Curtis Yarvin (whose erstwhile nom de plume “Mencius Moldbug” we will, for the time being, continue to mention), has posted a new essay calling for a temporary dictatorship to combat the Wuhan coronavirus. After a discussion of the many, many shortcomings, weaknesses, and debilities of our national government, and of democracy in general — which no longtime reader of Yarvin should by now have any reason to quibble with — he proposes a Coronavirus Authority with “plenary” power: in other words, an absolute sovereign.
It’s all a little over the top, even for Mr. Yarvin, who seems increasingly unconcerned with connecting his possible worlds, as robustly conceived as they always are, with any possible future of the actually existing one.
Here we go:
The strongest possible response will come from a new agency, built as a startup. This Coronavirus Authority will scale up faster than any existing organization can execute. It will use the old agencies only where it finds them useful. And it will dissolve itself once the virus is beaten.
And all the CVA needs to do its job is plenary (unconditional) authority over all federal, state, local and private actors. In theoretical terms, its sovereignty is absolute — but both temporary (limited in time, to the end of the war) and partial (applied only to its specific mission or scope). A small thing!
Dissolve itself? Hm. Is it common for absolute sovereigns to abdicate? My own understanding has always been that those wielding power generally develop a taste for it; even the limited accretions of power that we have bent the Constitution to grant various bureaucracies during the great crises of the past have proven to be very sticky indeed. (The authoritative work on this topic is Crisis and Leviathan, by Robert Higgs; now would be a good time for everyone, especially Mr. Yarvin, to read it.) I think also that it is terribly optimistic to grant any governing entity unlimited power to manage an existential crisis while imagining that you can constrain its “scope”; the scope of any aspect of State power can be relied upon to expand at every opportunity, and almost never to contract.
But whatever the pros and cons of Mr. Yarvin’s proposed dictatorship, it certainly won’t fly in the United States. In his closing remarks, Yarvin reminds us of the distinctions the Roman made between dictator and tyrant, but both arouse an instinctive revulsion in the American soul (or at least they did until recently). As Patrick Henry said: “Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel.” And so we do, or at least enough of us to make any sort of temporary dictatorships a casus belli.
This essay is marred, too, by an uncharacteristic note of petulance; at one point, for example, Mr. Yarvin calls upon Donald Trump to “do the decent thing and resign”. Really? What then? Is he so fond of Mike Pence, who has for some time now been tasked with orchestrating the Federal response that, Mr. Yarvin explains, has failed so predictably, and so spectacularly? Or should they both resign, and hand the White House to Nancy Pelosi? Or should we have a special election right away, while everybody is locked in their houses? Such carelessness is oddly un-Moldbuggian.
I’ve long been an admirer of Curtis Yarvin’s work. His writing has influenced my own thinking over the years, and I thank him for that. But he has always been better at description than prescription, and perhaps more so than ever in this latest essay.
Read it here.
12 Comments
The Kung Flu has been very revealing when it comes to Our Guys. And not, for the most part, in a flattering way. When you consider how much Yarvin has written about government, you’d think that somewhere along the way he’d have picked up an understanding of the nuts and bolts side of public administration, of how practical everyday government actually works.
If this article is any indication, I guess not.
This is such a wonderful proposition, this question of governance and type of civilizational structure.
There is nothing grander in my book. Nor more relative, germane to the times that come to us.
It is time to lay all our cards on the table, our very civilization is at risk of destruction because too much has gotten away from our direct responsibility and involvement thereof.
Prudence be they name.
I’m laying my cards down.
I’m somewhere right of Genghis Khan.
Ordered Liberty is difficult to maintain. It wears off soon as life gets easy. The moment some rice bowl defender in a position of administrative tyranny, who abuses that unelected position for personal lucre and other benefits, influence etc, who starts handing out the Danegeld, ordered liberty better start hanging such Nomenklatura class tyrants without prejudice, in public, making a holiday of it. Everyone must attend, broadcasted on all media, a national holiday event, or the Republic is toast.
Frankly, the US Constitution has been turned into an instrument of the centralized state. Administrative and regulatory tyranny abounds, this is the foundation laid for the so called “deep state” or permanent/shadow government. It’s horribly akin to the managerial class of the old Soviet, the Nomenklatura, who owned Russia and it’s people in fee simple.
They where granted power by the Soviet, to intrude freely without restriction in every facet of the sphere of peoples lives.
Sound familiar?
