From An oration on the extent and power of political delusion. Delivered in New-Haven, on the evening preceding the public commencement, September, 1800 by Abraham Bishop (American, 1763-1844). Emphasis added.
War is decided on; armies are raised; the legions, who depend on war for support, are all in motion; the papers are full of news; public curiosity is on the stretch. The cabinet, which in time of peace was occupied only in the means of internal order, has now to consult the balances of foreign governments—to receive letters weighing five ounces in ships of 500 tons sailing in ballast—is thronged with ex∣presses; great scenes are opening; the naval armament, which but for this had been laid up in dry docks, and the army, which in time of peace was in no estimation, rise into importance; prize masters arrive with the ill-gotten wealth of honest adventurers. The country abounds with proof prints of admirals and generals and naval engagements, forts stormed and all the dignified array of carnage and desolation.Here delusion opens batteries, which are never silenced till liberty and public happiness are gone forever; for a war system is fatal to them both.When courtiers tell you that such a system can alone preserve peace, fly or sight the delusion. Mark you that the man who learns the art of fencing in his youth is seldom contented with having received his lessons, you will hear of him in a duel. An army or a navy well officered and manned is always restless in a state of peace; war must and will be had at some rate. After a few years of war and a few bullet-holes through admirals' hats and some flesh-wounds and broken limbs, the bill for services becomes greater than can be paid with money; honors, stars and ribbons or pensions must go towards an installment. A nation which makes greatness its polestar can never be free; beneath national greatness sink individual greatness, honor, wealth and freedom. But though history, experience and reasoning confirm these ideas; yet all-powerful delusion has been able to make the people of every nation lend a helping hand in putting on their own setters and riveting their own chains, and in this service delusion always employs men too great to speak the truth, and yet too powerful to be doubted. Their statements are believed —their projects adopted—their ends answered and the deluded subjects of all this artifice are left to passive obedience through life, and to entail a condition of unequalified non-resistance to a ruined posterity.
Bishop is focused on the challenge of a standing army and I acknowledge that while also acknowledging the need for defense. That is a delicate balance to strike.
What I found striking was that his indictment can be broadened. It is not just war which is decided on. It is any crisis which we designate as the moral equivalent of war. Global warming is decided on. Inequality is decided on. Anti-racism is decided on. Pronouns are decided on. Etc.
In every instance, the rest of Bishop's argument follows. Once the crisis is decided on then the rest of Bishop's diagnosis falls into place. Freedoms and rights are disposed of or suppressed. The individual becomes the subject of the group or the state. Waste, carnage, and desolation follow.
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