction, Adoption, and Separated Twins)

Author: Barbara Demick

Narrated By: Joy Osmanski

Barbara Demick (Author, American journalist, former Beijing bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times.)

This is a brief and fascinating historical glimpse of a government policy gone awry. Like America’s mistaken policies on immigration, Barbara Demick’s story of China’s one-child policy traces the effects of government overreach. Demick tells the story of a rural Chinese family who births twin sisters during the time of China’s unjust enforcement of their one-child policy. One sister is abducted by Chinese government officials, and is adopted by a family in Texas. The ethics of an inhumane Chinese government policy and the perfidy of free enterprise are exposed in Demick’s true story of two children’s lives.

The territorial size of China in respect to continental America.

China’s one-child policy leads to a Chinese criminal enterprise to capitalize on kidnapping and selling children born to families that could not afford the fines for having more children than the law allows. Undoubtedly, most children born were cherished by their parents, but the hardship of life and human greed leads to unconscionable human trafficking. Kidnapping became a part of a legal and criminal enterprise in China. Government policy allowed bureaucrats and scofflaws to confiscate children from their parents and effectively deliver or sell children to orphanages or people wanting to adopt a child. Demick recounts stories of grieving parents and grandparents that cannot get their children back once they have been taken.

Child trafficking, broken families, loss of personal identity, human shame, and the immoral implication of other countries interest in adopting children are unintended consequences of a poorly thought out and implemented government policy.

Demick becomes interested in this story because of a message she receives from a stepbrother of an adopted Chinese sister that has a twin that lives in China. Because of Demick’s long experience in visiting and reporting on China, she had a network of people she could call. Using adoption records, Demick is able to find the Texas stepsister who had been kidnapped when she was 22 months old. She was trafficked to an orphanage in the Hunan Province of China. Years later, through messaging apps, the twins communicated with each other and shared their photographs. They eventually meet in China in 2019.

One is hesitant to argue a government policy is a unique act of China when every government makes policy decisions that have unintended consequences.

America’s policy decisions on immigration are a present-day fiasco that is as wrong as the one-child policy in China’s history. The one-child policy is eventually rejected by the Chinese’ government but Demick’s book shows how bad government policy has consequences that live on even when they are changed by future governments. America’s policy on immigration will be eventually reversed but its damage will live on.

Getting back to the story, Demick is instrumental in having the mother of Esther (aka E) and the twins meet in China.

One is hesitant to argue a government policy is a unique act of China when every government makes policy decisions that have unintended consequences. The twins are initially reticent but warm to each other in a way that bridges the cultural and language divide between the sisters. The two mothers see their respective roles in their daughter’s lives. E and her identical twin, Shuangjie, are reserved when they meet because of the cultural distance that was created by E’s adoption.

**E. appears more confident than Shuangjie who is more reserved and less assured.**

However, Demick suggests they seem to mirror each other in subsequent meetings. One feels a mix of emotions listening to this audiobook version of “Daughter’s of the Bamboo Grove”. They have grown up in different environments but seem to have been raised in similar economic circumstances, though the two economies are vastly different in income per household, the two appear to be raised in similar economic classes.

Every person who reads/listens to “Daughter’s of the Bamboo Grove” can view the story from different perspectives.

There is the perspective of identical twins raised in different families, cultures, and histories. How are identical twins different when they are raised by different parents and in different cultures? Another perspective is that Xi and Trump have had dramatic effects on the societies their policies have created. The Twin’s meeting in 2019 is one year after my wife and I had visited China. Xi had become President after his predecessor began opening China’s economic opportunities. Two incidents on the trip when Xi had become President come to mind. The first is the feeling one has of being monitored everywhere and the internet restrictions when used to ask questions. The second was an incident in a crowded Chinese market when I was approached by a beefy citizen who raised his arms and seemed to be angrily talking to me in Chinese which I sadly did not understand. The distinct impression is that I was not welcome. This was a singular incident that did not repeat in our 21-day tour, but it seemed like an expression of hostility toward America.

This listener/reader thinks of the unintended consequences of Trump’s treatment of alleged illegal immigrants.

Trump’s immigration policy is similar to China’s earlier mistake with the one-child policy. America’s, China’s, and Japan’s economies are highly dependent on youth which is diminished in two fundamental ways. One is by public policy that restricts birth, and the other is immigration. Freedom of choice is a foundational belief in democracy while considered a threat in autocracy. In America today, it seems there is little difference between America, Japan, or China in regard to government policy that threatens the future. All have an aging population that can only be aided by younger generations. Even though manufacturing may become less labor intensive, public need in the service industry will grow. Technology is a key to social need which has not been well served in the past or present and could become worse without pragmatic accommodation.

THE PATRIOT

Benjamin Franklin was no saint. He was a pragmatic, diplomatic, and intelligent politician who believed in improving himself, being honest in his relations with others, and determinately set on leaving a legacy of diplomatic accomplishments that (unlike our current government leaders) was intent on truly making America great.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Completed Biography of Benjamin Franklin

Author: Mark Skousen

Narrated By: Richard Ferrone

Mark Amdrew Skousen (Author, economic analyst for the CIA from 1972-1977, is considered a political conservative, a distant descendant of Benjamin Franklin.)