Ferris Buller?
EPA, BLM, ATF, FBI, DofE etc, judicial activism and revisionists of the federal court system, and so on?
I believe a Constitutional Dual Monarchy, may be a viable choice, with many elements of the Compact of Confederation pre USC Ratification, with NO standing army, though the provisions for calling up one can not be underestimated in it’s worth, but with a full organized militia based on the Swiss model, every man a militia, with brotherhoods, fully learned in 4th Generation, and, total 3rd Generation Warfare, war training, fully equipped using ones own funds or moneys donated thru precinct level funds derived from charity and gift, no government funds. Command structure organized from the village/community precinct level up thru county to sovereign individual states level, would be a good ground game to start with.
No “police”, or “Law Enforcement” as we know it, make county wide jurisdiction Justices of The Peace just that. Elected county Sheriffs with full Constitutional Law powers, sworn fealty to that law, that law only, and to those who elect them.
A Marines with a Navy, small, deadly, flexible, excellently equipped and trained, all volunteer, under the power granted to the dual Kings, to defend borders and sea lanes.
No foreign entanglements, on soil on foreign. ZERO on that. Ambassadors “at large”, at most very small physical consulates, like a couple rooms and a secure mew to physically protect those grounds it sits on.
A system of total across the board tariff system protections, America first, last, always.
You want to sell something in America, you make it in America. Your headquarters in America. No foreign parts, foreign raw materials ok. And a populist precinct state and nation level referendum system with powers to limit or disband corporate level business and industry. This brace of actors are to never be allowed to influence our civilization again. If so they become instant domestic enemies and treated as enemies of civilization.
No income tax. Can’t function without it, tough titties, you need to eat out the peoples existence, its not government it’s an elite welfare/crony system. Bye Bye. Give them the dirt nap.
A congress of sorts. No pay. All congressmen are elected to office from civilians. Term limits, total recall at any time, on the spot. No lawyers can apply. In fact, no requirement to practice law. Not sure about judges, but maybe JOTP can be incorporated. Elected of course.
No Supreme court. Anything needs that level of jurisprudence originates back to local, village-precinct-county-states. Again. Compact Theory.
Governors are elected as managers, business managers for States business, subject to recall at any moment for any reason the people of the state choose. Immediately upon execution of a notice of recall, till decided otherwise.
Everything originates at the family/tribe/village/precinct/county level. No paid positions in elected office. The Man of the Castle is the only citizen who votes, he represents the entire clan.
Corruption entitles the corrupter to death by hanging. No exceptions. You just don’t do it. Easy.
The entire Republic is a shingle state.
No excise, no permitting, don’t need them with the precinct system. Everyone is personally responsible for imposing/hurting/damaging/impeding on others liberty.
The guidelines for civilization is Prudence. (Probably the most crucial issue of our times, is lack of prudence) Castle doctrine in totality. A mans land and property are sacrosanct. The first law. Weapons are Property before they are anything. A civil society is a polite prudent tolerant live and let live civilization. Open carry and display of personal weaponry os not only prudent, it is accepted in society as Noble, Honorable, a statement of the Christian Man of The West as Freeman.
In the case of trial for lethal application of force in an dispute, the first prerequisite is for the determination of wether the one so injured or diseased, deserved to be shot for his actions leading up to his death or injury.
Scripture comes back as a component of requirements for holding public office.
A “free press” corporate syndicated and organized is outlawed in totality. All other speech has no limits except ones mouthing off are accountable for their words among peers to be decided amongst themselves.
The best system of dealing with crimes & criminal behavior is at the local, family/tribe/precinct level. justice of The Peace at large as needed in dispute resolution, if called for by those involved. One aspect of this is banishment, ostracizing, if criminal is not hanged or shot to death. Word goes out, this character is not to be provided with sanctuary. Further criminal acts/behavior, execution on the spot.
All welfare/charity is thru tithe and largess at the village precinct up level. No government involvement. Period.
The Kings have full veto power at the Republc level. Both must be in unison in all things for anything to pass in the limited Congress. I think many lessons not learned from Athenian/Greco/Roman eras should be chosen as basis for establishing the structure and thrust of Congress. Outside of emergencies, c
The congress meets minimally. 2-3? times yearly? Same corruption penalty of death clauses apply individually to congressmen. You. Do. Not. Be. Corrupt. It Is Easy. Us dirt people manage every day to remain free of corruption, we get thru or days very well being honest people. No excuses. No quarter. No mercy. A citizen omnibus, presides, has certain powers, thru elected officers, elected at both precinct and state levels, one for the citizenry, one for the operation of each sovereign state at county up level.
