A Rebellious Mouse, A Cat, And Tolerance

In a den craftily hidden under a bramble lived a family of field mice. They lived quaintly and quietly for many years until one of the younglings newly come to maturity decided to rebel from the precepts of his father mouse and befriended a barnyard cat. One day the young mouse took his friend with him to his place of birth, thinking in this way to please his companion and to overthrow the vein teachings of his father. When the cat and mouse entered the hidden den, the other field mice shrunk in fear, but the young mouse upon seeing the fear of his parents and siblings said "Fear my friend not, for he is a just cat! It is my father's animus and intolerance that should be feared!" The cat replying said "Tis true that I am just, and because it is my nature to devour mice, I do no wrong." And with that the cat ate every mouse present.

Thus we see that danger lies in extending tolerance to the insidious.

Athenian Empire Killed Athenian Democracy

The greatest threat to Athenian democracy was Athenian empire. As Athenian influence expanded and was maintained by force of empire, Athens internal democracy became unsafe. Athens, rather than making Greece safe for democracy, imperiled democracy's very existence. Ultimately, Athens grew into Empire by creating international government, where the power was placed in Athen's favor, allowing Athens to eventually absorb other states. This tremendous injustice, while spurring Athens on to imperial omnipotence, also predicted her downfall and eventual subjugation.

How this came to pass is as long as history, but much of the pieces came into place around 449 B.C. while in the aftermath of the Persian Invasion. The war with the Persians forged new powers in Greece and Athens became one of the foremost states alongside Sparta. Most of the lesser city-states were aligned behind the two monolithic giants in a primitive League of Nations called the Delian League. Perhaps a just political union between the separate Grecian cities would be a good thing, but the Delian League was not a servant of justice, but an Athenian tool to coerce the other political bodies in the league by exacting tributes from the rest.

Athens then became very rich, but increasingly unpopular until Sparta broke off to form the Peloponnesian League, brining many of the other states in the former league with them. In addition, many of the states subject to Athens and not inducted into the Peloponnesian League dissolved the political bands which connected them to the Delian League by revolting. With such tumult and injustice in Greece, the immediate recourse was to war: The Peloponnesian War. Which war forced Athens to suffer through deadly plagues, appalling ravages, and catastrophic defeats. The conclusion of the war found Athens soundly defeated and her former democracy corrupted and degenerate. In the end, Sparta acting as overseer, replaced Athenian Democracy with whatever governance Sparta saw fit to institute. After this new development, Athens fate was not always in Athenian hands, for after Spartan rule came Thracian, then Macedonian, Alexandrian, later followed by the Romans, Byzantines, and Ottoman Turks, among other subjugators throughout time.

History is a boneyard of dead empires and conquered peoples. Moreover, there seems to be no set cast, for one is king one day and vagabond the next. The tyrant ends his days being tyrannized it seems. It is a mystery, where the Western World would be if Athens, instead of exercising cruel dominion over her fellows, acted is justice with them. What if Athens, instead of enveloping nations against their wills, only took those into the fold that came willingly? Would the world be more politically stable?

Greece And Civilization: Who Needs Gun Control?

Swords and other weapons were worn by ancient Greeks in like manner as they would wear their normal clothes; in fact, weapons were necessary accessories to any fashion statement. Did the people tout around weapons because they were eccentric, or because they were prudent? Thucydides, an Athenian general and historian during the Peloponnesian War, said that the reason why arms were a part of daily life in Athens was because they were an indispensable tool to maintain life and protect property. Once Athens became more civilized however, weapons became an inconvenience and almost unnecessary altogether. Thus weapons fell out of use in Athenian fashion. The reason Athens stopped carrying weapons was due to the fact that they simply didn't need them any longer and their persons and their property were safe whether they carried a sword or not.