Though the history of Benjamin Franklin is “well plowed” ground, Mark Skousen assembles Franklin’s original papers on his intended biography to give a fascinating portrait of perhaps the greatest American patriot in our history. Franklin’s role in America’s independence from Great Britain is perfectly explained in Skousen’s review of Franklin’s intended autobiography. The many offices that Franklin assumed in pre- and post-revolutionary times are evidence of his patriotism and importance.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790, died at the age of 84.)

Franklin served as a member of the Continental Congress from 1775 to 1776. He was the President of Pennsylvania from 1785 to 1788. His diplomatic roles were as Commissioner to France from 1776-1778, Minister Plenipotentiary to France from 1779 to 1785, and Peace Commissioner who negotiated the Treaty of Paris ending the Revolutionary War and establishing American independence. These formal posts fail to mention his great role in representing America to the British throne while sailing to England before the revolution.

Thomas Penn (1702-1775)

It is ironic that Franklin became the President of Pennsylvania in 1785 when he had challenged the Penn family’s proprietary control over Pennsylvania territory given to the Penn family by the King of England.

The Penns refused to allow taxation of their estates in the colonies. Franklin met with Thomas Penn and wrote a paper saying the Penns prevented governors from using discretion in the management of the Pennsylvania colony, refused colonists right to raise funds, and would not accept taxation on their properties. Though Franklin did not legally represent the colonies, he galvanized opposition and created groundwork for colonial autonomy. He became known as the “defender of colonial rights”.

Franklin’s biography explains how he became widely known in England, France, and the colonies.

In 1773, two Massachusetts’s colonial government letters were published at the direction of Franklin that exposed British officials’ promotion of restrictions on the colonies’ liberties. Franklin had been appointed Postmaster General in America, authorized by England, but was discharged for having published those inflammatory letters. Franklin wrote several satires mocking British colonial policies. He opposed the Stamp Act while becoming a representative of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Georgia, and New Jersey in London.

Benjamin Franklin’s experiment.

Despite Franklin’s opposition to England’s infringement on colonial rights, he was celebrated in England’s scientific community. He received the Copley Medal for his experiments with electricity and a fellowship in the Royal Society. William Strahan, one of England’s printers who was an MP, and the famous William Pitt sympathized with Franklin’s explanation of the colony’s grievances. On the other hand, growing anger from England’s parliamentarians required Franklin to escape arrest in England in 1775.

To show how torn colonist’ families are about the colony’s declaration of independence, Franklin’s son, “Billy”, actually William Franklin, is noted in his father’s diary and writings to have chosen to take the British side of the conflict. William had served as the Royalist’s Governor of New Jersey. He was appointed with the help of his father’s influence in London. William refused to join the Patriot cause and was imprisoned from 1776 to 1778, and later, exiled to Britain where he lived until the end of his life. It appears Benjamin and William never reconciled and never saw each other again. Benjamin Franklin dies at the age of 84 in 1790 while his son Willaim passes at the age of 83 in 1813.

Symbol of the Colonys’ fight for independence.

Some interesting notes are in Franklin’s diary about symbols of the war of independence. In 1754, Franklin published the cartoon of a snake emblazoned with 13 skin segments with a message “Join or Die” It was originally designed for the French and Indian War but became a symbol of the colonies fight for independence from Britain. In contrast, Franklin opposed the eagle as a national emblem and preferred the turkey. To Franklin, the eagle was a bird of bad moral character while the turkey, in his opinion, represented “a more respectable bird”. This is a surprise to many who revere the eagle as America’s symbol of independence, strength, and elegance today.

Franklin is considered wealthy at the time of his death.

In today’s dollars, Franklin’s wealth may be estimated at 10 to 90 million dollars. He had created a printing empire with “The Pennsylvania Gazette” and “Poor Richard’s Almanack” and used his presses to print books, pamphlets, and even currency. He licensed lighting rods to minimize building destruction from lightning strikes and provided heat to colonist’s homes with the Franklin stoves. He had rental properties in Philadelphia and speculated on western land purchases. He received compensation for his diplomatic and government service as Postmaster General. Franklin showed himself to be frugal putting money aside to receive compounding interest on its principle. He preached and practiced the adage, “A penny saved is a penny earned”.

Deborah (Read) Franklin, Benjamin Franklin’s wife.

Benjamin Franklin notes his wife’s name is Deborah Read. She dies in 1774 at the age of 66 from a series of strokes. Her health declined as Franklin’s diplomatic service in England and France took him away from home. When she suffered from a series of strokes, his voyages to Europe kept him from returning immediately. He returned in 1775, and Franklin was buried beside her in 1790.

Franklin’s self-written biography shows him to be charming and flirtatious with an appreciation of women.

Franklin’s flirtations with Brillon and Helvétius connected Franklin to influential French society, helping him secure support for the American cause. Ms. Brillon is in her 30s while Franklin is in his 70s. Another French lady is Madam Helvétius is in her mid-60s. Franklin proposes marriage to which she declines. It seems there is more smoke than fire in regard to Franklin’s illicit liaisons in France. However, he does admit to some youthful indiscretions with women of challenged reputations when he is younger.

