Proverbs for Politicians

Ancient wisdom for those who would affect public policy.

Pro 8:12  “I, wisdom, have dwelt with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion. 

Pro 8:13  The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; I hate arrogant pride and the evil way and perverse utterances. 

Pro 8:14  Counsel and sound wisdom belong to me; I possess understanding and might. 

Pro 8:15  By me kings reign, and by me potentates decree righteousness; 

Pro 8:16  by me princes rule, as well as nobles and all righteous judges. 

So, who wants power? Who wants to change who is in power? Who wants to change how our country operates? According to Solomon, Wisdom is necessary. So let's pay attention to the relevant proverbs.

Pro 14:34  Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people. 

The U.S. flies the Rainbow of Abominations flag around the world. The U.S. loses ignominiously to the Taliban. Powers great and small challenge U.S. dominance. The Petrodollar is dying. World War III is brewing. Coincidence? Or prophecy fulfilled?

Pro 16:12  Doing wickedness is an abomination to kings, because a throne is established in righteousness. 

Pro 17:15  The one who acquits the guilty and the one who condemns the innocent – both of them are an abomination to the LORD. 

Pro 17:26  It is terrible to punish a righteous person, and to flog honorable men is wrong.

I think it is fair to say that the current governments of the Anglosphere in general have lost the Mandate of Heaven bigly. Opportunity knocks for the faction which dials the wickedness back to acceptable levels.

At this point Robert Heinlein's prediction of Nehemiah Scudder overthrowing the U.S. government and and becoming Lord Protector is looking rather less bad than it once did. But I'd rather have something more liberty-compatible. This is not the Holy Land, and Christians do not have a mandate to enforce the full set of Christian morals on unbelievers. But given how we have governments that actively promotes sodomy, an economic and education system which discourages timely marriage, and children walking around with portable pornographs, political action on the morals front is in order.

There are many steps in the libertarian/enlightenment direction which lead to a more moral society than the one we have. We could prepare people for adulthood in public schools instead of stretching childhood well past puberty. We could end the pro-poof social engineering. We could restore a bit of freedom of association, so Christian bakers need not participate in pagan or demonic rituals. And we could make our criminal justice system less hellish by borrowing some of the more merciful bits of Old Testament Law -- a subject we will explore in depth later in this Rule.

But before we get ahead of ourselves, how about some basics?

Pro 28:28  When the wicked gain control, people hide themselves, but when they perish, the righteous increase. 

Sounds like anarcho-tyranny.

Pro 29:4  The king by judgment establisheth the land: but he that receiveth gifts overthroweth it. 

Uh-oh! We have run into a problem inherent in a large republic: running for office is expense. Gifts, aka campaign contributions, are necessary. But before ye monarchists in the audience start neener-dancing, recall the Book of Kings. Not pretty! The system given to Moses was designed for no standing government, save for the Levites enforcing public health regulations and teaching the people the Divine Law. Enforcement was a mix of blood feuds and direct democracy.

So before formally handing over our rights to a permanent overclass, let's pause to contemplate ways to reduce the influence of "gifts" to those who govern us.

• Our House districts are way too big. The proposed first amendment in the Bill of Rights was to limit the size of a House district to 50,000. (It didn't pass.) With districts that small old fashioned door knocking and the like can suffice to win an election. Alas, with over 300,000,000 people now, this would result in an unmanageable legislature. But maybe could double the size of the House...

• Senators used to be appointed by state governments. We should go back to that.

• Pushing more governance back to the states and localities would also help.

• And maybe we should break up the biggest states. California is huge due to efforts to limit the number of free states. Now that slavery is illegal, perhaps California should be sliced into manageable sized states. We could do the same for California, New York, and maybe Florida.

For more on getting elections down to manageable size, see Rule 6:

We could lower the power of money even further by having a voting system that allows voters to specify whom they really want vs. worry overmuch about electibility: Range Voting. Yes, it might cost us some of our favorite politicians, but it would also cost the wacko left a large number of their favorites. And it would avoid disasters like the one that just put Labour in charge of the United Kingdom despite the voters moving to the Right.

None of this fixes the presidency. We're stuck with high dollar elections or changing the Constitution. One possible fix would be to have a real electoral college, one there the electors are on the ballot and the electors actually meet. Have each congressional district elect an elector and each state government appoint two electors. Then have candidates for president campaign to the electors instead of to the country at large. This is a far more manageable project!