However, Melissa Lane writing for The Newyorker, shared a different interpretation of what Thucydides said on the use of weapons in Athens: "...Thucydides reported that the Athenians were the first to lay aside their weapons. Whereas men in all Greek societies used to carry arms at home, this had been a sign of an uncivilized era of piracy in which the most powerful men could dominate all the rest. Laying aside the everyday wearing of weapons was part of what Thucydides believed had allowed Athens to become fully civilized, developing the commerce and culture that made her the envy of the Greek world. The Romans, too, banned the carrying of weapons within the pomerium, the sacred boundary of the city."

http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/how-the-greeks-viewed-weapons

Her definition reports that Athens laid down their weapons, and then became civilized. Whereas, what actually happened was that Athens became civilized and then had no need of weapons. The machine that is The Left, would have America believe that we need to give up our guns, and then become civilized, when the opposite is true. We need to become more civilized, and then give up our guns because we don't need them. When murder and crime goes up, so does the need for weapons. If people think we should do away with guns because they cause barbarism, they need to question their premiss because reality tells a different story. In all truth, barbarism creates a need for guns. The questions debated in the public forums then, should not be pro-gun control or antigun gun control, but what is the best way to eliminate barbarism. Once the need for arms no longer exists, the people will exercise their own gun control privately. 

Immortal Glory: The 25 Building Blocks That Will Exalt A Nation

In relation to the other ancient powers, Greece was less than a third world country. Where the Egyptians, Babylonians, and Persians lived in splendor and plenty, the Greek suffered amidst wretchedness and famine. Where the civilized ate cake and drank wine, the Greek was lucky to scrounge stunted grain and brackish water. Where other lands had Pyramids and Hanging Gardens, Greece had not even a hovel. If Greece were placed on a scale against any of these other powers, Greece would be catapulted up into the air. How did Greece against all odds rise to empire despite the whole wealthy world against them? Is it possible that other nations, states, and persons could  replicate the process? How? Perhaps we could venture to answer this question by using our understanding of Grecian history as a guide.

All the ancient sources agree that primeval greece was barbarous unto contempt; in fact Greece could have defined the meaning of barbarism itself. The 1828 Webster's Dictionary, however, defines "Barbarism" as "3. Rudeness of manners; savagism; incivility; ferociousness; a savage state of society."  (http://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/Bbarbarism) 

What did a barbarous Greece look like? Not pretty. There were no vineyards, houses, or fields; thus, there were few people, doomed to live in misery. There were however, lots of clubs and spears for these were the implements the people used to rob and murder each other. When anyone got anything of value, bandits were not far behind. When owning a week's worth of food will get you killed, it's better to just eat for today and pray for tomorrow. Attica (the future home of Athens) was especially poor and undesirable. While other lands abounded in natural resources, Attica was sparse and barren. Because none cared to rob and slaughter such poor men in a desolate land, Attica's population boomed. Eventually Attica could no longer support her population, and some were sent to populate Ionia. Then it was that civilization started and once brother stopped killing brother, families grew rich and happy together. Men were then able to keep the fruits of their labour without fear from their neighbor's greedy sword and became an industrious people: they built houses, formed pottery, plowed fallow lands, fished, and traded. At first their wealth remained local, but soon Phoenician traders became attracted to the growing markets in greece and it was from these traders that Greece learned her letters among many other arts. Once the Greek was able to read and write, they were able to compile their oral traditions into papyrus scrolls in order to preserve their thoughts, ideas, conquests, failures, arts, and religion. Because of this, the works of Homer were preserved and we know something of the earliest exploits of the Greeks: The Trojan War.

Prior to the Trojan war, the Greeks were not considered one people, but lived in very small communities. But with the passing of time, the political atmosphere was ripe for a unified effort, which took shape in the abduction of a Grecian woman by the name of Helen. The Greeks then banded together for the first recorded time and destroyed Troy. Years latter, Persia claimed a right to invade Greece, for they considered any attack on Asia and Troy to be an offense to them. Herodotus, the ancient historian, then gives account of the Persian War.