LIFE’S JOURNEY

Millman’s Socratic story is about human patience and knowledge. He addresses knowledge as something of the greatest value that can keep one from resorting to violence. This is a message that resonates with those who are appalled by today’s international and domestic conflicts.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Journeys of Socrates

Author: Dan Millman

Narrated By: Sam Tsoutsouvas

Dan Millman (Author, world champion athlete, martial arts instructor, and college professor.)

Dan Millman’s reasons for the title of his book “The Journeys of Socrates” is difficult to understand. The known facts of Socrates life do not seem remotely related to the life of a Jewish immigrant who lived in 19th century Russia. The story is almost too horrific to believe because of the tragic life of its hero Sergei Ivanov, a Jew in Tsarist Russia being raised in a camp of Cossack warriors. The only parallels one may make is that Socrates is characterized in ancient writings as a man who sought virtue and wisdom in his journey through life.

Socrates was known as a warrior in the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta (431-404 BCE). He is better known as a teacher and student of the philosophy of life.

Socrates had gained a reputation for bravery, endurance, and moral fortitude in war, while a mentor of young men like Alcibiades who wanders through life with little self-understanding. (It is the ancient writings of Plato, Xenophon, and Aristophanes that reveal some of what is told of Socrates life.) This seems a slender thread of association with the title of Millman’s book. The story of Sergei Ivanov is of a man who introspectively examines the meaning of life after experiencing horrific violence. This is a Socratic interrogation of a Jew’s life in pre-1917, revolutionary Russia and Ukraine.

Hiding one’s identity as a Jew has been told many times by many authors. Ethnicity and religious belief, like the color of one’s skin, marks one as different.

Ethnicity is a marker of human beings as the “other”, i.e., someone different than themselves. Unlike the color of one’s skin, ethnicity is easier to hide. Sergei Ivanov becomes known as a Jew in a Cossack training camp. He decides to escape that life but is followed by a fellow trainee who catches him. They fight and Sergi’s antagonist is knocked unconscious and appears dead. Sergi escapes and plans to find what he believes is a treasure buried by his grandfather that will give him enough money to get passage to America from his grandfather’s Ukranian homeland.

Buried treasure.

Sergi finds the treasure that had been buried by his grandfather, but it was only a clock and five gold pieces, not enough for passage to America. However, there is an address on the clock that leads him to his grandfather’s house. What he finds is an aunt that he thought was dead. She has a daughter for whom he falls in love and asks for her hand in marriage. They are married and Sergi’s plan is to take his now pregnant wife to America when he has earned enough money for passage. However, fate intervenes.

The man Sergi thought he had killed when he escaped the training camp was alive and had become a leader of a Cossack gang that terrorized the country with a special hatred for Jews.

The gang comes across Sergi and his pregnant wife when they are out for a walk before their planned trip to America. His former enemy and his followers murder Sergi’s wife, rip the baby out of her womb and leave her husband unconscious on the ground after trying to defend his pregnant wife. The gang leader chooses to leave Sergi alive to remember the grief he would have for his wife and baby’s loss of life because he could not save them. Sergi recovers and prepares himself for revenge on his former training camp antagonist.

Deaths inevitability.

At this point, one presumes this is to remind listeners of Socrates reported bravery, endurance, and moral belief despite hardship in life and one’s inevitable death. However, this is only a small part of the author’s intent. What one draws from the story is how ethnic or racial discrimination exists in every nation in the world. Human nature is often brutish and violent despite a rational person’s search for truth and peaceful coexistence. One asks oneself why humans wage war, why we murder innocents, and why does revenge only begat more death.

Sergi recovers from his injuries and is counseled and educated by a believer of a different faith.

As one finishes Millman’s story, listener/readers realize Sergi’s teacher is educating him about human patience, ethnic understanding, and knowledge that can break the repeating cycle of discrimination and violence caused by racial, gender, and ethnic difference. It requires patience, preparation, and knowledge. Sergi spends many years with his teacher and gains great strength to prepare him for what is to happen next in his life. Knowledge of what happened when he was struck down after his wife was murdered is not clear to him. As the story develops, one finds his wife had two children in her womb and only one died in the confrontation. What happens when Sergi meets his wife’s murderer is the denouement and fundamental meaning of Millman’s story.

VANISHING WORLD

Murata’s satire infers obsession with sex for pleasure, child rearing collectivization, gender dysphoria, and pregnancy equalization are pathways to societal destruction.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Vanishing World (A Novel)

Author: Sayaka Murata

Narrated By: Nancy Wu

Sayaka Murata (Author, Japanese novelist.)

Sayaka Murata’s subject is clearly revealed in its title, “Vanishing World”. “Vanishing World” is a provocative assessment of how sexual relationship and sex education has changed. Murata satirically reveals how human reproduction, objectification of life, motherhood, and technology may dehumanize society.

Murata’s fictional story is highly informative in regard to sexual difference and similarity between men and women.

In one sense, Murata’s fictional story is highly informative in regard to sexual difference and similarity between men and women. As a reader/listener, Murata offers a detailed description of the physical difference between the sexes. Many who think they know something about sexual difference will find the author’s candor enlightening. However, her depiction of social relationship is off-putting with a satirical exaggeration of socio/sexual objectification.

