This Cardinal Is In Serious Error

A few weeks ago, I welcomed Pope Benedict's call, delivered at the German parliament, for a public debate on positivism. 


Well, today, it seems that the first shot has been fired from within the Vatican itself, with Cardinal Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace releasing a document titled “Towards reforming the international financial and monetary systems in the context of the global public authority." This document - which is not a "papal document" - opposes a priorism in Economics, espouses empiricism and positivism, and since these are both "intellectual covers for socialism" - as Hans-Hermann Hoppe has written - the document ends up with all the grave errors of socialism, to the extent of calling for a global central bank.


But the Cardinal begins with some half-truths - half-truths that have prompted one commentator to call this document "Right diagnosis, deadly cure." After the diagnosis, the Cardinal asks the question:

What has driven the world in such a problematic direction for its economy and also for peace?

And his first answer is this:

First and foremost, an economic liberalism that spurns rules and controls. Economic liberalism is a theoretical system of thought, a form of “economic apriorism” that purports to derive laws for how markets function from theory, these being laws of capitalistic development, while exaggerating certain aspects of markets. An economic system of thought that sets down a priori the laws of market functioning and economic development, without measuring them against reality, runs the risk of becoming an instrument subordinated to the interests of the countries that effectively enjoy a position of economic and financial advantage. 

This is an issue concerning epistemology. The question is: Does Economics have to follow the method of physics - which is measurement, after which theories are arrived at a posteriori. Or are the Laws of Economics arrived at a priori, by deduction, and are established by logic, just like the propositions of mathematics or geometry, such that they do not need measurement and observation to validate them?


Let us take an example:


The Law of Exchange - which says that when a good is traded voluntarily, both parties gain by the trade; that their individual valuations of that good are unequal. Obviously, if I prefer beer over money, the barowner prefers money over beer. How does such a law require "measurement" or "observation" to validate it? Obviously, this law is NOT going to be established a posteriori. It is true a priori. 


In fact, "value" cannot be measured, for it lies within the valuing mind. "Value is subjective." All that can be measured are prices and quantities - and the price at which exchange transpires will show agreement, not unequal valuation. The "demand-and-supply curves" type of education teaches nonsense - and these curves can only be produced by "measurement." The curves are actually "statistics."  They are thus History - they are not Theory, which in Economics must be true a priori.


Hence, the methods of physics are NOT applicable to the Science of Economics. Positivism and empiricism are the intellectual covers for socialism and interventionism, since they deny the MIND of the acting individual, and they create the false impression of a "national economy" - with its "national income" and its "growth rate" - which must be managed by a super-human mind: that of the central planner; that of the Great Leader. 


Thus, Hans-Hermann Hoppe concludes his brief essay against empiricism with these words:

If we want to attack socialism, we must also attack the absurd intellectual error of empiricism. And if we want to defeat socialism, we must make a principled Misesian case based on the logic of human action and the irrefutable laws of economics.

Since Cardinal Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace,  espouses empiricism and disavows a priorism, he is led deep into socialism, statism, and even the "primacy of politics."


Here are some quotes from the rest of the document:

...the world’s peoples ought to adopt an ethic of solidarity as the animating core of their action... [But we are all individuals, and we buy and sell in markets full of strangers. See my article on "catallaxy."]

the risk of an “idolatry of the market..." [The real risk is idolatry of the State and political authority. See also Tom Woods' rejoinder here.]

global social justice seem most urgent... for achieving... a fair distribution of world wealth... [The "mirage of social justice" gone global!]

one can see an emerging requirement for a body that will carry out the functions of a kind of “central world bank” [Horrors!]

strengthening the existing institutions, such as the European Central Bank [Here is a report that Germany will ditch the Euro if the ECB starts printing more of them.]

In this process, the primacy of the spiritual and of ethics needs to be restored and, with them, the primacy of politics – which is responsible for the common good – over the economy and finance. [Read Anthony de Jasay's Before Resorting to Politics.]

forms of recapitalization of banks with public funds making the support conditional on “virtuous” behaviours aimed at developing the “real economy” [Moral hazard.]