Citizen reps hold veto powers, discourse returns to the precinct level, begins again.
Citizenship for aliens: 10 years probation. Many provisions must be met. Make it a peer system. Granted by local vote by citizens in the place they reside and work. Liable for excommunication and repatriation to native soil at any time. Again, local local local. All citizenship applications must pass a local vote, after a period of examination of individual by all in that specific precinct.
Alien invaders and trespassers get one chance, one chance only, they go back. Second time they get hung. No exceptions. Sovereignty is absolute. Don’t like it, go live someplace outside our great Republic. We will buy you the plane ticket. You can not return. Forever.
I’ll refrain from any further mention of pedophiles, rapists, woman beaters and the like. Good folks know what needs doing about those.
“TLDR: as I write (January 30th), there is no good reason for anyone to be flying across the Pacific. The same may soon be true of the Atlantic.” -Curtis Yarvin in “RIP Globalism, Dead of Coronavirus”
Look at this lunatic, calling for a shutdown of all international travel and trade because of a stupid virus. No way that would ever happen.
The Lunar New Year Parade starts this Sunday, February 9 at 1:00PM in Chinatown. See you there!
Curtis is a bright guy, but too bright for his, or our, own good when it comes to realpolitik. He doesn’t appear to know how the real world functions, or can function.
It’s all theory for him.
As I’ve mentioned here before, this ”crisis” has shone a bright light on much of the DR, and revealed some glaring weaknesses that were not apparent before.
Donald Trump should resign?
C’mon.
Phil! Too long, sir. Please do try to be a little more “pithy”.
Me, I’ve always thought Moldbug was a self-indulgent sort of fellow, making up meanings for common words and phrases. That’s fine for verse but not for essays.
And endless digression.
It’s interesting how much of the “dissident right” seems now to combine the very worst elements of the “progressive” leftist establishment: silly apocalyptic beliefs apparently lifted from CNN or Buzzfeed, fixation on some “issue of the week” to the exclusion of other far more serious issues, and now the deranged authoritarianism. (We’re all gonna die; therefore, We need Fifty More Stalins!)
Doesn’t Yarvin realize that if his fantasy came true in the actual world, the very first act of his Sovereign would be to put people Yarvin in re-education camps?
Doesn’t he wonder about the fact that all of a sudden he’s on the same team as the most evil and goofy Leftists?
Hi Jacques,
To be fair, Yarvin’s always tilted toward absolute sovereignty – and of course he’s right to recognize the enormous weaknesses and liabilities of democracy.
The idea, though, that anything like what he proposes could work as he imagines here in the USA is sheer fantasy.
Right. It seems especially crazy though, even apart from the fact that it wouldn’t work, given what the actual US is right now. Who would be in charge of this leviathan? It would be the very castes he’s always complaining about. Absolute sovereignty for “the cathedral” is what he’d end up with. He wants to give ultimate power to people who hate him; he might as well be asking for the comintern to take over.
Then there’s this: “In the next few months, you or someone you love will drown of a cough.”
What??? There’s no way that many people are ever going to die of this thing let alone “in the next few months”. If he was more hip he would have been just as hysterical about “climate change” ten years ago.
I was thinking of “Crisis and Leviathan” quite a bit as of late.
You know who knows about that book as well?
Some guy named Mike Pence.
He mentions it here in this 2002 video (time: 25:27): https://www.c-span.org/video/?170487-1/morning-hour&start=1527&transcriptQuery=leviathan
(He’s actually holding up the book, too.)
Other books by Higgs:
-Against Leviathan: Government Power and a Free Society (2004)
-Neither Liberty Nor Safety: Fear, Ideology, and the Growth of Government (2007)
BTW, a recent new book is: “The Power of Bad: How the Negativity Effect Rules Us and How We Can Rule It” (John Tierney and Roy Baumeister)
“Why does government keep growing? Drawing on Mancur Olson’s Rise and Decline of Nations and Robert Higgs’ Crisis and Leviathan, we show how the negativity effect is exploited by journalists, politicians, academics, lobbyists and activists — the merchants of bad, as we call these doomsayers — to scare people into adopting policies that benefit politicians, bureaucrats and special interests while hurting everyone else.”