John Barber

[John Barber @johnbarberDC]

A couple from Oswald Spengler:

- “By the term ‘Caesarism’, I mean that kind of government which, irrespective of any constitutional formulation it may have, is in its inward self a return to pure formlessness. Caesaristic leaders, Spengler continued,  “disguised their position under antique forms” but the spirit of these forms was dead. It is the relapse “of a form-filled world into primitivism.”

- “Caesarism is … the disappearance of the party itself as a form.”

Spengler comes into plenty of criticism for being mystical, deterministic, and lacking rigor. But the mystery of why his influence continues is that as he says civilizations are organic in their birth, maturation and decline.

The two points above may well express the deeper nature of the threat now facing America. It is one that must be reversed by a creative and continuing revivification of our form and symbolism today.

[John Barber @johnbarberDC]

It is interesting to look at present-day Democrats, with their recent missteps and need for new direction, not through the lens of daily news cycles but just for a moment in a long-term, metahistorical view. Arnold Toynbee in his comparative study of 21 civilizations, noted that a culture’s creative minority may decadently lose stewardship of the creative idea, the spirit, of the culture without necessarily disintegrating the society — so long as they ultimately respond creatively. Toynbee may be out of fashion at worst, controversial at best, but to him that meant the creative minority must engage with present realities and forge transformative solutions, unlike those seeking refuge in bygone eras in a destructive archaic response. What is the creative, transformative direction amid present realities that centrist liberals, perhaps allied with Burkean conservatives, can come up with? Through this lens, it seems that not only the next election but the trajectory of society toward elan vital or decline may depend on it. The torch must be carried forward which means more than whether Democrats can beat Trump and MAGA candidates.

[John Barber @johnbarberDC]

When Tom Cruise says, “Thank you for allowing us to entertain you,” I can’t help but hear him say it about The Entertainment in Infinite Jest.

[John Barber @johnbarberDC]

Able stewardship of our nation, its economy and its prosperous world order, it seems to me, takes a leader who appreciates the enduring value of these things.

Captaining our ship of state is therefore for those who play the bipartisan long game of the stability, reliability and trustworthiness of America — not for dilettantes playing the short game of myopic transactional gains.

When America turns its back on NATO for short-sighted cost savings, it will find itself no longer trusted in security alliances that make the world safer in the long term.

When America attacks its allies with steep tariffs for hoped-for myopic gains in revenue, it will discover itself left out as unreliable from new long-haul alliances for the trade of the world.

When America ignores the rule of law to put up quick points in cutting waste from government, it erodes its authority and credibility as a nation of laws — draining moral capital our nation needs in long-term leadership.

When America flirts with a myopic partisan takeover of its central bank for temporary political assistance to a single administration, the world panics and markets swoon as long-term strategic economic stability takes a hit.

When America myopically attacks its own institution of the free press for political advantage, it permanently severs trust in the shared public information upon which democratic institutions rely over the long term.

When America attacks its own institutions of higher education, myopically playing politics, the long-term assets of scientific research, free expression and truth-seeking are eroded strategically.

When America myopically erodes the separation of powers and brashly defies checks and balances to create unchecked power in the executive in pursuit of a short-term agenda, it destroys the steady center-seeking handoff as power passes between successive administrations over the long term.

This concerns me most because of the pandaemonium it opens. Our newly elected administrations would spend their time thrashing about and undoing all their predecessor put in place through executive fiat. The rest of the world would stand aghast in viewing an America that is veering wildly, undeserving of continuing confidence in the US. As a society we would be in this scenario but a petulant child acting out in our immature and failing democracy. We would become a nation too distracted by its inner basal passions for partisan politics to strategically lead itself much less the world.

Where is a true captain of the ship of state? Clue: let us start looking for sensible centrist republican or democratic leaders who appreciate the long-term value of America, its economy and its global order, and the bipartisan long game of the stability, reliability and trustworthiness of America which steering that ship requires. Let us find leaders who conversely understand the folly and farce of a myopic transactional viewpoint in public affairs.

[John Barber @johnbarberDC]

“The tops of the trees surrounding the hotel seem to respond to the morning air the way I do. The branches and leaves move with each light breeze as if it were expected, were what had been waited for all this time.” —ZAMM

[John Barber @johnbarberDC]

“Steel porcupine.” Europe has leapt into the void left by Trump in the defense of freedom against police states.

[John Barber @johnbarberDC]

Foreign policy, Kennan believed, had become political theater. By sacrificing realism to polemics, consistency to opportunism, America had forfeited its role as world leader.

— Walter Isaacson, in The Wise Men, on George Kennan in his last decade.

One thinks of these lines after Munich this week.

[John Barber @johnbarberDC]

Looks like E.M. Forster's 1909 short fiction "The Machine Stops" has in many ways come true. https://t.co/Z2VYuRKJmZ

[John Barber @johnbarberDC]

"The Voice of the People has been said to be the voice of God: and however generally this maxim has been quoted and believed, it is not true in fact." -- Alexander Hamilton, June 18, 1787 at the Federal Convention.

It is wise to read The Federalist Papers before inveighing on society, policy and Constitutional issues. The three principal authors of the Constitution, Hamilton, Madison and Jay, there outline their thinking about human nature and society which serves as the basis for that founding document. There is shocking ignorance of their insights on man and society in contemporary political opinion. We'd be a more stable nation if that deficiency were redressed.

[John Barber @johnbarberDC]

A couple from Kenneth Burke:

People may be unfitted by being fit in an unfit fitness.

A way of seeing is also a way of not seeing -- a focus upon object A involves a neglect of object B.

[John Barber @johnbarberDC]

@RahmEmanuel, like Clinton, would "pick as many fights with his party's left as against Republicans." Badly needed. He must become the new DNC chair. https://t.co/0j7IoGK2Ui.

[John Barber @johnbarberDC]

Individuals who react to social conformity by having an inner transformative experience, says @jordanbpeterson, must carry that adventure back to all levels of society with their “highest upward orientation.” That’s “ordered freedom,” he notes.

You must pursue “the limitless development of your integrated psyche” but also the “integration of the psyche with all the different levels of society,” Peterson continues. “Following that call will not only integrate you, but serve society in the highest manner. It all stacks up musically.”

Fascinating discussion between @joerogan and Jordan Peterson. Something to reflect on. Give it a listen at the link in the comments. What do you think?

[John Barber @johnbarberDC]

@chainlink Chainlink is treating retail investors like they don’t exist.

[John Barber @johnbarberDC]

The real output of cable news is oxytocin production and secretion. Screens flash, hypothalamuses and pituitary glands squirt, humans bond with their in-group against outsiders. #sociobiology #evolutionarypsychology #masscommunications