Prior to the Persian war, the Greeks had returned to their homeland and once more separated into their separate tribes and cities; but the Persian war was again to unite Greece to a public cause. Not all the Greeks joined the cause of Greece however, for the Persians were at that time the supper power of the world, having conquered Babylon, Assyria, Egypt, and a good part of western India. Greece was among the very few places in the civilized world left unconquered, causing many Grecian states to submit willingly to Persian rule. But some states were not to be conquered, for their Patriotism was fierce. Can you  guess which to cities resisted Persian invasion? Athens and Sparta. Athens supplied a navel defense against the Persians and Sparta Prepared a land force against the same. The battle of Marathon was Athen's war against the Persians and the battle of Thermopylae was the Spartan's. Both won great renown and their people, forged in adversity became powerful and Robust. Thus Sparta and Athens became the primary states in Greece and all lesser states became subject to them.

with the passing of the Persian invasions, Greece entered a new stage of turmoil, for Athens and Sparta were both entering imperial governments, and Greece they supposed, was not big enough for the two of them and the Peloponnesian War was ignited. Sparta won the conflict, but didn't stay on top for long. Wikipedia recounts the aftermath of this Grecian strife as: "Both Athens and Sparta were later overshadowed by Thebes and eventually Macedon, with the latter uniting the Greek world in the League of Corinth (also known as the Hellenic League or Greek League) under the guidance of Phillip II, who was elected leader of the first unified Greek state in history." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greece#History)

Thus Greece became a unified body and grew in power and prestige. Phillip II, unified the Greeks, but his son Alexander The Great would lead Greece to become the new supper power. He launched an invasion of the Persian Empire backed by the combined might of all the Greeks, spreading a Greek empire to the ends of the earth. Greeks filled the known world with their culture. As a result, the Western World found her identity. Empires won quickly and by conquest, do not last long. When Alexander died, his empire followed him to his grave. All the same though, Greece became a force to be reckoned with and changed the corse of history permanently.

Greece went from the epitome of poor to the masters of the universe, but how? Through philanthropy?Did any nation raise Greece like a mother raises a child? No, at best Greece had a few trading partners in the Phoenicians, but the Phoenicians didn't go to Greece because they were generous, but because Greece had something to offer them. Moreover, Greece was invaded multiple times! yet she somehow came out on top! How does a bunch of waring tribes become a super power? Here is a list of building blocks from the Greek's example on how to become a super power:

1. Individuals stopped plundering each other. 
2. Man did not fear relentless slaughter
3. Population boomed
4. Man did not fear being plundered
5. industry boomed 
6. Man became rich
7. Trade boomed
8. Technology boomed 
9. Education became available
10. Some men became more powerful than others
11. Power centralized
12. The waring and plundering cities stopped robing each other
13. Cities united for a common cause
14. The anatomy of power was refined 
15. Population, industry, trade, wealth, technology, and education were revolutionized
16. Prosperity invited inner tumult and external invasion (Persian Invasions)
17. The people are refined and higher morals established 
18. Population, industry, trade, wealth, technology, and education are revolutionized
19. Power struggles
20. The anatomy of power is further refined 
21. Justice prevails over injustice
22. The cities and states become unified under one government
23. Population, industry, trade, wealth, technology, and education are revolutionized
24. Influence exponentially expands 
25. A super power is formed

Each instruction is built on top of the first. A population is not built from plunder and murder! A population, on the contrary, is built upon safety and a surplus of food (wealth). If once the blocks of civilization start to tower high, and a block on the bottom is removed, then the tower will fall. If a super power becomes tyrannical, blocks are removed and the power reduced. This was how Greece went from chump to champ.

While Greece did win a place in history, she did stumble a few times. If a nation is built off of not killing each other,  destroying Troy is not a constructive (nor humane) path to victory. In a similar manner, conquering the world and subjecting other peoples dose not open the door to salvation. Furthermore, overly centralized governments typically spell ruin for any nation who supports them. As is clear, Greece had shortcomings, but she still able to construct, and out of those 25 building blocks was able to erect a monument that will stand as long as man can read.

I often imagine that I can use the past to become a powerful seer, and am able to divine the future based on my knowledge. In doing this I wonder what the fates of nations will be. Perhaps the current superpowers will topple because they removed a vital block. Perhaps there are nations currently small and weak, whom will someday be grand super powers because of their diligence in placing block upon block. I don't believe I imagine in vein, for the signs are clear: If America dares remove her foundation, she will fall. If the barbaric nations build block upon block, they will inherit the world.