After this campaign, the electors physically meet in a convention hall and either do multiple rounds of voting, like political parties used to do, or they could do Range Voting...

But any talk of reforming how we elect presidents is academic. This is a bad time to be touching the Constitution.

How to Bankrupt a Nation

Solomon really disliked loan guarantees:

Pro 6:1  My child, if you have made a pledge for your neighbor, if you have become a guarantor for a stranger, 

Pro 6:2  if you have been ensnared by the words you have uttered, and have been caught by the words you have spoken, 

Pro 6:3  then, my child, do this in order to deliver yourself, because you have fallen into your neighbor’s power: go, humble yourself, and appeal firmly to your neighbor. 

Pro 6:4  Permit no sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids. 

Pro 6:5  Deliver yourself like a gazelle from a snare, and like a bird from the trap of the fowler. 

Pro 17:18  The one who lacks sense strikes hands in pledge, and puts up financial security for his neighbor. 

Pro 22:26  Do not be one who strikes hands in pledge or who puts up security for debts. 

Irresponsible politicians love loan guarantees. It allows them spend both public and private money. It allows them to kick the can down the road and let future politicians deal with the resulting disasters.

The Federal Reserve System, FDIC, SPLIC, and other programs are examples of the government handing out loan guarantees -- and later getting burned bigly. In his Incerto series, Nassim Taleb claims that the U.S. banking system has not earned a net profit in century or so -- once you factor in all the bailouts.

At some point we need to rethink our banking system. Fractional reserve banking makes the system inherently unstable. But that's not the full story. Using high interest rates to compensate for high risk makes risks greater. Banks need to be allowed to take equity positions in order to have some upside when financing businesses that entail risks. Either that, or we need a better equity market for smaller companies which are potentially solid but don't have explosive growth potential. Otherwise, we are stuck with the Small Business Administration...making loan guarantees.

Counsellors

Pro 11:14  When there is no guidance a nation falls, but there is success in the abundance of counselors. 

Pro 12:15  The way of a fool is right in his own opinion, but the one who listens to advice is wise.

Pro 15:22  Plans fail when there is no counsel, but with abundant advisers they are established. 

Pro 18:1  One who has isolated himself seeks his own desires; he rejects all sound judgment. 

Pro 20:18  Plans are established by counsel, so make war with guidance. 

Trump's biggest weakness during his first term was a lack of counsellors who were truly on the same side. The Populist Quadrant has been so long out of power that the visible brain trust consisted mainly of conspiracy theorists and impractical theorists. Trump was stuck with the old Republican bench and Steve Bannon. Worse yet, he was slow replacing Democrat holdovers with his own appointees. Impeachment was the result.

Without strong political appointees, Trump was stuck dealing with Deep State civil servants directly, and that didn't work out so well. While Trump may be a great communicator to Middle Americans, he doesn't talk bureaucrat worth a toot.

I have much higher hopes for a second Trump Administration. He is surrounding himself with advisors who have inherent areas of aggreement: J.D. Vance, RFK Jr., Elon Musk, Tulsi Gabbard... This group includes former opponents, a huge step up from picking from the Republican bench based on ability to brown nose.

Long ago, Morton Blackwell declared "Personnel is policy" and set up the Leadership Institute to develop good personnel. He reasoned that it's easier to teach political technology to already committed conservatives that it is to convince skilled political players to adopt conservative principles. If you want to be a serious player and have the time/money, I highly recommend attending one or more of his schools.

[Join my private chat area if you want to learn some nuts and bolts political lessons that I cannot teach here in public. Open to all subscribers, paid and free.]

During my years as a Libertarian activist, I experienced this lesson repeatedly. If I wanted to get something done, I found those who liked my idea, or already had it, and we just got the job done. Relying on official channels and expecting people to take orders was often a waste of time and effort. Note that this was not gathering people who completely agreed with me, or syncophants/bravos. I've happily and productively worked with people who had serious disagreements with many of my ideas. We often argued as we worked, and afterwords over beers. The forces of liberty consist willful independent people, not Borg'd NPCs. Those in the Dissident Right who call for Hierarchy are sadly mistaken. Think Knights of the Round Table, or Viking kings proposing ideas which either elicit cheers and spears banging on shields -- or angry shoutdowns.

Trump did not understand this the first time around. He seems to have learned. He has strong allies vs. fawning fake followers.

Contention

Pro 13:3  The one who guards his words guards his life; whoever is talkative will come to ruin. 

