The God of the Machine - Tranche 22

Posted by mshupe 9 months, 2 weeks ago to History
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Chapter XI, Excerpt 1 of 3
The Meaning of the Magna Carta

The long energy circuit of the church, its connections with Rome, was maintained in money. This could not have happened any other way. The church was in a dangerous intermediate position, being interlocked with feudalism by the system of land tenure on its immense properties, while in doctrine it asserted the primary principle of contract. By King John’s time a considerable share of the customary feudal services dues had been converted into cash fees.

Thus, the king could raise and subsist an army composed of men detached from regional bases, fragments of dislocated mass, into which the kinetic energy of the nation was diverted. King John had such a mercenary army as indicated by the clause of the Charter requiring him to “remove out of the kingdom all foreign knights.” In fact, the document was drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury and dignitaries of the Church. The first clause exacts that “the English Church shall be free.”

Next the interest of the feudal aristocracy was to be guarded against the royal or central power by leaving the assessment of cash fees and extraordinary “aids” to the “common council of the kingdom.” The general purpose was to prevent the gradual expropriation of small holders by the lords of manors, and of the lords by the king. That is, to maintain the regional bases against central authority and the individual bases against the regional authorities.


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  • Posted by 9 months, 2 weeks ago
    "The church was in a dangerous intermediate position, being interlocked with feudalism by the system of land tenure on its immense properties." - Here is a fresh take on how the Age of Reason was encroaching on the power of the Catholic Church, and religion in general, and threatening to extinguish it. The task remains undone.
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    • Posted by j_IR1776wg 9 months, 2 weeks ago
      yes the Magna Charta led directly to the first Amendment; "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." which empowered the individual's right to choose his religious beliefs.

      The control exercised over the individual then by the Catholic Church has been largely taken over now by the secular Elites i.e. Environmentalists or bureaucrats like Dr. Fauci.
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      • Posted by 9 months, 2 weeks ago
        Yes, very good, and it's interesting that separation of church and state didn't include economy and state. Of course, that was far too much to expect. As this book explains so well, America had to exist for the industrial revolution to alter social realities. Dominant philosophy has never caught up.
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      • Posted by 9 months, 2 weeks ago
        From the For What it's Worth Department, there may be an essential intermediary between the Magna Carta and the First Amendment. That would be the Articles of Capitulation negotiated by the Dutch colonists in their surrender of Manhattan to the English. These were later extended into New York City charter (formerly New Netherland): "The Towne of Manhatans shall choose Deputyes and those Deputyes shall have free Voyces in all Publique affaires."
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        • Posted by j_IR1776wg 9 months, 2 weeks ago
          Interesting idea - is there an idea or concept circuit that runs parallel to the energy circuit?
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          • Posted by 9 months, 2 weeks ago
            If the concrete manifestation of the energy circuit is money - the free flow of capital, I think the concrete manifestation of abstract ideas is the price discovery mechanism of free markets.
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