Sources:
http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.html
http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/odyssey.html
http://classics.mit.edu/Herodotus/history.html
http://classics.mit.edu/Thucydides/pelopwar.html
http://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/Bbarbarism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greece#History

Injustice: The Roots of War

War is a consequence of fraudulent justice. When justice is

not carried out between individuals, families, groups, peoples, and nations then war ensues and instead of persons asking for justice to be carried out, they take forcible reprisal. Take for example some small child who had his toy stollen from him by his brother. The boy, angered by this obvious outrage, immediately and sternly asks for the toy to be returned. When his brother laughs in his face and begins to tease his sibling, the deprived boy appeals to a higher authority for justice, and thus seeks recourse in a parent. If the parent fails to execute proper justice, then the despoiled boy must either retire from the field or counterattack and take his forcible reprisal. His brother however, refusing to see that he was the initiator, pretends that he is the victim of his brothers greed, seeing that his brother is trying to steal what he has already rightfully stolen. Thus a brutal argument and fight breaks out and every semblance of justice is shattered.

Although the story may seem juvenile, this pattern has been carried out countless times throughout history. The Trojan war was a consequence of the long abuse of justice between the Greek and the Persian, which finally came to a head after the said abduction of Helen by Paris and his fellow mariners that led to the destruction of the power of Priam and latter was held as cause for the Persian empire to invade the Greek inhabited Ionia.

Inadequate justice and war is not only a juvenile experience or in antiquated one, but it also seems to be a fundamental component in the modern experience, seeing how America has been founded on the basis of injustice, and that America continues to evolve as a state because of various miscarriages of justice. In the colonial beginnings, most of the colonists emigrated because it came down to vacating or fighting, for the justice was that bad. America continued to grow into a political power worth the control and regulation of the British, how began to impose unjust trade laws and taxes. America did not go bloodthirsty into revolution, but one injustice led to another and war became impossible to avoid.

The Civil War is another such example, for a long train of injustices led up to it, the first being that initial importation of slaves to James Town in 1619 which led to a schism between the northern colonies and the southern when the constitution was being drafted and all man kind was thought to be free. This schism between north and south led to aggressive legislation against the south, and eventually the southern succession which led to the North's lack of compliance to southern sovereignty which led to the civil war.

The Middle East and the frequent causes of their internal strifes and their relations with America and other supper powers has also been caused by a long abuse of justice dating as long ago as the crusades; Although the tumult in modern times has been more a result of Colonialism and WWII than general history. Before WWII, the middle east was colonized by European powers, meaning that when WWII came around, much of the Middle East saw that being pro-axis may result in their independence, thus sparking many other injustices that winds throughout history resulting in 9/11 and other unfortunate reprisals and counter attacks.

Injustice is, and has been with us all along and it shows no signs of being vindicated unless we as individuals can learn to be just with ourselves and each other. As in the story of the young boys, we need to be just to each other and leave each other's things alone. When we happen to be in the wrong, we need to take our punches willingly and give such reparations as we can. When justice cannot be satisfied between individuals, then a higher authority must do justice. When the higher authority is in the wrong, than it's the right of the citizens to do justice over their authority. When justice is satisfied then peace, good will, happiness, and wealth are free to work their blessings.

Forget Politics, Do It Yourself!

Are you tired of the stupid smiles and inflated promises? I mean when are the Democrats going to fix welfare/equality/healthcare so that it functions better than a $20 dollar toaster? When will the Republicans actually reduce government and taxes instead of TP-ing the Democrats?

Answer: Never!

After all, do we really have to be forced to help other people? do we really need government to reduce government? If we do, we deserve the bloated mess that tirades over us.

Forget Politics, "Be the change you wish to see in the world" as Gandhi so astutely said.

Forget Politics, "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them" as Einstein so eloquently formulated.

Disregard the pathetic and feeble attempts of the "overlords" to force mankind to be charitable and kind and caring. They are fundamentally inept to service the poor and downtrodden and the harder they try the harder they fall… and when they fall, the poor will be the most squished.

