The Worldly Philosophers, Vol.1, Number 5 May 6, 2007 THE Worldly Philosophers Club For Individualists Who Seek Worldly Wisdom

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A GRAND OLD TRADITION AT THE ROMAN FORUM  By Mark Skousen   "No community has a right to force another to be civilized."       -- John Stuart Mill        Today I am in Rome, Italy, as co-host (along with Alex Green) of a Grand Tour of Europe.  Along with 30 other subscribers, we are visiting France, Italy and Sicily.  We've had a great time touring museums, checking out the bookstores, and attending concerts.  We stayed at a chateau surrounded by a moat, listened to a powerful rendition of Vivaldi's Four Seasons in Venice, and saw Michaelangelo's sculpture of David, one of the wonders of the art world.  It's the kind of thing a worldly philosopher would do. But today is special -- to stand at the Roman Forum where for over 1000 years Rome ruled the world, and where Cato, Cicero and other voices of liberty spoke out against tyranny and warned of impending economic and political storms.  I brought with me a first edition of a classic book called "The New Deal in Old Rome," by historian H. J. Haskell (Knopf, 1939), who quotes Cicero on "true" or "natural" law (this was before Rome became corrupt):       "True law is right reason consonant with nature, world-wide in scope, unchanging and everlasting.....We may not oppose or alter that law, we cannot abolish it, we cannot be freed from its obligations by any legislature....This law does not differ for Rome and for Athens, for the present and for the future, but one eternal and unchanging law will be valid for all nations and all times....He who disobeys it denies himself and his own nature." A Tradition Started by John Stuart Mill.... Standing at the Roman Forum, I am reminded of a story about John Stuart Mill.  In January, 1855, he and his beloved wife Harriet Taylor, came to Rome on a tour that took them to Italy, Sicily and Greece.  On the steps of the Roman Forum, Mill was inspired to write a book which he called "On Liberty," which was published in 1859.  It is considered by experts to be "the single most eloquent, most significant, and most influential statement of human individuality" ever written.   Then one hundred years later Friedrich Hayek, the great Austrian economist and political thinker, came to Rome with his wife Helene, and influenced by Mill, felt inspired to write a similar book, which was published in 1960 under the title "The Constitution of Liberty."  This book was become a political classic and has been translated into many languages.   .....and the tradition continues. Today my wife Jo Ann and I stood on the steps of the Roman Forum.  I did not announce that I would be writing a book on liberty, but I did hold up a pamphlet called "Persuasion vs. Force," which Jo Ann and I authored in 1992 in Liberty magazine.  I handed a copy to everyone in attendance.   In this pamphlet, we quoted Plato, who said, "The creation of the world is the victory of persuasion over force... Civilization is the maintenance of social order, by its own inherent persuasiveness as embodying the nobler alternative. The recourse to force, however unavoidable, is a disclosure of the failure of civilization, either in the general society or in a remnant of individuals... "Now the intercourse between individuals and between social groups takes one of these two forms: force or persuasion. Commerce is the great example of intercourse by way of persuasion. War, slavery, and governmental compulsion exemplify the reign of force." We came to this new political creed: The triumph of persuasion over force is the sign of a civilized society. We then listed many examples where governments have passed too many laws and raised taxes too often, a violation of this political creed.  I went on to say this: Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, "Taxation is the price we pay for civilization." But isn't the opposite really the case? Taxation is the price we pay for failing to build a civilized society. The higher the tax level, the greater the failure. A centrally planned totalitarian state represents a complete defeat for the civilized world, while a totally voluntary society represents its ultimate success. If you would like to read this pamphlet, go to www.mskousen.com/Books/PvF/pvftext.html.   Good living, AEIOU, Marcus Aurelius P. S.  I'm delighted by your response to my invitation to attend the first conference for worldly philosophers:  FreedomFest, July 5-7, in Las Vegas.  7 themes, 77 speakers, and already over 700 signed up!  Please join us, will you?  I should mention that we are very close to filling up our room block at $97 each, so I urge you to call Tami Holland right away, 1 866 266 5101, to sign up.  Or go to www.freedomfest.com.  See you in Vegas on 7-7-7!