Murata writes about a single parent family with a young daughter who lives with her mother and is nearing the age of puberty.

(Though not mentioned in Murata’s story, single family homes in America have grown by nearly 30% in the 21st century.) The main character’s name is Amane and Murata’s story is about Amane’s sexual awakening and how she views social relationship. Amane is infatuated with an animated male character on television. She imagines being married to this character before puberty but holds this character in her mind throughout childhood and later life.

Murata suggests reproduction may evolve into a preferential desire for artificial insemination rather than sexual intercourse between a man and woman.

This idea feeds into a listener/reader’s mind as a diminishment of the need for emotional attachment to the opposite sex for procreation. Sex becomes detached from procreation, evolving into only “hooking up” for sexual stimulation and/or personal gratification. Murata infers desire is no longer needed for procreation but only to experience intercourse as an emotional and physical pleasure. Consequently, it seems perfectly natural to transfer sexual desire to a fictional character because it becomes unnecessary to have emotional attachment to humans when a figment of one’s imagination is available.

Murata creates a bizarre world.

The bizarro world that Murata creates is an extension of a belief that society is becoming less attached to their humanity. Marriage, human relationship, and motherhood are replaced by mindful personal’ inwardness and endless pursuit of physical stimulation without emotional entanglement. By extension, Murata suggests science will create wombs for men so that the difference in sexes equalizes childbirth and care of children. Caregiving becomes bureaucratic and collective because caregiving is no longer personalized.

Murata suggests that a new system of childcare will evolve into collective training camps for working parents who are too self-absorbed to raise their own children.

Collective childcare disconnects parents from the management and development of their children. The sterility of conception by artificial insemination, collective childcare, and social acceptance of multiple sex partners diminishes both familial relations and child development. Birthing and raising children becomes a clinical process, i.e., less personal with both men and women capable of experiencing pregnancy and delivery; all without responsibility or obligation for childcare.

In some sense, this satire illustrates the negative potential of socio/sexual equality.

Murata’s story ends with the birth of their first child from a man who is Amane’s husband. She is torn over not being able to take the baby home because the child is already being “cared for” in a ward meant to raise and nurture all newly born children. A final point is made in the story by a visit from Alane’s mother after the birth. She asks Amane where the child is, and Alane explains the child will not be raised by her and her husband. Alane’s mother is aghast. Her mother falls to the floor and dies without any apparent familial concern for her sudden collapse and presumably, death. The next thing to happen is a visit from one of the children born in this new world. Alane chooses to have sex with him and the story ends.

“Vanishing World” implies 21st century science, organizational bureaucracy, and social change threatens survival of humanity. Murata’s satire infers obsession with sex for pleasure, child rearing collectivization, gender dysphoria, and pregnancy equalization are pathways to society’s collapse.

CAPITALIST DEMOCRACY

America’s current government may not be the criminal enterprise of Drew Hayes’ “Forging Hephaestus”, but it reflects on the worst characteristics of capitalist democracies.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Forging Hephaestus: Villains’ Code Series, Book 1

Author: Drew Hayes

Narrated By: Amy Landon

Drew Hayes (Author, humorist writer who earned a BA in English from Texas Tech University.)

“Forging Hephaestus” is the beginning of a series of books that this critic is unlikely to complete. The first book, “Forging Hephaestus” sets the table for some interesting points about systems of power, identity, and morality that reminds one of government control and influence. However, Hayes is creating a secret guild of criminals’ intent on ruling the world of crime.

Drew’s story begins with the creation of a young woman that embodies the force of fire.

She is like the mythological god of fire though not appearing as someone who is male or has, as the Greek myth goes, any physical imperfection. One presumes the author is challenging the patriarchal truth of history that shows power, aggression, and ambition are not only masculine. Additionally, the choice of Hephestus as a woman makes one think about a person who exemplifies both creation and destruction, i.e., the birth and death of humanity.

If one thinks of Hayes’ story as a cynical allegory of government, rather than a criminal enterprise, it becomes more interesting to this reviewer.

What Drew describes as a Villains’ Guild is like a government elected by people who believe they are voting for someone who represents their interests. In reality, voters are voting for self-interested people who may or may not govern in voter’s best interest. At best, governments try to serve the public but are not gods of infallible understanding that can legislate what is always in the best interest of its citizens. Generally, governments control through compliance, not morality. Order is prized over justice and equity. That desire for order changes elected officials’ loyalty to those who are elected as much as to people who voted for them.

The guild that Hayes creates audits and enforces their criminal objectives with state surveillance and internal security.

State surveillance and internal security are the same tools used by government which are even more effective today than in the past because of technology. (A past trip to China after Xi had taken power shows how internet searches are restricted when one is in a Bejing’ hotel.) The paradox of surveillance and internal security is that no one is truly free whether they are a part of those who govern or are the governed. Human nature exploits the weak, the ethnic, and ill-informed. Government representatives are no more virtuous or venal than the citizens who elected them. That is why citizens become skeptical about the legitimacy of their government’s concern about common good.

Trump’s world view.