Pro 14:29  Someone with great understanding is slow to anger, but the one who has a quick temper exalts folly. 

Pro 15:1  A gentle response turns away anger, but a harsh word stirs up wrath. 

Pro 16:21  The one who is wise in heart is called discerning, and kind speech increases persuasiveness.

Pro 16:28  A perverse person spreads dissension, and a gossip separates the closest friends. 

Pro 17:14  Starting a quarrel is like letting out water; abandon strife before it breaks out! 

Pro 17:19  The one who loves a quarrel loves transgression; whoever builds his gate high seeks destruction. 

Pro 25:8  Do not go out hastily to litigation, or what will you do afterward when your neighbor puts you to shame? 

Pro 26:20  Where there is no wood, a fire goes out, and where there is no gossip, contention ceases. 

Pro 26:21  Like charcoal is to burning coals, and wood to fire, so is a contentious person to kindle strife. 

Donald Trump is contentious. He thrives on conflict. He gets publicity by playing the pro wrestling heel character. He violated Reagan's Eleventh Commandment bigly when he ran in 2016. Many were shocked. The press ate it up. Trump was newsworthy, and liberal media figured that he would be unelectable in the general election.

Trump's contentiousness worked -- for getting attention and splitting the opposition votes in the primaries.

But his contentiousness came at a big price. He lost a lot of Republican votes due to his uncouth ways -- including principled small government Republicans. He gave the globalists on the Democratic side cover to betray union members who used to be the core of the Democratic coalition. His often angry ramblings at huge rallies do conjure up images of Hitler, even though Trump turned out to be less authoritarian than his Republican predecessors. To a significant degree, Trump is Jimmy Carter with Attitude -- with a bit of JFK thrown in.

But that Attitude thing has gotten him in trouble repeatedly. He was the Velcro President first time around.

Fortunately, he does seem to have mellowed a bit. And now he has J.D. Vance on his side to explain the MAGA agenda in more peaceful terms.

What About Us?

What I have written so far is pretty passive in its implications. I have pointed out Trump's mistakes and weaknesses from the point of view of Proverbs, and indications that things will be better this time around should Trump win. White pills are useful, especially with Election Day coming up.

But some of the lessons in this Rule so far are also relevant at the individual level. Let's review a bit, starting with lessons from Part 1.

Real Wisdom is often very mundane. There are lots of big brains out here in Dissident Right Substack. There are 20,000 word explanations for phenomena that could be explained with 10% of the reading effort. There's heavy duty metaphysics and deep dive histories of today's ideologies which expose mostly forgotten thinkers. Interesting stuff, and at times useful. If nothing else, there are plenty of highly educated people who cannot accept a simple explanation, and so I have used some of the writings in this corner of Substack for outreach. But it's worth keeping in mind that we don't have to make Aristotle required reading in our universities. Most people can absorb the wisdom of the West through stories and common sense explanations.

Success is usually incremental. And the few sudden turns for the good are usually the result of years of hidden efforts. The United States is gutted, bankrupt, and poisoned -- both chemically and morally. It's going to take massive efforts to truly turn things around. But we have to start somewhere. Alas, there are blackpillers among us who claim that it's already game over due to demographic shifts, or that Trump is a poppet of his Joo son-in-law, etc. Heed them not! Don't be like the useless pessimist in Jesus' Parable of the Talents:

Mat 25:14  “For it is like a man going on a journey, who summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them. 

Mat 25:15  To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 

Mat 25:16  The one who had received five talents went off right away and put his money to work and gained five more. 

Mat 25:17  In the same way, the one who had two gained two more. 

Mat 25:18  But the one who had received one talent went out and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money in it. 

Mat 25:19  After a long time, the master of those slaves came and settled his accounts with them. 

Mat 25:20  The one who had received the five talents came and brought five more, saying, ‘Sir, you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’ 

Mat 25:21  His master answered, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You have been faithful in a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 

Mat 25:22  The one with the two talents also came and said, ‘Sir, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more.’ 

Mat 25:23  His master answered, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You have been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 

Mat 25:24  Then the one who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Sir, I knew that you were a hard man, harvesting where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed, 

Mat 25:25  so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’ 

Mat 25:26  But his master answered, ‘Evil and lazy slave! So you knew that I harvest where I didn’t sow and gather where I didn’t scatter? 

Mat 25:27  Then you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received my money back with interest! 

Mat 25:28  Therefore take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten. 

