Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.
This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

• Romans 13:1-7

“Born in the French region of Savoy, which was then part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, Joseph de Maistre was a lawyer and political philosopher. He was a ruling senator when the French revolutionary army invaded Savoy in 1792, and was forced to flee. He became a passionate counter-revolutionary. Mankind was inherently weak and sinful, he declared, and the dual powers of monarch and God were essential to social order. In On the Pope (1819), De Maistre argues that government should be in the hands of a single authority figure, ideally linked to religion, such as the pope.”

• Sam Atkinson (senior editor), The Philosophy Book, Big Ideas Simply Explained

Joseph de Maistre, a.k.a. Joseph Marie, Comte de Maistre (1753-1851) was a French lawyer, political philosopher, diplomat, and magistrate.  His self-imposed exile was to ingratiate himself with some other principality.  He went to Turin, Italy where he had gotten his law degree, but they rejected him.  He returned to France and found it appalling.  Lausanne, Switzerland accepted him marginally.  Then it was to Venice and then Cagliari.  But as the French army took Turin, he again realigned himself with the French, becoming the ambassador to the tsar of Russia.  His writings as the ambassador were said to have been used by Leo Tolstoy as background information on the royal family for the novel, War and Peace.

Note: The photo above is of a room in the Linderhof Palace in Bavaria. Mad King Ludwig II of Bavaria would entertain Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI in a room adjacent to this one. The only problem was that both of those members of the French Royalty had lost their heads about 100 years beforehand. I did say he was “Mad” King Ludwig II…

Last week and this week have both been philosophical contributions, or insanity, revolving around politics and the French Revolution.  Last week, we discussed Nicolas de Condorcet who was pro-revolution, but it backfired when he disagreed with the rewrite of the new Constitution and went to prison where he died.  Here, in typical lawyer fashion, he profits even though he was opposed to the revolution.

To his favor, he pointed out that mankind is prone to follow their sinful nature, and they need someone who is answerable to God to run things, like the pope.  This was during the times of the Papacy where the Papal States were ruled by the pope as the government.  This ended in 1870.  But there was a great deal of problems from that rule, excesses, rule by force, and wars.

His own argument should be his reason to move toward the American Constitution and away from a single person.  A pope or someone like him can fall prey to their sinful nature, especially with the power that position yields.  It happened many times in the Papacy.  The same kinds of problems were why the French Revolution occurred.  One person with absolute power, only answerable to God, has failure written all over it.

The modern movement of some far-left voices in American government complain about how hard it is to make change.  But the idea of the sinful nature of mankind is exactly why the founding fathers wrote those checks and balances into the Constitution.  If you find ways around those checks and balances, you get the abuse of power as was seen in the French Revolution.  Maybe if Nicolas de Condorcet had been able to get his constitution approved before the power struggle among the rebels went toward the Montagnards, the problems that they faced that led to Napoleon’s Empire might have never happened.

If you like these Tuesday morning essays about philosophy and other “heavy topics,” but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Tuesday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.