The Perilous Journey of Ionian Virtues — Part 1
'For the real question is whether the brighter future is really always so distant. What if, on the contrary, it has been here for a long time already, and only our own blindness and weakness has prevented us from seeing it around us and within us, and kept us from developing it?' – Vaclav Havel
'One could not move, one could not even dream; it was dangerous to give any sign of thought -- of the fact that you were not afraid; on the contrary, you were required to show that you were scared, trembling, even when there was no real ground for it' – Gleb Ouspensky
Origins of Self-governance. Long ago, on an island in the Aegean Sea called Ionia1, a band of exiles developed a form of governance known as 'isonomia'. It means 'law for all', in practice participation by all regardless of status. Each clan in Ancient Greece had its own household gods. When the clans outgrew their tribal origins and merged into a polis, they realized one clan's household gods could not command obedience from another clan. Some overarching philosophy of allegiance had to be developed to tie them all together. Without dethroning each clan's household gods, the multi-clan governance system had to give everyone a voice regardless of their position in the clan hierarchy.
The political philosopher Kojin Karatani2 suggests that governance on Ionia blended practices of both clan and polis, the main feature of which was continuous participation by everyone. In the natural philosophy of the day, constant motion of things, stars, and ideas, as well as people was considered natural. The Ionians were exiles, after all, so a dynamic (though not relativistic) philosophy suited them. Ionian virtues, including isonomia, made their way to the Greek mainland, where they influenced Athenian democracy, Roman Imperial integration of conquered territories, and subsequent governance philosophy and practice down through to the contemporary era.
Ionian Virtues in America. Many years later, another band of exiles sought in the New World of North America a home for their own individual freedom, governance by consent of the governed, unfettered commerce and industry, and a live-and-let-live style of personal relations.They valued common-sense and natural rights, believing the laws of Nature and the laws of political association to be likewise matters of discovery and not invention. Having experienced King George's interference in all their affairs, they determined that such intrusions would not be tolerated, and that the personal relations of a citizenry informed by a free press and free speech would be self–regulated. This was the philosophical foundation of the new nation of America, a tradition so ancient it appeared natural to the Founders.
Tocqueville3 noticed in the early 19th century the American people's talent for spontaneous self-governance, in such forms as the town meeting, and in the multitude of voluntary associations that grew up in every new settlement. Unfortunately for the new nation, these principles and practices did not include slaves; it took a devastating Civil War to end slavery and begin to integrate former slaves into the commonwealth. Along the frontier of Westward expansion, more exiles brought their own versions of Ionian virtues to small-town America. And these fractally replicated in all kinds of voluntary associations, from 4-H clubs to town meetings, local business firms, schools, and the numerous subsidiaries that make up a dynamic and decentralized commonwealth.
The Ionian virtues of small-town America struggled against oligopolistic tendencies in the late 19th and early 20th century that concentrated economic and political power. Steel, railroads, oil, and finance which had fueled economic growth also produced vast riches for a few. The Federal Government responded by breaking up these agglomerations, meanwhile preempting State and local revenue with a Federal income tax. Finance, banking, and economy likewise came under Federal control with the Federal Reserve, which was and is actually a small group of private bankers endowed with the power to print money and set interest rates. This effectively removed economic and monetary policy from Congress and entrusted it to financiers, with enormous repercussions that would reverberate through the rest of the century and beyond. War and its aftermath brought science and education under Federal control, for national security. While each of these developments followed its own logic of national welfare, collectively they dimmed the prospects of a sovereign self-governing citizenry, and subjected its prosperity to progressively greater stress from an intrusive Federal bureaucracy. … to be continued
[Full essay in Isonomia Quarterly]
Featured on front page of Real Clear History, March 7, 2024.
2 Isonomia and the Origins of Philosophy: https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/4/monograph/chapter/2523839
3 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/815 and https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/816 (free download).