Legal Positivism In Defence: Authoritarianism Compatible With Liberalism

Authoritarianism is often regarded as the antinomy of Liberalism. However, some Liberalist philosophers such as Jeremy Bentham regarded highly of the existence of the rational authority as a core intermediary body of mediating the whole individuals and their society. This rational authority must exist as a public good deserving for all individuals with a fair judgement.

Furthermore, in order to ensure the fairness and the consistency of legal civil codes provided for all individuals, it requires some form of a central body. The antinomy of this existence is considered to be the customary law such as British and American Common law, the customary law of the United Nation (UN), and various tribal legal codes having existed in the pre-Roman period.

Many Liberalists, especially those supporting Classical-Liberalism and Libertarianism, tend to affirm that the customary/natural law is a more liberalist legal structure because of its decentralised form. However, the incompatible aspect of the customary/natural law is that it is very often influenced by the moral entrepreneurs such as religious and populist zealots. This might conversely induce illberal moral policies and oppressions toward the minorities.

Moreover, the judgement of the customary/natural is frequently influenced by the intelligence and the social power of the interpreters such as the lawyers. More powerful the lawyers are, more chances for defendants/plaintiffs to win the court case. Therefore, these individuals with more significant physical wealth and social status are more likely to take a significantly higher advantage regardless of their ethical and legal justifiability.

On the other hand, Legal Positivism propped up by the consistent civil codes prevents the moral monopoly by moral entrepreneurs. These legal codes are created under the consensus of individuals in a society to functionalise their fair social contracts. It is usually designed for providing all individuals with the fair judgements verified by a single public body existing as a public good deserving for all individuals regardless of their physical wealth and social status.

Another concern is that there is still a very high risk that an authoritarianism leads to an illiberal characteristics. The key point which distinguishes these two kinds of authoritarianism is whether it is the rule by law or the rule by persons. Socialists especially those supporting the orthodox Marxism tend to undermine the importance of the rule by law because they condemn the law as the bourgeoisie ideological production protecting their interests.

The orthodox Marxian perspective has originally started to elect the proletariat dictatorship deserving for a majority, the party of these proletariats are prone to the seduction to corruption unless there is any outside intervention correcting their actions. The wealthy and privileged elites may have an advantage to gain the power even under the rule by law ensuring fairness and moderation. But, this is not directly caused by how the law exists: It is simply the case that the wealthy and socially privileged individuals are more able to be advantageous regardless of any legal structure.

Montesquieu, in his book Spirit of the Laws, insisted that the republic providing individual citizens with equality and fairness requires the law as a social model for individuals to comply with. The more illiberal authoritarianism, the less significant of the law is because the rule exists for the only selected number of individuals enjoying their privileges.

The mistake of the old socialism such as the orthodox Marxism is defying the existence of law by replacing it with the rule by persons. Under this rule by persons, the proletariat party members in this case, the inequality furthermore expands in this rule dominated by the proletariat government than those liberal democratic nations with the rule by law.

In order to keep the fair third person's view, the rule by law implemented by a consistent form which is detached from any interest of a particular group of individuals. The civil code should exist as the pure intermediary structure which is created under the strong consensus among individuals cohabiting together.

Designing Grumman F-14 Tomcat

Designing Grumman F-14 Tomcat

F-14 is fabulous for its design, strength, purpose of its use, and worth considering its restoration nowadays. Its shape form including its variable-sweep wing is simply so cool. This variable-sweep enables an air-fighter to effectively manoeuvre itself well.

Nowadays, due to the further development of detection technology, the stealth is no longe so useful. Therefore, an advantage of visible combats has now become a high initiative so the re-incarnation of Grumman F-14 Tomcat is indeed worth off!

Nanoka Hara 20220502

 My mental stamina has gradually come back enough to enable me to start painting again. .... still needing a rehab.

Just slightly different from the top.

 

 Just slightly different from the top.

Combined with some leftover of the base-layer

Synthesis and Conceptualism

 

According to a certain historical perspective , social progress is derived from the aftermath of the conflict of two opposing ideological forces.  When the thesis of the status-quo is challenged by its antithesis, through their conflict, the new contradictory ideal, the synthesis eventually arises. 

