Psychonaut
05-16-2009, 10:28 AM
I'd like to open this post with a quote from Thomas Jefferson, taken from a letter (http://www.tncrimlaw.com/civil_bible/natural_aristocracy.htm) written to John Adams:
I agree with you that there is a natural aristocracy among men. The grounds of this are virtue and talents. Formerly bodily powers gave place among the aristoi. But since the invention of gunpowder has armed the weak as well as the strong with missile death, bodily strength, like beauty, good humor, politeness and other accomplishments, has become but an auxiliary ground of distinction. There is also an artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth, without either virtue or talents; for with these it would belong to the first class. The natural aristocracy I consider as the most precious gift of nature for the instruction, the trusts, and government of society.
I know that there are those among the Apricity's denizens who believe (as do I) that the best of all political systems lies betwixt Aristocracy and Meritocracy, in the rise of a Jeffersonian Natural Aristocracy. My question to those of you who believe this is one of delineation, for I can't seem to work this out to a feasible conclusion on my own:
Given that the goal of this type political system is to, through meritocratic means, select those who are best suited to lead, impel them to breed with individuals of similarly selected stock and thus develop (or re-develop as some might say) a natural aristocratic class from which leaders could arise; how could such a system remain untainted for very long from the taint of the kinds of artificial aristocracy that Jefferson mentions? Would such a goal be possible under anything other than the rule of a benevolent dictator (which we all know to be a figment of Plato's imagination :D)? Do you think that a system like this has any possibility of arising from the wreckage of the West's current situation?
I agree with you that there is a natural aristocracy among men. The grounds of this are virtue and talents. Formerly bodily powers gave place among the aristoi. But since the invention of gunpowder has armed the weak as well as the strong with missile death, bodily strength, like beauty, good humor, politeness and other accomplishments, has become but an auxiliary ground of distinction. There is also an artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth, without either virtue or talents; for with these it would belong to the first class. The natural aristocracy I consider as the most precious gift of nature for the instruction, the trusts, and government of society.
I know that there are those among the Apricity's denizens who believe (as do I) that the best of all political systems lies betwixt Aristocracy and Meritocracy, in the rise of a Jeffersonian Natural Aristocracy. My question to those of you who believe this is one of delineation, for I can't seem to work this out to a feasible conclusion on my own:
Given that the goal of this type political system is to, through meritocratic means, select those who are best suited to lead, impel them to breed with individuals of similarly selected stock and thus develop (or re-develop as some might say) a natural aristocratic class from which leaders could arise; how could such a system remain untainted for very long from the taint of the kinds of artificial aristocracy that Jefferson mentions? Would such a goal be possible under anything other than the rule of a benevolent dictator (which we all know to be a figment of Plato's imagination :D)? Do you think that a system like this has any possibility of arising from the wreckage of the West's current situation?