At this point, I would like to remind the Cardinal of his views on the Principle of Subsidiarity, which he upholds, and defines as follows:

According to the logic of subsidiarity, the higher Authority offers its subsidium, that is, its aid, only when individual, social or financial actors are intrinsically deficient in capacity, or cannot manage by themselves to do what is required of them.

Now, money has ALWAYS been "private money": GOLD. Accordingly, we human beings, in freedom, without the aid of any political authority, can manage to produce our own money. Free banking can be conducted under traditional commercial law - as Jesus Huerta de Soto has shown. Thus, according to a Principle upheld by the Church, and also by Cardinal Turkson, there is NO NEED for ANY POLITICAL AUTHORITY over money and banking, and certainly not at the global level.


This is NOT new - not "neo-liberalism." This is "classical liberalism." Adam Smith's "Three Duties of the Sovereign" did NOT include anything to do with money. I have recounted these three duties here.


Mises put it best, in Human Action, when he wrote:

The use of money in a market economy is a praxeologically necessary fact. That gold, and not something else, is used as money is merely a historical fact and as such cannot be conceived by catallactics.

Thus, we Hindus are currently celebrating Diwali - when we traditionally buy gold. It is a "custom" - from History. This has NOTHING to do with "theory."

As far as "world order" is concerned, Mises also put it best when he wrote, in Nation, State, and Economy:

Liberalism, which demands full freedom of the economy, seeks to dissolve the difficulties that the diversity of political arrangements pits against the development of trade by separating the economy from the state. It strives for the greatest possible unification of law, in the last analysis for world unity of law. But it does not believe that to reach this goal, great empires or even a world empire must be created.

I also recommend to my reader this Islamic Judgment on Paper Money - which shows very clear reasoning.

But recall where I began unraveling this litany of errors - with Cardinal Turkson's empiricism, his antipathy to a priorism, and his love for "measurement" in Economics. On the subject of epistemology, I earnestly recommend Hans-Hermann Hoppe's Economic Science and the Austrian Method, which you can find here.


Professor Hoppe's article "Why the State demands Control of Money" is also a very useful read in today's times.

Saint Augustine - On The Predatory State

The other day, I wrote a post on the Pope's speech at the German Parliament, in which he began by quoting St. Augustine - "without justice - what is a State but a band of robbers?" - and then went on to call for a public debate on legal positivism. I had then written: "Without sound money - what is the State but a band of robbers?"


Well, thanks to Christopher Manion on the LewRockwell.com blog, we now have the full text of the passage from St. Augustine's City of God from which the Pope took his quote, and I am placing that passage below for my readers. Note that these words are written by a bishop who was beatified by the Church of Rome:

KINGDOMS WITHOUT JUSTICE ARE BUT ROBBER GANGS

Augustine, City of God, Book IV, Chapter 4.

Justice being taken away, then, what are kingdoms but great robberies? For what are robberies themselves, but little kingdoms? The band itself is made up of men; it is ruled by the authority of a prince, it is knit together by the pact of the confederacy; the booty is divided by the law agreed on. If, by the admittance of abandoned men, this evil increases to such a degree that it holds places, fixes abodes, takes possession of cities, and subdues peoples, it assumes the more plainly the name of a kingdom, because the reality is now manifestly conferred on it, not by the removal of covetousness, but by the addition of impunity. Indeed, that was an apt and true reply which was given to Alexander the Great by a pirate who had been seized. For when that king had asked the man what he meant by keeping hostile possession of the sea, he answered with bold pride, “What thou meanest by seizing the whole earth; but because I do it with a petty ship, I am called a robber, whilst thou who dost it with a great fleet art styled emperor.”

Remember - this saint uses the word "justice," while these robbers use the term "social justice." I hope you all will read the second volume of Hayek's Law, Legislation & Liberty, which is titled "The Mirage of Social Justice." You can buy this book in India here.


And do reflect a long while on the PRECISE MEANING of the word Hayek uses in his TITLE - the word "MIRAGE." Desert travellers are very wary of mirages. They KILL.

We need Economic Freedom - not funny money welfarism - and we need real "natural justice" in a private law society: Property, Contracts and Torts.