THE SOLUTION IS YOU! You can exalt the poor with the rich. You can clean the environment and plant paradise. You can triumph over a low minimum wage by creating so much wealth that the poor would really have to try to be poor.

Why are we clowning around the public forum trying to help people by forcing Big Brother to force them to help/force them? You can do it, for it os well within your power. Lift yourself from the cobwebs of dearth, and triumph. Don't play the shame game with the rich, but play a game of wits. Instead of trying to crush the rich in the iron fist and sweeping their remains under the iron curtain, become rich yourself, for, after all in riches there is as much virtue and vice as there is in humanity. With your justly got wealth, build. If you want to lift the children of third world countries from handfuls of rice to PB&Js, then don't just feed them with a little fall of rain, but build canals, rivers, aqueducts, wells and dams with which they can subside and be empowered. Instead of giving them token shipments of relief, build their infrastructure, culture, and minds. While you can lead a horse to water, you may not be able to make him drink, but if the horse dies because you left him, t'would be a shame.

Stop trying to weed-wack government, it's not the problem whatsoever; the real problem is the soil the government is planted in. We need to water and to aerate the ground around, and the good fruit of the government will be reflected in our efforts. Don't reform education, teach. Don't reform healthcare, practice health, preach health.  Leave the government to shrink back to it's former functions, your help aggravates it. Instead, turn your attentions to the real world of humanity.

A Golden Age is built by you and I exclusively. Reason is in the act of doing. Brilliance is predicated upon brilliance.

Grecian Golden Age and The Libertas Creed 2

It wasn't till greece began to be literate that their civilization truly became great. With the invention of reading, writing, and math Greece was able to enter it's golden age. The earliest know literature out of Greece is of course, the works of Homer, The Iliad and the Odyssey. From thence do we get a glimpse of what attributed to a Grecian golden age. The contributing factors, as we may glean from the pages of these antiquated books were that the Grecian people united, justice became more refined, morals were more firmly established, the people became more righteous. Justice for example, was the cause of the whole Trojan war fiasco in the first place, for, Paris son of Priam, abducted Helen from her homeland, and despite all legal means to get her back, Paris would not comply. The Morality of the Greek also became more abundant at the dawn of the West. While it is obvious that only the very best fighters would survive a ernest and violent war, what is not recognized is that morality also played a huge roll in the immortalized Trojan War. While natural selection picked off the weak and foolish amount the ranks, it also picked off the immoral. Patroclus is killed because of the pride of Achilles, as well as Achilles himself. Ajax is killed also for his pride when he mocked Poseidon. Agamemnon was murdered by his adulterous wife. And many other lesser Achaean heroes are killed by some moral deficiency. Odysseus was one of the few survivors and he is famed for his exceptionally steadfast morality. After the war was over, and the warriors returned to their homes, they all acted in greater righteousness than when they set out. 

From that most ancient time, Western history gets it's origin. As a result of the trojan war, and as a result of Homer, and whatever culture that went into ancient appreciation of Homer, we get later authors, philosophers, warriors, and playwrights as a heritage of that primeval war and that primeval storyteller. From 500 to 300 BC, Greece was basking in it's Golden Age. This Age of plenty and culture was largely the heritage of the Trojan war and Homer; but that was not all. 

The paramount factor to sparking and feeding the Grecian Golden age were the people at large, and great persons. The people at large began to value nobel virtues, moral values, and civilization. This general attitude among the people gave rise to the great men of the times, who of which can be found At Wikipedia linked here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ancient_Greeks

Therefore, what launched Greek's Golden Age was manny fold including: proper government,  justice, morality, Righteous people, An elevated culture, freedom of trade, promotion of arts and sciences by the general people, among so many others that it would be tedious to list them all, but you get the general idea. It cannot be stressed enough how a golden age is brought about and by whom. One man couldn't of done it alone; neither one class of people or race, creed, philosophy, or religion. For Greece to be come the cradle of Western civilization, it took all the people from many different backgrounds to define it as "Golden." 