Mat 25:29  For the one who has will be given more, and he will have more than enough. But the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 

Mat 25:30  And throw that worthless slave into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 

Ease up on the contentiousness. Twitter, other social media, reward snark and controversy -- and it is tearing this country apart. As Fabius Minarchus, I am double-plus guilty of this, but I am not doing outreach as Fabius Minarchus! Rules for Reactionaries is an inreach publication. I'm freely venting my spleen in order to reach those who share my anger at the sexual deviant traitors who have taken over the Democratic Party.

But I have also pointed out the importance of wooing some longtime Democrats into our team, such eco-hippies:

And hippie peaceniks:

These two posts provide powerful arguments for closing the border that don't require demonizing all migrants as criminals.

As for the Wise Counselors, I'd love to see a bunch of the brainiacs here in this corner of Substack going to Washington to be part of a second Trump Administration. People who think and communicate like this:

The Physiocratic Platform: Tariffs

have a much better chance of gaining the respect of our bureaucrats than The Donald himself.

Now, let's look at a couple of lessons which apply more to those of use out of power than The Donald or other allies with or on the edge of power.

Don't Go Rogue

When the government goes wicked, it is tempting to join in:

Pro 28:2  When a country is rebellious it has many princes, but by someone who is discerning and knowledgeable order is maintained. 

Do not give in to that temptation. This is one of the earliest lessons in the Book of Proverbs.

Pro 1:10  My child, if sinners try to entice you, do not consent! 

Pro 1:11  If they say, “Come with us! We will lie in wait to shed blood; we will ambush an innocent person capriciously. 

Pro 1:12  We will swallow them alive like Sheol, those full of vigor like those going down to the Pit. 

Pro 1:13  We will seize all kinds of precious wealth; we will fill our houses with plunder. 

Pro 1:14  Join with us! We will all share equally in what we steal.” 

Pro 1:15  My child, do not go down their way, withhold yourself from their path; 

Pro 1:16  for they are eager to inflict harm, and they hasten to shed blood. 

Pro 1:17  Surely it is futile to spread a net in plain sight of any bird, 

Pro 1:18  but these men lie in wait for their own blood, they ambush their own lives! 

Pro 1:19  Such are the ways of all who gain profit unjustly; it takes away the life of those who obtain it! 

How to Pillage Corporate America

Walt Bismark is a smart guy, and I agree with some of his posts, but not this one. Beware.

And beware others who call for going rogue. The recent election has bought us time to fix things.

With that written, how do we fund the Long Game work that needs to be done?

Funding Our Efforts

Here is a conundrum for your contemplation: why aren’t there more Objectivist billionaires? Shouldn’t a philosophy of reason and rational self interest lead to great riches? Instead, what I see are left leaning to outright woke billionaires and decibillionaires all over the place. With some notable exceptions, Wall St. and Silicon Valley are dominated by leftists. What gives?

How is it that economic power is concentrated in the hands of those who oppose pure capitalism and promote really bad economics? What do they know about money that we don’t?

Is it because those who get truly rich “Take the Ticket” as Vox Day teaches? Are the top tiers of our society powered by Satan?

In some cases maybe, but don’t jump to that conclusion without hard evidence. False Witness and a double-plus serious sin when it comes to major accusations. And groundless accusations of these nature strike me as a form of Sour Grapes.

Pro 14:30  A tranquil spirit revives the body, but envy is rottenness to the bones.

There is an alternative explanation in Proverbs.

Pro 14:31  The one who oppresses the poor has insulted his Creator, but whoever honors him shows favor to the needy.

Pro 17:5  The one who mocks the poor has insulted his Creator; whoever rejoices over disaster will not go unpunished. 

Pro 19:17  The one who is gracious to the poor lends to the LORD, and the LORD will repay him for his good deed. 

Pro 21:13  The one who shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and will not be answered. 

Pro 22:9  A generous person will be blessed, for he has given some of his food to the poor. 

Pro 28:27  The one who gives to the poor will not lack, but whoever shuts his eyes to them will receive many curses. 

The proverbs above bring up a disturbing question: Are we cursed? The political Left has been all about shoveling out tax money to help the poor while the Right has been all about cutting welfare programs and giving out tax cuts for the rich. Worse yet, back when I was a real Libertarian, I was calling for eliminating government poverty programs altogether. Uh-oh!