Listening/reading “Forging Hephaestus” is an apocryphal story to some who feel President Trump is the quintessential example of one who is more interested in himself and his family’s wealth than the people who voted for him. America’s current government may not be the criminal enterprise of Drew Hayes’ “Forging Hephaestus”, but it reflects on the worst characteristics of capitalist democracies.

DANGER WILL ROBINSON

Trump’s push to hugely increase government debt at the expense of the poor and middle class, along with a tariff war, look to some like paths toward an economic Armageddon.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

On Tyranny (Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century)

Author: Timothy Snyder

Narrated By: Timothy Snyder

Timothy Snyder (Author, graduated from Brown University with a degree in history and political science, received a Doctor of Philosophy in modern history from the University of Oxford.)

“On Tyranny” makes one research Timothy Snyder’s education because of his allusion to the rise of Hitler and America’s rising authoritarianism in the 21st century. His short book “On Tyranny” is disconcerting. He infers Trump’s presidency is an early sign of American democracy’s deterioration. He recounts the rise of German complacency when Hitler came to power and Nazi’ support for victimization of Jews and invasion of Poland are the beginning of a plan to reorganize spheres of influence in Europe.

Snyder’s observation is undoubtedly to create a sense of moral urgency on the part of American listener/readers to do more than just observe what is happening in America. Not that it is about Jewish discrimination but about American government rounding up and deporting alleged illegal immigrants without due process and sending them to prisons in other countries. Snyder is a scholar who specialized in Eastern European totalitarianism which suggests he knows something about the precursors of authoritarianism.

It seems the comparison of Trump to Hitler is hyperbolic when one considers the dire financial condition of Germany in the late 1920s. However, Trump’s push to hugely increase government debt at the expense of the poor and middle class, along with a tariff war, look to some like paths toward an economic Armageddon. If the economy falters, would America fall into Germany’s past? One doubts that will happen, but with a President who believes his own lies and Americans who accept them gives listener/readers of “On Tyranny” a chill. The power of Snyder’s argument gains some credibility.

It seems with the history of the United States, federal government checks and balances, and the limited tenure of elected Presidents, a Nazification of America seems unlikely. However, the danger is there because Trump has strong support from his party and many Americans who voted for him who choose to ignore his lies.

ANARCHY

In reading/listening to Chomsky some will conclude he is wrong about there ever being a nation-state that will be successfully governed as an Anarchy because of the nature of human beings.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

On Anarchisn

Author: Noam Chomsky, Nathan Schneider

Narrated By: Eric Jason Martin

When one thinks of a political system called Anarchism, the first thing that comes to mind is a vision of rampant disorganization where there is no sense of direction or social cohesion.

Noam Chomsky is a polarizing figure who is admired as an anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist who fiercely criticizes U.S. and Israeli foreign policy. He views Israel as a client state of the U.S. that relies on authoritarianism to manage their countries roles in the world. He notes America’s interventions in Vietnam, Central America, Iraq, and Afghanistan as evidence of America’s failure as a democracy. He views Israeli foreign policy in regard to Gaza as infected with hypocrisy and violence with a narrow view of territorial expansion. He feels both America and Israel are driven by strategic and economic interests, not by the idealism of democracy.

Chomsky is a fierce critic of capitalism and imperialism because both marginalize citizens’ freedom of thought and action.

Chomsky’s view is that anarcho-syndicalism is a better form of government where power is decentralized and citizens can and should collectively manage their own affairs through direct democracy and cooperative organizations. He argues for participatory democracy by voluntary associations that are freely formed into cooperative communities. There should be no centralized authority with all workplaces and production controlled by the workers themselves. He believes in libertarian socialism because he sees it as the most humane and rational extension of Enlightenment ideals in society. Any authority exercised by a government entity in a libertarian socialist country, in Chomsky’s opinion, is the most humane and rational extension of the ideals of the Enlightenment.

The Age of Enlightenment or sometimes called the Age of Reason was a movement in the late 17th century that extended into the 19th century.

It emphasized the power of reason, science, and individual liberty as the tools for the reform of society. The tools of reason, science, and liberty were believed to be the natural rights of humanity, and the possibility of improving society through education and reform based on science.

Francisco Franco (Spain’s dictator 1939-1975.)

Chomsky argues those tools were engaged by Spanish revolutionaries during Franco’s dictatorship in Spain. Chomsky notes workers took control of factories and farms in Catalonia and Aragon that were run collectively and democratically by workers. He believes voluntary cooperation thrived. He believes the anarchist movement grew through three generations based on education and considered organization of Spanish interest groups. However, Franco’s forces with the help of England, Germany, and Italy defeated the movement.

Republican factions fought against Franco’s government in the 1930s.

Chomsky believes revolutionaries against Franco were practical visionaries that showed how anarchy could be a legitimate and superior way of governing a nation.