And we need to throw out these robbers - because, as God Alone Knows, I need a Decent Smoke!

On The Pope... And Black Money: Take #2

Pope Benedict XVI's address before the German parliament has attracted wide attention because at the outset he quoted St. Augustine's dictum:

"Without justice – what else is the State 

but a great band of robbers?"

In our own country, all the fuss is about "black money" - or money that has evaded the tax-collector. The matter has now been referred to a specially constituted board of bureaucrats - but the news report says they are "dragging their feet." So, the issue is now before the Chief Justice of India (CJI), says another report.


But, tell you me, is not all the inflation, stock-market crash, the crises over the Euro and the US dollar all about "funny money"? Will inflation be over, will these crises be resolved for our country, if all this "black money" is unearthed and "brought back" to the Exchequer? Certainly not!

We all need Sound Money - Gold.

And St. Augustine wrote, in his City of God:

"Without justice – what else is the State 

but a great band of robbers?"

So, now that black money is before the CJI, think about Ashok Jain, KL Chugh and Rajan Pillai - how they were humiliated over black money and how two of them died. The "positive law" was FERA - the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act.


Now, as any Misesian knows, foreign exchange regulation is meant to "expropriate wealth." There is nothing "just" about such a positive law. In my book, if the central banker cannot convert his note into money desired by the bearer, it is the central banker who ought to be in prison: a debtors' prison. Savvy?


After all, the "promise to pay" on the note, signed by the central banker, is a SOLEMN CONTRACT - a contract the central banker is refusing to abide by.


And St. Augustine wrote, in his City of God:

"Without justice – what else is the State 

but a great band of robbers?"

Of course, FERA was INJUSTICE writ large, so we could rephrase the above as follows:

Without Sound Money -  what else is the State 

but a great band of robbers?

It is at this point that Murray Rothbard must be quoted, for in his Ethics of Liberty he wrote what would happen to the State if this were to be the case:

For if the bulk of the public were really convinced of the illegitimacy of the State, if it were convinced that the State is nothing more nor less than a bandit gang writ large, then the State would soon collapse to take on no more status or breadth of existence than another Mafia gang. Hence the necessity of the State’s employment of ideologists; and hence the necessity of the State’s age-old alliance with the Court Intellectuals who weave the apologia for State rule.

This "black money" nonsense is the work of State-employed ideologists, judges and bureaucrats. We, the people, must focus on the "funny money" that is the root cause of our problems.


The person with black money has only evaded taxation - which is "moral" in a nation where the State "consumes capital" and there are no good roads or highways, and 200,000 people are killed in traffic accidents every year, and many more seriously injured.


On the other hand, the funny money man is an issuer of dud currency - a "counterfeiter," as I have explained in this brief column. Throughout history, counterfeiting always attracted the death penalty.


However, the Pope did a lot more in his address: he actually challenged "legal positivism" and even quoted Hans Kelsen, who was Hayek's professor of law, and a very important German legal positivist. 


Hayek of the Law, Legislation & Liberty volumes was not Hans Kelsen's student; rather, he had been strongly influenced by Bruno Leoni, whose Freedom and the Law is a must read.


After smashing legal positivism (while maintaining that positivism is essential for the natural sciences) the Pope said:

Where positivist reason dominates the field to the exclusion of all else – and that is broadly the case in our public mindset – then the classical sources of knowledge for ethics and law are excluded. This is a dramatic situation which affects everyone, and on which a public debate is necessary. Indeed, an essential goal of this address is to issue an urgent invitation to launch one.

I echo that sentiment. Down with legal positivism. Down with positivism in the sciences of human action - like Economics.

Liberty - From Here To Eternity

The State does NOT create wealth; rather, it destroys it. In the England of old, the King was never rich, but the merchants of the Olde City of London were fabulously wealthy. They were not selling computers, cars and the like those days. But the fishmongers, the grocers, the vinters who imported and sold wine - these were rich beyond belief. Edward II once had only 2 shillings in his treasury. And as for Henry V, when he went to battle at Agincourt, he had to pawn his jewels with the merchants of the City to raise the necessary funds. Thus, during the send-off ceremony organised for him, the Lord Mayor sat on his right - which is why, till this day, the Lord Mayor of London is second only to the King.