The synthesis often sounds like facing a logical contradiction at its emerging state: This is something neither A nor no-A by means of the mathematical logics.  However, such as in mathematics, there are several elements like something neither A nor No-A when their fundamental criterion such as mathematical axiom varies their existence.  For instance, where the real numbers R (A) and 0 (0R), the nothingness of A (zero R i.e. No-A), exist, there are the infinity (R (A) divided by 0R: Their composition becomes neither R nor 0R) as well as the complex number (the root of negative R transforming it to neither R nor 0R) by the mathematical rule based on the axiom. The mathematical axiom verification enables their existence.

In terms of social science and ethics (political philosophy), this statement holds whereas the pure reasoning based on the pure logics without the ethical principle often neglects focusing on the synthesis because it is imply judged as contradiction. By contrast, by following the ethical principle as an individuals' guideline leading themselves by correcting their pathway, it may eventually guide them to something optimum to achieve their ethical ideal.

It does not have to be perfect as their pathway can be fluctuating and often deviating from their guideline principle. Nevertheless, it is important for not only politics and social ethics but also each individual's business and career plan to stick to their initial motivation and life-long dream. Whenever there is an exogenous force or an endogenous change caused by natural phenomena and/or oppressive antagonistic forces, the guideline principle corrects their pathway. 

 

It is neither the realism (accepting the reality as it is) nor the idealism (expecting the perfect ideal state to be accomplished): It is the conceptualism offering a feasible concept in the terrestrial world even it is not perfect as what the idealists claim for. Individuals' pathway in their own private life and their social activity participation can be drifting in their imperfect shape. However, this imperfection encourages these individuals to discover their own optimum way to make them happy while referring to the ethical principle as their guideline.

Overall, human society must keep evolving to tackle with various issues challenging individuals and their surrounding environments. The external transcendental super-being such as one called the unmovable mover, our creator, God, or something else in someone's own language defines the existing terrestrial beings as imperfect to encourage them to exert their own power of solving their problems and improve themselves as well as their surrounding environments with their own struggles.  At the same time, it defines some criteria required for survival and improvement which are taught and retained as the wisdom for a relative long term. Thus, the concept based on discovery and wisdom may work as a hint for individuals to achieve the transcendental synthesis of their social interests.

The paradigm of the crypto-currency market changed 180 degree since about a half decade ago.

Very interesting for me! When I read a blog "The text book for being rich (Ironic name as the author says lol )" more than a half decade ago, I learned that Bitcoin could be a new alternative to Gold because of their similarities such as the supply limitation determining their price. However. the paradigm of the crypto-currency market changed 180 degree since about a half decade ago.

The supply of Bitcoin has the diminishing return because the supply is determined the overall CPU capability of all the computers participating in this blockchain network.  In another word, it cannot be simply printed of thin air like the fiat-currencies.  Therefore, these market participants used to think that, even though these crypto-currencies do not have their own precise physical forms, they were thought as though they had it. Therefore, many professionals including the author of this book suggested to treat the crypto-currency as an inflation hedge. 

Nevertheless, the paradigm has drastically changed since various other kinds of the crypto-currencies were introduced to the market so that Bitcoin has become far less scarce as it used to be since then.  Instead of the supply scarcity, the speculative demand has started to be far more influential on the crypto-currencies. 

The price inflation goes up when the capital market is heated up with extra confidence in investment more than saving. By contrast, the market falls into the deflation when the confidence goes down so that the market participants start preferring much safer assets than the volatile crypto-currencies.  Therefore, the crypto-currency value change is recently positively correlated. 

All in all, the correlation between the crypto-currencies have suddenly and drastically changed from negative to positive!   

 

Re-evaluating Charles De Gaulle

 

The first president of the fifth republic of France Charles De Gaulle is indeed a remarkable figure having led France to maintaining her stead economic and political position as an autonomous modern developed nation as well as a key European Union (EU) member state with her significant influence on the entire union. Yet, his policies were often controversial and received some negative feedbacks from various political factions including socialists, those supporting more Anglo-Saxon style free market socioeconomic policies, and the former French colonial states. At the same time, not only French citizens but also EU citizens would not be able to keep having their influence over the world politics without the current French political power having been grown since De Gaulle administration. While France is currently on the verge of determinig her future pathway. 

