One of the foundational principles of a liberal democracy, one that many take for granted, is freedom of speech. The ability to speak your mind, and following from that the ability to believe what you want, to express yourself as you want, and for there to be a fundamental divide between matters of belief and matters of state.

If you want an entertaining biographical read, look up the life story of an 18th century Frenchman who referred to himself by the pen name Voltaire…

In the wake of an attack on my own republic, the United States of America, I think it is incumbent on me to state in no uncertain terms that mob violence and political violence is abhorrent. The attack on the United States Capitol on January 6th of this year is the darkest day I have ever witnessed for my country. We’re going to talk about the nature of justice in this episode. I can tell you that the deadly riot in the heart of our democracy was not justice.

If you listened to my episode Democracy Killed Socrates, you may remember my mentioning The Republic as Plato’s attempt to discern the meaning of justice as it relates to a system of governance. However, given that this is one of the foundational texts of western civilization, I think it warrants a deeper examination here…

Hello my favorite listeners. I’ve been hitting the political bookshelf pretty hard lately in order to keep my facts straight and produce accurate and hopefully entertaining content on historical political philosophy. 

Today I want to take an intentional break from that topic, both for my sake and yours as well. Of course you could just decide to skip this episode and move on to other news and things of a political nature, but I urge you to stick around. I’d like to argue for one basic premise: that there is more to life, much more, than politics. Because of the richness of the world around us and the incredible amount of uniquely individual experiences you are capable of, it would be a great tragedy to keep your mind locked in a one-dimensional pattern seeing everything in shades of grey. …

Adam Smith. That’s about as generic an old-timey name as you can possibly get. But I assure you, the scotsman Adam Smith was anything but ordinary. Modern economics owes itself to this man’s philosophizing about the nature of human existence; specifically, existence within the context of a market. His magnum opus was titled, “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”… or, more simply, The Wealth of Nations, published in 1776. An important year on multiple fronts. Now please keep in mind while listening, I am no economist. I’m not really a numbers guy in general. The focus for me is not on the economics, but the philosophy, of a market system…

You, dear listener, have the right to remain silent. I mean, you don’t have to, but I think it would make listening to this show a little...easier?

Anyway, today let’s talk about rights: what are they, where do they come from.

No matter political leaning, it’s probably the biggest buzzword in the political sphere. Whether someone is advocating for rights they believe they already have, or lobbying to enact new rights not yet officially the law, it seems we would scarcely have political arguments if not for the concept of rights in the first place...

Alright, so, strange title if you don’t know what it refers to. It’s a good thing you’re not being murdered at this very moment. It means you can listen to me!

But that’s kind of strange, isn’t it? The fact that you’re listening to me implies you have access to some sort of advanced electronic device and decent internet connection. And, sadly enough, that fact puts you in a better position than at least a billion people, probably closer to 3 billion.

Considering all available options, if someone has something that you want, and they don’t want to give it to you, one of the easiest ways to get it is to murder them and take their stuff. So why are you not dead? Now I can feel you recoiling a bit, but let’s consider this…

Ahhh, democracy. It’s a beautiful thing, isn’t it?.

The will of the people. Direct control over society’s destiny. Certainly preferable to the alternative. Right?

What is the alternative to democracy, exactly?

The short answer is, there isn’t just one. The slightly longer answer is, the alternative to democracy is usually some form of hell…