In India, we think the King - or The State - will create the wealth. He will make steel. He will give us "employment." This is a great delusion. This great delusion is multiplied by the fact that The State produces the money - paper notes. Today, Mamata Banerjee is running to the Centre for funds - from Pranabda. The Centre has no funds; all they will do is print more and borrow more. Similarly, here in Pondicherry, I just read that the government of this tiny city has borrowed 4,400 crore rupees (44 billion) from the Reserve Bank of India - and cannot pay it back. With so much money, the city could be built anew. Here, there is so much commerce on the streets - too much commerce, too little street. A sum of 4,400 crore rupees could have built so many miles of broad thoroughfares. Where has the money gone?

In my view, everything begins with "self-help." We must NOT look to the Centre, to Nude Elly, for its "funny money." The merchants of London gave the King his taxes; they did not seek his assistance in running their affairs, building their streets, or other civic facilities. So, each city and town must raise its own internal resources - in gold - and elect its own Mayor, an honest and honourable man, to perform the essential tasks of maintaining a city so that commerce can transpire peacefully. The purpose of a city is commerce.

There were no "political parties" in England - not until the 17th century. In India, our political parties are all gangs of anti-socials - which is what socialism is all about. The Lord Mayors of London were all wealthy merchants themselves, among the wealthiest men in the world. But if you look at chacha manmohan, sonia gandhi, beta rahul, advani, sitaram yechury - none are creators of wealth. They are all wealth destroyers. All these parties must be abolished.

There is only ONE legal principle required to obtain Liberty for all - and that is the Inviolability of Property. If Property is violated by private persons, it is either theft or trespass. Ditto for whatever local government the people set up to run their cities and towns. The local government is established to protect Property, not to violate it. If this Principle is followed, all will be well. Perfect order will prevail along with perfect Liberty. 

The Principle of Property applies even more so to money - for money must be tangible Property and not a paper note.

As far as public thoroughfares are concerned, they are "public property" and they should not be obstructed by private persons. It is the task of the local government to ensure that all thoroughfares are kept clear of obstructions. This is not happening now. Not in Nude Elly - and certainly not in Pondicherry. Every city and town mayor must focus on this issue - roads and traffic regulation. This is much more important than the RAW and IB and their "security concerns." Over 200,000 people die on our unsafe streets every year, and many times more are injured. The IPS are as much a disgrace as the IAS. Both "services" must be abolished.

Outside the cities, lies the countryside - and here, apart from roads, what matters most is the provision of clear Property Titles. This must be done by the people through their own, new agencies, using GPS technology. The patwari system is a complete failure under IAS maladministration. It must be abolished. 

Since cities are NOT self-sufficient, and all the needs of the city come from outside, it is in the interest of the city to see that outlying farmers, for instance, can easily bring their produce to market. These arrangements can be organised by collaboration between each city and its outlying villages. In this manner, real estate development will also occur in the rural areas, benefiting all. Satellite towns will also develop.

It must be noted that England till date does NOT possess a "written constitution." Such a device is totally unnecessary. A bunch of jokers crowded into a room cannot agree on anything - and the end result is disaster for a billion people. A written Constitution is required to establish and then "limit" the government set up. This has not happened anywhere in the world - including the USSA. 

All that is required is the Principle that Private Property is Inviolable by all. If this is "public opinion" then none can use force to take away either the Liberty or the Property of anyone else.

A city mayor - and some "aldermen" or "councillors" - are not rulers. They do not "make law" as legislatures do. They are just like the governing body of a club. That is all each city and town needs. They must find their own people - because everything depends on the use of "local knowledge." If it is your city, then your people must look after it. I also believe trained and experienced city administrators can be hired from abroad - and they should.

This, in brief, is all that a "constitution of liberty" is all about. Private property, private law and private money. Liberty - and perfect order. Peace. Prosperity. Of course, foreign trade should be unilaterally freed - and the cities and towns on the coast should do this on their own. It is in their own interest to do so. The Customs Department should be abolished.