Surprisingly, there are several examples besides Spain’s revolution that were collectivist organizations that could be classified as anarchies. From 1918-1921, the free territory of Ukraine was led by Nestor Makhno during Russia’s Civil War. It was ended by Russian communism after its ascension in 1917. Modern communes were set up in Mexico’s Zapatista territories with autonomous zones that had collective farming and indigenous self-rule. Of course, in ancient times there were hunter-gatherer societies that shared norms, and governance through consensus decision-making and resource sharing. However, there is a history of atrocity, failure, and disruption by governing bodies that have tried Anarchy. Spain’s effort fell apart in 1939. Freetown Christiania in Denmark, in a neighborhood in Copenhagen has struggled with Anarchy since 1971. A number of legal battles have been fought over commercial ownership and control. By some measures, the kibbutz movement in Israel has been successful. However, even Chomsky notes friction comes within kibbutz communities over disagreement with elected leaders. Research shows that some kibbutzim are privatizing and paying differential wages for communal services. Collectivism is becoming harder to maintain.

Chomsky is considered by some to be the most important intellectual alive today. He is highly respected for theories on the understanding of language based on modern cognitive science.

Chomsky has shaped how we think of human capabilities. He is famous for his dissents which are naturally about government control and media manipulation. He was against the Vietnam war and opposed Israeli occupation because of his libertarian socialism, a form of anarchy or a collective that is purely democratically determined. He is reported to be an excellent lecturer and capable of going toe to toe with experts in linguistics, philosophy, political science, and education. His opinions have global reach with translations in many languages.

In reading/listening to Chomsky some will conclude he is wrong about there ever being a nation-state that will be successfully governed as an Anarchy because of the nature of human beings. Whether one believes in Hobbes’ view of selfish humans, Rousseau’s belief in people being corrupted by society, Kant’s belief in rationality, or Sartre’s belief in human choices and actions, there will always be dominant personalities who will victimize those whom they commune. Human nature as defined by Hobbes, Rousseau, Kant, Sartre, and other brilliant philosophers infer there will always be miscreate leaders that will destroy egalitarianism, the foundational principle of anarchy. Human nature, as it exists today, is unlikely to change.

EQUALITY

Discrimination is certainly based on the color of one’s skin but also on gender, ethnicity, and income inequality. Those nations that embrace equality of opportunity for all will be the leaders of the future in the age of technology

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Caste (The Origins of Our Discontent)

Author: Isabel Wilkerson

Narrated By: Robin Miles

Isabel Wilkerson (Author, American journalist, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in journalism in 1994 while serving as the Chicago Bureau Chief for the NYTimes.)

Isabel Wilkerson has written a provocative book about what she characterizes as a rigid social hierarchy in America that undermines the ideals of democracy. Wilkerson weaves her personal life and the history of black experience with the sociological failings in America’s treatment of race. She notes the past and present truth of white America’s unequal treatment of its citizens based on race. However, her characterization of America’s discrimination as a caste system and its comparison to India’s and Nazi Germany’s governments is hyperbolic. Nevertheless, it creates a sense of urgency for those who believe in the ideal of human equality. It is difficult, if not impossible, to compare other nation’s inequality with America’s effort and present-day failure to fulfill the ideals of democracy.

The timeliness of Wilkerson’s book seems appropriate in relation to the backward steps being taken by Donald Trump.

Some Americans feel threatened by demographic change that will make white citizens less than 50% of America’s population by 2045. In theory, no one should care if all people are treated equally. What history shows is that the ideals of equality have never been achieved in America or in any other country with a dominant race and/or ethnicity.

Trump’s effort to return America to its past is interpreted by some as a return to industrial production.

America’s return to industrialization is a false flag that will not make America Great. Reindustrialization and keeping America white is a fool’s errand based on demography and the age of technology. Trump’s desire for power, adulation, and loyalty have little to do with prejudice but everything to do with appealing to the worst fears of middle-class America. Trump is willing to use whatever dog whistle is required to satisfy his desire for power and prestige. He understands the fears of the middle class and where American power lays. Power and money are the driving forces of capitalism. Middle class American’s buying power has stagnated or fallen since the 1970s despite the increasing wealth of the top 10% of American citizens. The middle class of America is something Trump appealed to in his re-election for a second term because of their disproportionate loss of income and the rising wealth of America’s business leaders. The irony is that Trump is one of the beneficiaries of that income gap between the very rich and the working-class.

Income disparity trend in the U.S. through 2015.

Wilkerson is right in the sense that America’s real objective should be to ensure equality of all. She is arguing we should have a greater sense of urgency in achieving equality. Equal treatment for all is a formula that can maintain America’s position as an economic, military, and political hegemon. American industrial hegemony is yesterday’s goal. Technological advancement is today’s goal. To achieve today’s goals, equal treatment of all becomes essential in technology because intelligence, innovation, and persistence does not lie in any one race, sex, or creed.

America is class conscious but not in the same way as either India’s or Nazi Germany’s histories.

Wilkerson notes a caste system can be built around ethnicity, religion, language, or gender but race discrimination is what she has personally experienced and underlays much of her comparisons of American history with India and Nazi Germany. Equality of opportunity is key to continued growth of human beings and national economies in the age of technology. In the short term, one may see an autocratic country like China become an economic and military hegemon, but maintenance of that success is dependent on equality of opportunity for all, not just those in power.

One can sympathize with the author’s view of discrimination but her comparison of America to India and Nazi Germany misses too much of what unequal treatment in America is based upon.

