1 - The Systems of Government and the Thinking Man

1930s: those wanting to be elected could not talk about important environmental policy changes due to fear of being labelled a communist or fascist

This called for a new class of social organization, and as has always been the case, such new classes are initially looked down upon

E.g., heresy, communism--people with free will listened to the devil and ended up in hell, it’s always the same story

Laws and morals array against newcomer social groups, who violate the prevailing mythology

The “thinking man” is an abstract idea of someone who has free will and can understand sound principles without being clouded by emotion; he is the guy public debate is addressed to

In America, we look to the more disastrous examples of people with other creeds to demonstrate why ours is the best

We do not choose creeds (e.g., capitalism) through some rational process

The war among capitalism, communism, and fascism is one of the greatest obstacles to practical treatment of day-to-day needs of Americans

One or the other of the bad ones get applied to things like soil conservation

We get so attached to policies marked capitalism we won’t feed our people if it requires associating with a police marked communism

Our political beliefs are religious in nature--we still have crusades

They search for universal truth

We see a court as being a key instrument to dictate the social philosophy of posterity, and it always fails

2 - The Psychology of Social Institutions

Whenever people seek universal truth, the creeds of government become more significant and the practical activities of government suffer as a result

There are always heros behind our mythologies/creeds

We cannot tell how creeds operate because any issue can be attributed to the creed not being properly followed, which means creeds have no meaning whatsoever apart from the organizations they’re attached to

The individuals and smaller organizations reflect the larger organizations

All organizations have:

(1) a creed, (2) set of attitudes making the creed effective, (3) institutional habits, causing people to work together without conscious choice, and (4) a mythology/historical tradition

Constitutions furnish limits beyond which controversy must not extend; attacking the constitution itself is heresy

And the supreme courts oscillates between refusing the change the thing and incorporating modern notions

Creeds are extremely alike

Constitutions’ words do not explain a creed

E.g., 5th amendment discussing persons; justifies corporate protection

It’s the imaginary personalities that make up the content of a creed

Right now, the American businessman creed dominates this country--they are the national heroes, and the devil is governmental interference

Creeds are also self-fulfilling; our government is bureaucratized because of this

The only way to overcome this is a new social class with new heroes

Traders and salesmen may end up becoming this new class--with new economic thinking

Regardless of creed, democracy became accepted as a political fact

It is not longer a creed, as it isn’t put on a pedestal, but it is still widespread, used with the knowledge that it is more important majority will is followed than rationality (political realism)

Democracy created a small elite political class: aristocratic background plus emotion-inducing political techniques

But as it’s become more embedded, people have become more skillful and there’s less emotion-inducing political techniques being used

Now we think of improving government by changing what the people want, not what should be done

We don’t get caught between democracy, monarchy, and aristocracy any more

Capitalism is used today not for its content but to battle against other creeds

3 - The Folklore of 1937

Law and economics was the principal means by which the folklore of 1937 was expressed--the time’s universal truths

Folklore blinded people from the practical running of government--all the wanted to do was protect society from becoming Russian or German

Details don’t change minds when a powerful abstract idea confronts them

This manifested in reactions to Roosevelt’s court packing and stimulus plans

An analogy: old medical cure of bleeding patients meant that any other cure, for example quinine, was sacrilegious, and connected to Jesuits, a despised creed at the time

The “thinking man” is no longer essential to the field of medicine, it’s skill in his place

Law was designed to preserve moral freedom and individualism

Economics supplied the principles which would make incoherent legislative bodies act with utility

Two limiting principles of capitalism: economic (regulated by the two political parties) and legal) regulated by the courts

SCOTUS was the unifying body in american government at the time, as it threw out Roosevelt’s policies

Political parties were supposed to care more for posterity than getting votes for its leaders, which was, in fact, political suicide

Psychiatrists were practical by 1937, not trying to perfect their patients but making them comfortable and protecting society

Socialists, opposed to the industry-politicians, had their own heresy issue, kicking out those who were not true believers

We ended up with constitution-worship

14 - Some Principles of Political Dynamics

The personification of our industrial enterprise are psychological barriers to the growth of organizations with definite public responsibility

Political dynamics is a science about society, recognizing the interdependent nature of its constituent parts--the individual, submerged in the organization

Organizations have habits and personalities, a result of accident (who randomly gets to be in control first) and environment

Once an organization’s personality is fixed, it’s difficult to change

This is why reform rarely works and revolution is impelled

With habits, come profit and property

And with these, contradictory roles

These organizations grow, regardless of their roles serving their members

In order to function, institutional creeds must contradict the organization’s operation--consistency of creed, but also realism

And a ceremony must be used to paper over this contradiction

And its effectiveness can only be judges from within; e.g., political arguments to your own side in a campaign--politics is who can get your side to love itself most

When ceremonies cannot overcome contradiction, institutions split between practical and idealistic parts

The confusion accompanying many reform movements is that if the institution does what it says it ought do, its function will fail

A social need will never be satisfied until it gets its own philosophy/abstraction

To succeed in change, you must have an organization as your principal, not logic

Organizations die because of phobias against practical common-sense action produced by their own ideas

Thesis: we need to be able to fit ideals to serve practical needs