I am also of the view that all the tax arms of the socialist State should be done away with. Local taxes should be raised in each city, from owners of Property - and they alone should be entitled to vote for the mayor and aldermen. Universal suffrage is a disaster. In either case, you need Liberty more than the empty vote. No one in Nude Elly can open a beer bar - but they can vote! What sense does that make?

The motto of the Olde City of London is domini dirige nos, which translates to "Let God be our Guide." That is the motto of Liberty. They did not say "let the King be our Guide" - as we stupid Indians did.

Here in Pondicherry I awoke to the sweet sound of the muezzin's call of prayer - "Allah ho Akbar." This, too, means much the same. That God is Great, that God is our Guide, that no King and no Man can order us around. The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, like the Lord Mayors of London, was a merchant, as was his wife Khadija.

With this, we can rid our nation of the pernicious disease of "politics" - and those who call themselves "politicians." Like the word "democracy," all these words are meaningless these days; or their meanings have been completely distorted. These words come from Ancient Greece, and they meant other things there.

I delivered a lecture once at the YMCA in Mangalore titled "Politics: The Root of all Corruption." When we chose Socialism and Statism, we politicised everything, and thereby corrupted everything. 

Virtue comes from The Market. When markets are free and Competition is fierce - everyone tries harder and harder to keep his customers happy. Towards this end, they "study the happiness" of the public. This is something no State ever does. All the State does is give you the Big Stick - up your ass. Get rid of that stick - and you will be free. Fix your cities and towns, free your markets, and you will slowly but surely be able to rebuild this shattered civilisation - if that word can still be applied to this sub-continent. Just keep one Principle in mind - that Property must be inviolable.

There arises the question of "unowned" things - and these should be free for "homesteading" on  a first-come-first-served basis. This includes things like radio spectrum, virgin forest lands, oil and gas fields etc. The principle here is "finder's keepers" - something all schoolchildren know only too well. 

And as for me, I have no interest in the "trappings of authority." I am awaiting for the members of my reggae band - The Ganjeras - to arrive so we can start rehearsing for an album and maybe even a show. Our first number planned is "Veeru Was A Good Man" to the tune of Bob Marley's "Johnny Was A Good Man." Let the sandalwood tree be Free! 

Interventionism - and The Vision of the Anointed

A question was posed by a reader today - with reference to my morning post on Prashant Bhushan & Co. - regarding corporate corruption. I have posted a reply - but let me take the discussion of this important matter to the main page.

Socialists practise "interventionism." They are always to be found loudly proclaiming that The Market may be fine - but the State must "regulate." This is their ideology. What is "regulation" and how is it carried out?

Regulations are the product of parliaments and bureaus (government departments). Parliaments produce Legislation; and bureaus are empowered by "subordinate legislation." All these rules and regulations are "enforced" upon human beings during their actions in The Market. Thus, they are unfree.

Understand this "vision of the damned": this is their "command economy." They want to turn society into a machine that must obey their commands issued via Legislation. Socialist democracy is nothing but Legislation: the "social market economy." 

The immediate effect of such interventionism is what Peter Bauer called "the politicisation of economic life." Businessmen, realising they must influence the rules under which they will be regulated (by force), begin "lobbying," thereby diverting their attention to worthless politics, rather that tending to their businesses. To the uncritical eye - this is "democracy."

In the US of the 1940s, Ludwig von Mises pointed out how rampant interventionism was destroying American democracy. He said the "representatives of the people" have all become "representatives of special interests" - from agriculture to mining, to whatever. No one represents his "constituency" - and it's all about special interests. The politicisation of economic life through interventionism destroys both politics as well as democracy - and destroys the character of the business community, too.

Then, there is the Vision of the Anointed: those who see Market Society as the Wondrous Creation of God - an "order without design"; something that is "the result of human action but not human design." If humans did not design it - who did? We could call him God. His is the "invisible hand."