MADNESS

Whether one is of a particular gender, good looking, unattractive, fat, thin, so on and so on, is superfluous. What is not different is we are all human. Murray infers that if leaders can keep humanness in mind, equality is the only thing that matters.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Madness of Crowds (Gender, Race and Identity)

Author: Douglas Murray

Narrated By: Douglas Murray

Douglas Murray (Author, Bristish political commentator, cultural critic, and journalist.)

All humans deserve equal treatment, rights, and opportunities. No known form of government achieves that ideal. Douglas Murray shows liberal and social democracies show concern about equality, while other forms of government don’t seem to care. What Murray argues is that western nations and educational institutions are not doing enough and what they are doing is maddeningly ineffectual.

Initially, Murray writes about gay rights which are not top of mind for many listener/readers.

However, the point is that sexual preference is a human right that harkens back to the age of ancient Mesopotamia (2000 BCE) and Greece (300 BCE). Mesopotamian law treated marriage as a legal contract. Men were allowed to have secondary wives or concubines with legal codes regulating inheritance rights. Women then, as now, were treated unequally. In Mesopotamia, marriage was tied to economic, social, and legal agreements to ensure social stability through male control. Interestingly, women had some legal rights in Mesopotamia while Greece was more patriarchal with limited legal independence for women. Mesopotamia artwork shows same-sex relationships existed, but contractual agreements in marriage were only for heterosexual relations.

In Plato’s time, legal codes in marriage were less important but social stability and male domination remained in both jurisdictions.

Ancient Greek history shows same-sex relationships were widely accepted but without any legal recognition like that required in heterosexual marriages. Same sex relationships go back to the beginnings of pictographic and written history. So, why is there so much Sturm and Drang about same sex relationships?

American democracy began a civil war in 1865 over the issue of slavery.

American democracy began a civil war in 1865 over the issue of slavery, passed the 14th Amendment in 1868 to provide equal protection for all, passed a Civil Rights Act in 1964 prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, passed the Voting Rights Act in 1965, passed the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, and the Marriage Equality Act in 2015. Despite all of this history, in 2025, America continues to discriminate against same sex relationships and often violates the aforementioned laws. If a male or female wishes to have sex with a consenting person of the same sex, why should any American care? America has fought and died over equal rights for all Americans. It is maddening to keep reading about Democracies continuing violation of equal rights.

Murray offers numerous examples of protest in western society that reinforce his argument about the madness of crowds.

He reflects on Ivy League colleges like Yale and a small liberal arts college in Olympia, Washington where a crowd of students caused resignations of their professors. In 2015, a Yale faculty member questioned the university’s stance on culturally sensitive Halloween costumes. A crowd of students accused the faculty of failing to create a “safe space” because their professor raised the issue of identity as culturally insensitive. He and his wife who were professors at Yale chose to resign. In 2017, a professor objected to a campus event at Evergreen College in Olympia, Washington. White students and faculty were asked to leave for a day to highlight racial issues. The student protest against the professor for a “day off” event became a threat to his safety. He resigned. Murray’s point is that public discourse is increasingly driven by emotional reactions rather than reasoned debate.

Murray touches on the negative consequence of technology on the growing “…Madness of Crowds”. More than ever, the reach and size of crowds who object to human equality can spread social chaos. America experienced the power of technology with the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

The re-election of Donald Trump is a harbinger of a future where the emotion of crowds who have the right to vote is magnified by media paid for by the richest people in America.

Murray touches on the negative consequence of technology on the growing "...Madness of Crowds". More than ever, the reach and size of crowds who object to human equality can spread social chaos. America experienced the power of technology with the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Emotions of crowd-think distort the difficult and personal trials of people with gender dysphoria.

The myth of Tiresias embodies the truth that humans are different but equal.

Tiresias is a figure in Greek mythology that was punished by Hera, the wife of Zeus, to be turned into a woman after he struck two mating snakes. He remained a woman for seven years when he was changed back into a man by Zeus. Zeus and Hera debated on whether experience of sex as a man or woman was more pleasurable. Tiresias agreed with Zeus who believed women experienced greater pleasure and Hera struck him blind for siding with Zeus. The debate goes on with Murray noting it occurs in crowd emotion that refuses to deal with the facts of gender dysphoria. One thinks of the many people that struggle with gender identity and how difficult it must be to live life with one’s own confusion, let alone the stupidity of people’s emotional reactions.

And then there is the issue of race.

Nearly 50% of the world is classified as Caucasoid with the remainder of three racial categories being no more than 33.5%. Unique physical characteristics of race are hair color and texture, facial features, average height, eye color, blood type, and skin color. Of course, there are differences beyond these features within each racial group. Whether one is of a particular gender, good looking, unattractive, fat, thin, so on and so on, is superfluous. What is not different is we are all human. Murray infers that if leaders can keep humanness in mind, equality is the only thing that matters.

UNITED

Many of Gibbon’s noted reasons for the Roman Empire’s decline are mitigated by the brilliance of the founders of the American Constitution and the “balance of power” principle that created three branches of government. With a balance of power, neither a President, a Congress, or a Court is likely to endorse dictatorship.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Volume 1)

Author: Edward Gibbon

Narrated By: Bernard Mayes

Edward Gibbon (Author, 1737-1794, Englishman who received degrees from the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford.)