After enormous fatigues and scars of wars and the loss of French colonies after the World War II (WW2), France has lost her influence and power as a sovereign state in the world. The United State of America (USA) rose up as the newly arising super power together with her strong ideology of liberal democracy and capitalism. At the same time, the United Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) also strengthened their influence and power over the world politics with their hardcore socialist ideological principle. France selected the alternative of being France as a unique state prevented from becoming a loyal satellite state of neither the USA nor the USSR.  Thus, France needed her own strength of being as independent influential modern state as well as leading the newly formed union of European nations, the EU, in the world politics. Charles De Gaulle thus determined to implement a unique controversial policies attempting to deserve the majority French and EU citizens. 

 

- Controversial interventionist economic policy

Firstly, De Gaulle administration decided to keep the market economy itself whereas it adopted the state's positive intervention to it as well as a high proportion of the state's owned public sector firms. In another word, France selected a pragmatic choice not ideologically being tied to a particular socioeconomic policy like a staunch dogmatic socialism or an Anglo-Saxon style wild capitalism.

There are some negative effects of the contemporary French economic policy. A government may have mistake of judging how the business cycle moves to determine the degree and the characteristics of their intervention. A huge market share of the state ownership of various industrial categories such as manufacturing industries and financial industries hinders a spontaneous economic growth based on the active and fair competition. 

Nevertheless, for the contemporary France, it was inevitable to install such an economic policy to enable French own national brand by protecting it from losing to a competition with their strong competitors such as the USA, Japan. and neighbouring West-Germany. It is equivalent to the development dictatorship adopted to some contemporary emerging developing nations such as Singapore and South Korea. Although France was already a developed Western nation, she was under a constant threat of losing her initiative in the world economy. Therefore, France was required to have a strong intervention lead by one rational public authority gathering a group of educated and experienced elites to conduct her national economic policy planning as same as these emerging developing nations.

 

- Independent Nuclear Research and Development (R&D)

As the contemporary period, those satellite nations of both the USA and the USSR implemented the joint R&D of their nuclear technology with their suzerain either the USA or the USSR. The USA was the first nation invented the nuclear power generation and weapon, and the USSR followed to invent their own ones (although some have argued it could be their self-proclaimed). 

Charles De Gaulle has insisted on proceeding the own nuclear technological R&D led by French government and higher educational institutes because he had predicted that owning France's own nuclear technology will be the key to take the initiative in the world politics. Furthermore, nuclear power generation provides both France and the entire EU with the far more efficient alternative electricity generation to the conventional electric power generations. This initiative has encouraged France to take a lead of the EU as the main supplier of the electricity. 

Regarding this nuclear R&D, there has also been strong negative feedback especially from the anti-nuclear advocates and the former French colonials. De Gaulle administration tested their nuclear bombs in their former colonial lands which hugely disappointed the indigenous citizens there. Moreover, their own R&D with their own effort certainly involved the victims of the radioactive pollution of the nuclear accidents.  There is an inevitably high risk of nuclear contamination permanently harming the health of these individuals while testing and repairing their nuclear apparatus and clearing the radioactive mess. 

On the other hand, in terms of the health hazard risk per electric power generation, with comparison to the conventional fossil fuel based thermal power generation, the nuclear power generation is relatively far less harmful for individuals. For example, the ratio of individuals' health hazard risk per electric power generation is way higher for the counterpart fuelled with fossil fuels. In addition, France would have had to import a massive amount of fossil fuels from abroad which would perpetuate France's dependency on the other nations. 

By contrast, France has prevented herself from being reliant on and easily manipulated by foreign nations after securing her own self-reliant electric power generation source. All in all, even with high financial, environmental, and ethical cost, the benefit paid off for France is substantially higher. In another word, the fundamental political decision of De Gaulle administration accomplished "The greatest sum of pleasures with the lowest sum of pains as the principle of moral and legislation". 

Having observed these examples of De Gaulle administration, the achievements and the assets of De Gaulle administration are undoubtedly remarkable despite controversies.  The EU needs France for various French advantages including the economic and political initiative backed up by her own nuclear technology available to offer for the EU.  Also, France needs the EU membership with a huge initiative to use the EU as her leverage of expanding her economic and political influences as a key member with a high initiative there. De Gaulle administration initially paved this pathway to enable both France and he EU to secure their initiative. Hence. under such a current political havoc, it may be productive to recall and re-evaluate Charles De Gaulle and his achievement.