This is the laissez faire vision - of a completely Free Market. A natural, spontaneous order based on rules all of us follow - without knowing why. This Golden Rule of Property comes from the past. All I have done is articulate this rule - the Inviolability of Property - but I did not make this rule, nor did anyone else. It is a part of human evolution, which includes our "intellectual evolution" - an "order without design"; the "result of human action, but not human design." It took millions of years before any intellect could articulate this rule - as for example, the Greek philosopher Strabo did in 40 AD, whom I quoted in my post of yesterday.

This commercial, bazaar culture is our real "cultural heritage." It is a culture of of peaceful and gainful exchange. A "commercial culture." A bania can buy from a Scot and sell to a Jew and still emerge with a profit - or so they say in London!

This natural order of the Free Market is what Hayek called a Great Society - as did Adam Smith. And since Smith influenced Darwin, the latter's evolutionary theories also looked at the natural world as an "order without design." This cannot be coincidental.

Similarly, Frederic Bastiat, battling socialists and protectionists in France circa 1850, wrote an entire volume titled Economic Harmonies. There is no "class war." The motive of self-interest does not destroy society - rather, it enriches it, by creating Competition, which is the essence of Liberty, its biggest fruit. Everything and everyone improves all the time. "Competition is Liberty - and the Absence of Competition is Tyranny," said Bastiat. 

He was a devout Catholic, and he proclaimed his faith thus: "To believe in Liberty is to believe in God - and have faith in His creation, Man."

These classical liberals believed in "natural honesty" - and the Scottish Enlightenment was all about "natural religion." This was their vision - of a natural, harmonious order among all mankind, all based on gainful trade, because God planted in all of us "a natural propensity to truck, barter and exchange."  

If the State is completely separated from The Market - laissez faire, private money, free banking under law, private law, unilateral free trade - all businessmen will find that their only way to preserve and accumulate capital will be by "serving the consumer" - and not the politicians and their bureaus. Only then will corporate corruption cease.

Of course, businessmen must realise that their "rightfully understood interests" do not lie in interventionism. That is also the task of the economist. I will address that task in my post of tomorrow morning.

Recommended reading: Ludwig von Mises' Interventionism: An Economic Analysis. This was written in German in the 1940s, shortly after the Miseses had migrated to America to escape Hitler. Mises was working for the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) then, and this was translated into English by two NBER staff - but never published till after his death! You can download the book from the Mises Institute here. Obviously, this is how the USA became the USSA - by preferring democracy to liberty, confusing the two, confusing means and ends.

Against The Passport-Visa Regime

Visa scams are a regular feature of life in India - and there are visa touts aplenty in Nude Elly - but the scam I found today in the Express occurred in the USSA, in California, and was committed by an educational institution; that too, mainly on Indian students.

On this touchy subject, my song is the one Bob Marley sang:

Oh why can't we roam,

This open country?

Why can't we be

What we want to be? -

We want to be Free.

Surely, there are better ways of proving one's identity to a foreign State official than a passport? Even an International Driving License is better. And as for the visa - why should a local cop be perturbed if a stranger in town is spending his money in the bars and pubs, and in the high-street shops, armed with a credit card called Visa that guarantees not only his identity but also his economic worth; that is, his credit-worthiness? Why do these have to be counter-checked by a tax-funded bureaucRAT (white-skinned) in an embassy? These embassy-based visa bureaucRATS - the rudest of their ilk on the planet - are the cause of all these scams.

Let us not entertain arguments over "community" and how immigrants "do not integrate" themselves into this mythical social entity. The urban market economy has nothing to do with community; rather, it is individualistic. Immigrants must integrate themselves in the "division of labour" alone, and it can never be reasonably expected of them that they must integrate themselves with a mythic host community.

Further, the chief advantage of the urban market catallaxy is that it enables gainful trades between complete strangers. As tourism is the world's largest industry these days, more strangers in every nation is a great idea, for it would give this great industry - which is all about holidays and good times - a boost.

The real reasons for the continuation of the passport-visa regime by Western nations lie elsewhere - in their desire to keep out cheap labour, in order to favour trade unions. This backfires on them - as with every single instance of interventionism - for their own citizens cannot consume labour services any more; no more gardeners and maids for them. And their exports dwindle too - because high labour costs make them uncompetitive.

