The God of the Machine - Tranche 48
Posted by mshupe 7 months, 1 week ago to Government
Chapter XXII, Excerpt 1 of 2
The Energy Circuit in Wartime
War is a large-scale demonstration of the nature of government as a mechanism and its relation to the flow of energy. Though production is the true measure of military power, a total estimate may be even more misleading. The war strength of a nation is generally computed in manpower and armament. They always fail; the inherent reason why they must fail is not perceived. Hence nations and empires of long duration are always those of a civilian character, and always “seem” to be unready for war.
In its military resources, the Roman republic was five hundred years ahead of feudalism; there was just enough trade and money to permit centralized command, and a wider radius of action. When national revenue is derived from trade, as in the Roman and the British empire, conscription ceases to be practicable. The most demoralizing condition for a professional army is to be involved or used, or to believe that it is being used, by internal factions of its own country.
Money is the medium of a contract society. The army is a co-efficient of the commercial system; its effectiveness is found in its mobility, speed, discipline, and constant readiness. No state can make good conquest over a nation of higher production; it will be undone by victory if not by defeat. The interest of the citizen soldier is that of a man who has left a job and property. The citizen army fights for a definite cause, which is thought to be attainable by the war. If the cause disappears, the army dissolves.
The Energy Circuit in Wartime
War is a large-scale demonstration of the nature of government as a mechanism and its relation to the flow of energy. Though production is the true measure of military power, a total estimate may be even more misleading. The war strength of a nation is generally computed in manpower and armament. They always fail; the inherent reason why they must fail is not perceived. Hence nations and empires of long duration are always those of a civilian character, and always “seem” to be unready for war.
In its military resources, the Roman republic was five hundred years ahead of feudalism; there was just enough trade and money to permit centralized command, and a wider radius of action. When national revenue is derived from trade, as in the Roman and the British empire, conscription ceases to be practicable. The most demoralizing condition for a professional army is to be involved or used, or to believe that it is being used, by internal factions of its own country.
Money is the medium of a contract society. The army is a co-efficient of the commercial system; its effectiveness is found in its mobility, speed, discipline, and constant readiness. No state can make good conquest over a nation of higher production; it will be undone by victory if not by defeat. The interest of the citizen soldier is that of a man who has left a job and property. The citizen army fights for a definite cause, which is thought to be attainable by the war. If the cause disappears, the army dissolves.
And then consider this excerpt from Atlas Shrugged, "Money is the scourge of the men who attempt to reverse the law of causality–the men who seek to replace the mind by seizing the products of the mind. Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil. That sentence is the leper’s bell of an approaching looter. Then the race goes, not to the ablest at production, but to those most ruthless at brutality."
Their failure can be measured by the number of survivors and the prosperity of those survivors. Those most brutal will never be happy until the Earth is as lifeless as the Moon.
Yes, but only for those who choose to think.