Gibbon has an interesting background that seemed suited to admittance to the clergy when he became a symbol of militant agnosticism, even though he was more sophist than militant. This first volume of “The…Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” made him famous.

Volume 1 of Gibbon’s history of the Roman Empire is interesting for its relevance to modern day nation-state leadership.

One is inclined to compare the tumultuous leadership of the Roman Empire to the history of one’s own country. There are parallels between good and bad leaders of the Roman Empire and the potential for collapse of today’s nation-states. Thinking of America, even a non-historian knows of leaders like Washington, Lincoln, and the Roosevelts who are considered by most historians and political scientists as great leaders. They managed American crises and had greater overall impact on America’s future than most other Presidents. Of course, America has also had its duds which can only be considered long after their tenure by historians who mitigate subjectivity.

America’s President Washington might be favorably compared to Rome’s first emperor, Augustus. Both exemplified leadership that could bring together disparate interests with a vision of what their nations could achieve in the world in which they lived. Of course, Augustus ruled for over 40 years while Washington led America for only 8. Augustus established an empire while Washington established a singular nation-state. However, both created a period of peace and stability during their terms of leadership.

Augustus transitioned Rome from a Republic to an Empire while Washington helped establish the U.S. government by presiding over debates on a constitution that defined the presidency and a system of government’ checks and balances.

Augustus stabilized Rome during years of civil war while Washington led the U.S. through the post-Revolutionary War with Great Britain. Both Augustus and Washington commanded militaries that assured peace within their countries. Washington took command of the Continental Army throughout the war with Great Britain. He organized and trained the troops who had little formal military training. He retreated when necessary and took calculated risks while forging foreign alliances to win American independence from the British. Both Augustus and Washington influenced the economics of taxation to support the administration of government. Though their tenures were quite different, each warranted a system for leadership succession.

Like the great achievements of Augustus in forging an empire, many of Washington’s methods for establishing an independent government have been modified by future leaders. American leadership changes every four to eight years. Surprisingly, despite some long reigning emperors of Rome like Augustus, the average reign is only 5 to 7 years. America’s new Presidents, like Rome’s often acted in ways that would not have been acceptable to their predecessors. Gibbon explains how different emperors shaped the Roman empire through inheritance, military coups, and political maneuvering. Some emperors were assassinated within months of their ascension. American Presidents have been assassinated but inheritance of leadership came from elections, not the power of the military or a leader’s wealth.

The power of a Roman emperor could ignore the Roman Senate and its citizens with the military might at their beckon call.

Successive Roman emperors and American presidents changed the way their governments functioned. The power of a Roman emperor could ignore the Roman Senate and its citizens with the power of the military. In contrast an American President’s government policy changes require a level of cooperation from congress, the judiciary, and the will of the people to make fundamental changes in governance. Gibbon’s history shows Roman emperors handled crises with the power of their position but the same may be argued for America if one considers Lincoln’s actions to preserve the Union with a Civil War. Both emperors and presidents used propaganda, public display, and association with religion to preserve their public image and legitimacy.

The Roman Empire and the destruction of Carthage.

Gibbon’s history of the Roman Empire in Volume 1 contrasts the good and bad that occur during the growth and survival of the Empire. There are numerous examples of horrific times for the Empire’s citizens. However, the Roman Empire lasted for 1,500 years despite what he called the loss of civic virtue, the rise of religion, military decay, economic strain, and barbarian invasion. Many of Gibbon’s noted reasons for the Roman Empire’s decline are mitigated by the brilliance of the founders of the American Constitution and the “balance of power” principle that created three branches of government. With a balance of power, neither a President, a Congress, or a Court is likely to endorse dictatorship.

A part of Gibbon’s first volume addresses the conflict between the Roman legions and what are loosely described as the barbarians. Barbarians were the non-Romans of that time.

They were the Germanic tribes of Goths, Vandals, Franks, and Alemanni. There were the Celts of Gaul and Britain, the Huns of Central Asia, the Parthians and Sassanids of the Persian empires, and the Slaves and Bulgars that arrived at the end of the Roman Empire. The distinction between a Roman soldier and a Barbarian is somewhat obscure. Though the Romans were more highly trained and operated within a structured military hierarchy, they exhibited some of the unruliness of the Barbarians who fought in loose tribal warbands. Roman’ equipment and armor were more standardized than the weapons of the Barbarians. Though some might argue the Romans had citizenship and status, they succumbed to mercenary actions just as the Barbarians often did in their tribal communities. A significant difference between the Roman soldier and Barbarians was discipline in battle. Roman soldiers fought in tight formations while the Barbarians fought with hit-and-run tactics. The interesting thought one has about that difference is the mistakes of America in Vietnam and what many consider a defeat by Ho Chi Minh’s hit-and-run tactics.

Map of the United States of America with state names.

America declared independence in 1776 which means it has lasted for 249 years. There seems little reason to believe America cannot survive more years, i.e. presuming global warming, nuclear war, virus creation, or some other unimagined catastrophic event destroys human life.

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