If we look at the Western nations of Europe - they are all linguistically homogeneous, excepting Switzerland. This homogeneity made them nation-states, nothing else. Thus they came by nationalistic chauvinism. And proceeded to hate "outsiders." Hitler was the worst of the lot - but there are many others, from Enoch Powell (see his "rivers of blood" speech) in Britain to Jean-Marie Le Pen's Shiv Sena-like anti-outsiderism in France.

In India, every city is a melting-pot - there are multiple communities, multiple languages, multiple religions. Let us endeavour to keep things that way. In our neighbouring area, there are lots and lots of poor people, who want to come here for various reasons: to work and integrate in the division of labour - like the ubiquitous Nepali chowkidar; to obtain medical attention - as with Afghanis and Africans; or to get themselves some educational "degree" - as with many youngsters from Africa and the Middle East; and finally, as genuine tourists. I would insist that they do not hurt us in any way by coming into our country. 

So let them come freely. Let us be the first to dismantle this horrendous passport-visa regime created by the West - as an example to them. 

The Mughal Emperor was also called Jehanpanah or "Refuge of the World" - and this was "fiscally rational" policy, because if someone escaped the clutches of the Shah of Persia and settled in Mughal territory, the Mughal Exchequer would gain. What better way to tax Bangladeshis other than letting them settle freely in India? To spend tax revenues to keep prospective taxpayers out - which is what the West is doing these days - is "irrational." It is absurd. And it goes against the "sentiment" engraved upon an international monument.

The poem by Emma Lazarus inscribed on the Statue of Liberty in New York is titled The New Colossus, and goes thus: 

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land,
Here at our sea-washed, sunset-gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome, her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin-cities frame.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she,

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore;
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

The Statue itself was a gift from the people of France. The money was raised through holding a public lottery - that is, it was built on gambling money.

In the meantime, The USSA is no longer the "golden door": since Nixon, the US dollar remains just paper debt piling up and losing value with every passing day. When you read debates over free immigration there, the only defenders of the regime are those who wish to avail themselves "social security benefits" while denying these to outsiders.

Reminds me of the story of the first Muslims of this world, who fled with their Prophet from Mecca to Medina. There, the local inhabitants rushed out to greet them, offering every hospitality - and even the Prophet encouraged this bonhomie, saying, "Fraternise in Allah."

But these, the first Muslims, would have none of it, and said, in one voice:

Show us the Way to the Market,

And we will make our Way by Working.

Who the fuck wants "social security" from some foreign State anyway?

Central Asia, once part of the USSR, has disintegrated today - and each nation-state has established its own passport-visa regime, thereby hurting traditional itinerant businessmen. No more "Silk Route."

Yes, the passport-visa regime must go - and Indyeah should take the lead.

Policeman Of My Own Soul

In his excellent travelogue through the Holy Land, From the Holy Mountain, William Dalrymple tells the unlikely story of a Greek monk he met in a monastery in the deserts of Judaea, who told him that he had been a policeman back in Greece, that he had quit his job and said goodbye to all his friends and relatives, and had retired here to be "the policeman of his own soul."

Brought to mind something I read the other day in Cato's Letters, published by two "independent Whigs" in London in the 1720s, John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon. The particular essay from which the following quote has been extracted is titled "Arbitrary government proved incompatible with true Religion, whether Natural or Revealed":

Happiness is the chief End of Man, and the saving of his Soul is his chief Happiness; so that every Man is most concerned for his own Soul, and more than any other can be:  And if no Obstruction be thrown in his Way, he will for the most part do all in his Power for his own Salvation, and will certainly do it best; and when he had done all that he can, he has done all that he ought: People cannot be saved by Force...

Yes, the world is corrupt - and India even more so. As for me, I wish to stay far, far away from all this corruption - and save my own Soul from it.

Policeman of my own Soul - that's me.

Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done - On Earth (Heaven Can Wait)

The other morning, I awoke to the sound of the muezzin's call of prayer - Allah ho Akbar, which means "God is Great."

And it struck me that this does not mean "The State is Great."