When I got seriously religious a couple decades ago passages like the ones above and the considerably harsher passages in the New Testament made me reconsider my positions. Was I a baddie? In response I moved from libertarian to smaller government populist. Cutting poverty took a greater priority over cutting taxes for the well off. This could still entail cuts in government. The government subsidizes the already rich via perpetual budget deficits and regulations which favor big players over small businesses. But even with populist measures enacted, could we truly unwind the welfare state without harming the poor?

This is a difficult question. Our current welfare system has many inefficiencies and perverse incentives. And government welfare cannot truly separate the truly needy from the lazy grifters while obeying a rule of law. Such separation requires a personal touch.

If we did away with government welfare, private charity would expand. Giving voluntarily is better for the soul than giving at gunpoint. (While many liberals pay their taxes with joy, they do this giving with the assurance that others are forced to give whether they want to or not. Giving, while your neighbor uses his surplus money to buy toys and trips, is the bigger spiritual challenge.)

Which is more important: the spirituality of the givers, or getting the needy what they need? Recall that when the state governments shut down the insane asylums, we got insane people begging on the sidewalks and sleeping under overpasses. Charities do provide for such people, but not enough.

I submit that if we really want small government, we need to start competing against the welfare state before cutting it too aggressively.

And keep this in mind: those proverbs above were written in the context of a legal system which had mandatory welfare provisions. Under the Law of Moses, there was no tax supported army or police force. But there was a welfare system. Moses defunded the police before it was cool. It was a much more economical welfare system than what we have, and well worth studying. We’ll cover it later in this Rule.

And also keep in mind that the first tithe mentioned in the law was not for funding this welfare system. It was God’s rent on farm owners, which was paid to the priests, not the poor. Likewise, contributions to your church which pay for building, priest/pastor, etc. are not charity. They are the modern equivalent of the first tithe. (Whether those who aren’t farming in the Holy Land should pay a full ten percent of their profits/wages for this purpose is an exercise I leave to the reader.) Charity to the needy is supposed to be in addition to ritual expenses.

I have read studies that say the conservatives are more charitable than liberals, when it comes to their own money. But are those studies true? Those studies include money given to churches. If you take out the funds for ritual and social space expenses, how does the net charity compare with what liberals give? Now throw in the additional expenses that liberals pay for fair trade coffee, cruelty free meat, etc.

I do not know the answer, but we on the Right should contemplate it with some humility.

On the gripping hand, protecting the unborn from abortionists, the sexually confused from chemical castration, the young from groomers, etc. are also worthy causes. Many on the Right are giving.

It would be nice to have more funds to give.

Let’s look into the other reasons why there are so many lefty billionaires, reasons that don’t require divine intervention. Let’s look into how a more liberal mindset can be used to acquire riches in the first place.

Listen to conservative talk radio. There are ads for burglar alarms, gold, tax shelters, emergency food supplies, guns. There is a heavy emphasis on keeping what is already yours. (In all fairness, Glenn Beck added a significant charitable arm to his operation. Glenn Beck has a small media empire and can afford his own team of investigative reports. Hmmmmm.)

Think back to the Reagan era. What was archetypal Reaganite capitalism? Junk bonds. Leveraged buyouts. Maximizing shareholder value. Vulture capitalism. Gutting once viable businesses.

What do you see when looking at successful Left Coast capitalism? Grand mission statements. Experimental societies. Effective Altruism. B corporations. Saving the planet. Getting humanity to Mars.

Some of the difference is just tawk. Enough of it is real.

There are several reasons why this do gooder mindset is useful, besides divine blessings:

1. It’s just plain good branding. When a beer company ships in clean water to a disaster, it creates positive vibes to the company.

2. It puts a focus on the business itself. Capitalism is providing goods and services – doing good – and getting paid in return. The getting paid comes after the doing good. And giving employees intrinsic motivation can be more powerful than incentive pay.

3. It provides motivation after material satiation. Once you have enough money to have a big house, travel the world, and date supermodels, why bother striving further? Ego works, especially for those with high testosterone. Continuing to make money for a cause works even for those with low testosterone. Saggy boobed Bill Gates was a ruthless capitalist building a fortune so he could be a world class do-gooder. Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk were/are powered by a desire to build spaceships.

4. It justifies risks.

That last point is important. Back when Silicon Valley declared war on all things right leaning, I built the beginnings of an alternative, and then contacted various parallel economy groups in order to take it to the next level. It was timid money. Nothing like the mindset which made Silicon Valley rich.

It’s a good thing we now have Elon Musk on our side.

But it would be nice to expand our pool of daring tycoons.