The Libertas Creed is dedicated to anything that brings about and maintains such an age. While many disparage America and the world for declining and falling, The Libertas Creed refuses to take this view, preferring to, by it's efforts maintain whatever Golden Age heritage is left, and perhaps revive it; or, if this fails, to provide some basis for a golden age to come. There is a time when everyman must decide where he stands and what price he must pay. Will he flop into the dirt, degenerate and bestial; Or  will he stand like a man akin to God?




If you found this post illuminating, you may also like these other Libertas Creed posts:

Freedom to Increase

Hector: A Pillar of Strength

Humanism is Shortsighted I

Grecian Golden Age and The Libertas Creed 1

When upon cracking the ancient spines of the surviving Greek works, there is a general golden thread throughout all of them that hints at what it takes to launch a golden age for a civilization. In The History Of The Peloponnesian War, there is related a time before Greece ever be came great, or powerful, or influential; but where Greece was perhaps among the lowest of barbaric countries:

"For instance, it is evident that the country now called Hellas had in ancient times no settled population; on the contrary, migrations were of frequent occurrence, the several tribes readily abandoning their homes under the pressure of superior numbers. Without commerce, without freedom of communication either by land or sea, cultivating no more of their territory than the exigencies of life required, destitute of capital, never planting their land (for they could not tell when an invader might not come and take it all away, and when he did come they had no walls to stop him), thinking that the necessities of daily sustenance could be supplied at one place as well as another, they cared little for shifting their habitation, and consequently neither built large cities nor attained to any other form of greatness. The richest soils were always most subject to this change of masters; such as the district now called Thessaly, Boeotia, most of the Peloponnese, Arcadia excepted, and the most fertile parts of the rest of Hellas. The goodness of the land favoured the aggrandizement of particular individuals, and thus created faction which proved a fertile source of ruin. It also invited invasion. Accordingly Attica, from the poverty of its soil enjoying from a very remote period freedom from faction, never changed its inhabitants. And here is no inconsiderable exemplification of my assertion that the migrations were the cause of there being no correspondent growth in other parts. The most powerful victims of war or faction from the rest of Hellas took refuge with the Athenians as a safe retreat; and at an early period, becoming naturalized, swelled the already large population of the city to such a height that Attica became at last too small to hold them, and they had to send out colonies to Ionia." 

Hence all Western Civilization arose out of a land so poor, that it was unattractive to thieves and tyrants, but once people were left to enjoy their liberty and the fruits of there own labor, their population boomed so immensely that their influence began to colonize more fruitful lands nearby. The history continues to share another factor that attributed to the barbarism of the times: 

"There is also another circumstance that contributes not a little to my conviction of the weakness of ancient times. Before the Trojan war there is no indication of any common action in Hellas, nor indeed of the universal prevalence of the name; on the contrary, before the time of Hellen, son of Deucalion, no such appellation existed, but the country went by the names of the different tribes, in particular of the Pelasgian. It was not till Hellen and his sons grew strong in Phthiotis, and were invited as allies into the other cities, that one by one they gradually acquired from the connection the name of Hellenes; though a long time elapsed before that name could fasten itself upon all. The best proof of this is furnished by Homer. Born long after the Trojan War, he nowhere calls all of them by that name, nor indeed any of them except the followers of Achilles from Phthiotis, who were the original Hellenes: in his poems they are called Danaans, Argives, and Achaeans. He does not even use the term barbarian, probably because the Hellenes had not yet been marked off from the rest of the world by one distinctive appellation. It appears therefore that the several Hellenic communities, comprising not only those who first acquired the name, city by city, as they came to understand each other, but also those who assumed it afterwards as the name of the whole people, were before the Trojan war prevented by their want of strength and the absence of mutual intercourse from displaying any collective action." 

Thus was Greece not one state, but thousands of small tribes, which condition practically describes barbarism. It wasn't till these tribes were united into the larger powers called Athens or Sparta, that civilization started it's long assent to the top. It is important however to note that while a central authority is useful, a corrupt and overly powerful central authority is the best equipped to takedown the civilization it was originally established to promote. (While centralizing authority was a pedestal for civilization to build upon in the beginning, centralizing authority was also responsible for Greece's post golden age by initiating stupid wars, welfare, and fiat money.)

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