Similarly, the Lord's Prayer which asks for God's Will to be done on Earth, laments the fact that down here, only men rule - arbitrarily and unjustly - and not God. The prayer asks for His Will to rule down here.

What is God's Will?

Frederic Bastiat, a devout Catholic, answered correctly when he wrote:

To believe in Liberty is to believe in God - and have faith in His creation: Man.

Man is "naturally honest." There are thieves and pickpockets - but they are a minority. In India, the State Police rob street vendors of their surpluses: huftha. They do not "maintain order." The order we see every day exists only because the vast majority are naturally honest.

Similarly, Adam Smith's "invisible hand" is nothing but the Hand of God - and he believed in "natural religion."

How does this invisible hand work?

As Smith said, all of us have been blessed by our Divine Creator with "a natural propensity to truck, barter and exchange." We are born to trade. Little children can be seen trading: Give me a bite of your chocolate and I'll give you a sip of my cola. This is their "natural propensity" at work. Because we are all possessed of this propensity, we specialise in the market economy's "division of labour" and exchange our surpluses for the surpluses of others. All these surpluses constitute our wealth. This is the way the "wealth of nations" is created.

This natural propensity to trade includes the "natural justice" of Property - for even the little child knows the difference between "mine" and "thine." It is because of this innate "sense of justice" that our bustling bazaars exhibit perfect order - a "natural order." We are all "rule-following" animals - and the basic rule we all follow is the Inviolability of Property.

If we want God's Will to rule over us, then the "artificial order" of State Power - tariffs, legislation, and the rest - must be dumped. Then, God will rule - not arbitrary men.

Bastiat penned an essay distinguishing "natural order" from "artificial order." Socialists and "social engineers" aim for an "artificial order," he said. This is why they despise the institution of Private Property. Under them, the Law becomes a thief - because the law violates Property: land acquisition, nationalisation, legislation, regulation, interventionism, immigration controls - the visa-passport regime - etc.

Further, only when Property is Inviolable, will we be possessed of Liberty. Then, the ganja farmer will be the Proprietor of his fields - and his crop will not be destroyed by State Agents "empowered" by arbitrary Legislation, which embodies the "will of a few."

This is the Freedom our ancestors fought for but could never attain, because all that the CONgress gave them was The State. It is time we realised that The State is nothing but the negation of Liberty. To be free means nothing other than to be free from State interference.

In my earlier post, I spoke of mayors who are themselves merchants running cities and towns independently using locally raised resources, presiding over the natural order of the urban catallaxy. It is noteworthy that the motto of the Olde City of London is Domini Dirige Nos - which translates to "Let God be our Guide." To achieve this, they did the obvious - and kept their king out of their City.

We must therefore beware of businessmen who depend on State Power - the cronies of the establishment. The natural order is about laissez faire. This is the "Anarchy of Competition."

Thus, if your "ship comes in" and you prosper, you say Subhaan Allah.

And if your business fails you say Insha Allah - and try your hand at some other business.

That is, you "submit" to the Will of God - and Islam means "submission." In a market economy, we all must "adjust our conduct" to the conditions of the market.

If you, on the other hand, ask The State to use its powers of compulsion and coercion to prevent your business from failing, then you will be inviting The Devil to interfere in human affairs - and the Kingdom of God will be blown away. The Devil will then manipulate the market for your benefit - while causing losses to all others: the people, the consumers, your customers. Dylan is the one who got it absolutely right when he sang:

It may be the Devil,
Or it may be the Lord,
But you gotta serve somebody.

In the market, if you want to serve the Lord, all you gotta serve is the Customer.

I have often told students that street vendors perform "social service" and are in reality "social workers."

This is the only social work we need - and "social justice" is bull. It is actually injustice - because it is financed by inflation and taxation. Do read the second volume of Friedrich Hayek's Law, Legislation & Liberty, which is titled "The Mirage of Social Justice."

In the natural order of the urban catallaxy, there is "natural justice" - Property, Contracts and Torts. This is all "private law." This is the pathway to a Kingdom of God on this earth we inhabit. We have rules - but we have no rulers, other than God, whom everyone worships in his own way.

Natural religion.

Natural law.

Natural justice.

Natural order.