On Rousseau, Adam Smith, Geneva, Democracy & Republicanism

The patron saint of the modern democrat is Jean Jacques Rousseau. To truly appreciate this man's errors, we must "understand" his life in the context of his ideas. Rousseau was Swiss - where they have "direct democracy." Rousseau's statue sits proudly at an important junction in Geneva - and this is a city that has a long and proud tradition of republicanism. They had no king. They ran their own city. I inspected the old cannons on the ramparts of the old fort in Geneva - and the cannons bore the emblem of the City.

The republicanism of Geneva was much admired and talked about in the rest of Europe. Adam Smith, a staunch Whig, fancied himself a republican and even paid Geneva a visit during his two-year tour of Europe as tutor to the young Duke of Buccleugh - for which position he resigned his professorship in Glasgow. In Geneva he visited Voltaire - and the two got on famously. He also consulted a famous physician in the city, a physician who had sent his young son out to Glasgow to study under Smith; this, after reading Smith's first book, Moral Sentiments. Adam Smith breathed deeply of the free air of Geneva. There was great political turmoil in Geneva then as the City's lower house tried to get more powers at the expense of the upper house. Rousseau was active in this politics, writing on behalf of the lower house. This was the "democracy" Rousseau knew.

I too had the occasion to breathe the free air of Geneva. I spent a few days there in 2000. The Geneva Motor Show was on. It is the most important motor show in Europe - and the Swiss don't make cars. They make watches - but you get Japanese watches there too. In the supermarket where I bought gifts for friends back home I saw Japanese plum wine, Darjeeling tea, and Californian almonds. At the Davidoff store in Geneva I bought Egyptian and Indonesian cigarettes. There were also Mangalore Ganesh beedis for sale @ Sfr 2.30 a bundle. Geneva is an old free trading and republican city. The World Trade Organization is headquartered in Geneva.

I spent seven days or more in Switzerland. I tried an experiment there with every Swiss person I met. I asked them the name of their President - and not a single one knew. Swiss democracy is strangely silent. The world never hears of Swiss elections. There is something that lies deep in Switzerland - a political culture that is entirely "local." I stayed for a while in Lausanne, a city on the opposite side of the lake from Geneva - and it has its own independent government.

Rousseau was no great philosopher - but he was Swiss. Even Rousseau would have laughed at modern mass democracies with centralized states. Both Rousseau and Adam Smith would have laughed at modern republicanism. Bastiat was a great critic of Rousseau - read "The Law."

Question what you learnt in "civics." Question all authority. The words remain the same but their meanings have all gone. Humpty Dumpty is the boss.