Justice being
taken away, then, what are kingdoms but great robberies? For what
are robberies themselves, but little kingdoms? The band itself
is made up of men; it is ruled by the authority of a prince, it
is knit together by the pact of the confederacy; the booty is
divided by the law agreed on. If, by the admittance of abandoned
men, this evil increases to such a degree that it holds places,
fixes abodes, takes possession of cities, and subdues peoples,
it assumes the more plainly the name of a kingdom, because the
reality is now manifestly conferred on it, not by the removal
of covetousness, but by the addition of impunity. Indeed, that
was an apt and true reply which was given to Alexander the Great
by a pirate who had been seized. For when that king had asked
the man what he meant by keeping hostile possession of the sea,
he answered with bold pride, "What thou meanest by seizing
the whole earth; but because I do it with a petty ship, I am called
a robber, whilst thou who dost it with a great fleet art styled
emperor."
The other day
I came across this passage written by Saint Augustine of Hippo.
It is so purely libertarian that it made me think Murray Rothbard
was the reincarnation of St. Augustine. The passage is from The
City of God, Chapter 4. – How Like Kingdoms Without Justice Are
to Robberies (the quote is from Cicero). I read it in an
essay in the conservative quarterly called The
Salisbury Review (though this version is slightly different
as taken from the linked website). Not for the first time my thought
has turned to the relationship among Christianity, conservatism,
and libertarianism. In a similar vein I read the following passage,
found in an article written by Flavio Felice about a recent book
by the Italian philosopher Dario Antiseri on relativism, and appearing
in another conservative quarterly called TheUniversity
Bookman, Summer 2006.
In a nutshell,
this European history is the story of highs and lows involving
a particular area of the world and the many ideas to which it
has given birth, which have throughout its history sometimes embraced
and fought one another. If we were to assert that our civilization
is superior to others, says Antiseri, we could do so only in the
sense that it has shown a capacity for self correction. At this
point, however, if critical reason, pluralism, respect for diversity
and tolerance are the features that characterise European identity,
and which have enabled Europe to rise from the abyss of the lagers
and gulags, we should ask ourselves what we Europeans would be
without Christianity. Christianity represents an ideal which,
throughout history – committing like others errors and horrors
– has yet been able to exercise continuous pressure on the coercive
forces of the establishment. Antiseri further notes how the statement
of Jesus: "Give unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s and unto
God that which is God’s," represents a decisive turning point
which boosted the democratising process, acting as the corner
stone of modern democracies. With this statement was introduced,
almost uniquely among the great world civilizations, the principle
that "Káisar is not Kyrios" – the definitive
de-consecration of political power, its subjection to the inviolable
realm of conscience and respect for the transcendental dignity
of the human being. Therefore, asserting that "Káisar
is not Kyrios" means above all keeping in check political
power and its all devouring claims, and recognizing the political
consequences of this religious principle. It is, for example,
the basis of the principle of aid among and between citizens,
which enables the carrying out of even secular projects.
For many libertarians
Christianity, perhaps any organized religion, and libertarianism
are irreconcilable. This is obviously true where the governors and
the clergy are synonymous. But even at the height of the temporal
power of the papacy in the medieval era the Church acted as a check,
and thus a limit, on royal power. The episode at Canossa comes to
mind, where Pope Gregory VII forced the German King Henry IV to
consent to the right of Popes to judge kings. Of course, this
episode is more complicated than described here, as is always
true in the lives of real people. And certainly the Catholic Church,
and other Christian churches, has been involved in some of the more
brutal periods of history as alluded to in the previous passage.
However, no matter what one believes about theology, I believe the
historical rise of Christianity has had a fundamental connection
with the rise of freedom in the West, and therefore, with libertarianism.
This is because the libertarian ethos begins with the radical philosophy
of Jesus, that all human beings; both family and strangers, friends
and enemies, kings and slaves, prostitutes and queens, heroes and
tax collectors can have equal worth to God; and therefore, have
rights of protection to their person and property as granted by
God, not by governments of men. Thus for me, there is a direct connection
between conservative Christianity and libertarianism.
