Chapter 13 preface

What Archimedes said about mechanical power can apply to reason and freedom."If we have a foothold, we can lift the Earth up," he said. The American Revolution brought forth in politics what was only theoretical in mechanics.All the governments of the old world were so entrenched, and tyranny and custom so subdued, that it was impossible to attempt to reform the political condition of mankind in Asia, Africa, or Europe.The persecution of liberty has spread across the globe; rationality is seen as rebellious; and surrender to fear has made people afraid to think. But the irrepressible character of truth is that all its demands and all its needs lie in free expression.The sun did not need inscriptions to distinguish it from darkness; the first appearance of the American government to the world despotism was shocked, and the people began to think of correcting the evils of the times.

America's independence would have been insignificant if it had not been accompanied by a revolution in the principles and practice of government, but in terms of its separation from Great Britain.The United States has gained a foothold not only for itself but for the world as well, and looks beyond its own interests.Even if the mercenaries hired to fight America were defeated willingly, the British people condemned their government for its corruption and rejoiced in its defeat. America is the only place in politics where the principles of universal reform can begin, and it is also unique in nature.Circumstances combine not only to produce principles, but to mature them.There is something about the landscape that this country presents to a beholder that inspires great thought.Nature unfolded before him in all its majesty.The mountains and rivers he saw expanded his mind, and he was infected with the great temperament of the mountains and rivers he watched.The country's first settlers were immigrants from all over Europe, of various religions, fleeing persecution from old world governments, and meeting in the New World not as enemies but as brothers.The needs which the clearing of the land necessarily entailed formed among them a society which the nations had neglected to cultivate through a long history of quarrels and divisions between governments.In this case man becomes what he ought to be.He no longer treats his fellow beings as natural enemies with inhuman concepts, but as relatives; this example shows to the artificial world that man must return to nature to seek knowledge.

From the rapid progress of various reforms in the United States, it is reasonable to conclude that if the governments of Asia, Africa, and Europe had initially promoted principles similar to those of the United States, or had not corrupted prematurely, they would have The situation must have been much better than it is now.Year after year passed, just watching them suffer and suffering without doing anything.Can we conceive that a man who knows nothing of the world, comes here merely to see what he will do in his early settlements, in making the old world into a new by all kinds of hardships? Huge effect?He could not imagine the hordes of wretched poor people (who filled the old country) who had not had time to think of themselves.He also couldn't imagine that what happened to these people was caused by the so-called governments of these countries.

If we move our eyes from the bleak parts of the old world to those parts which have been improved to an advanced degree, we still find the rapacious hand of the government penetrating the nooks and crannies of industry, and extracting the spoils from the masses of the people.Inventions are constantly being used as new pretexts for taxation.It took prosperity as a booty, allowing no one to evade tribute. Since a revolution has begun (and since a thing that has begun and is in progress is more likely to succeed than one that has just begun), it is natural to expect that other revolutions will follow.The astonishing and ever-increasing outlays on which the old governments were sustained, the many wars they fought or provoked, the difficulties they made in spreading culture and commerce, the oppression and plunder they carried out at home, have Makes people intolerable, and drains the wealth of the world.In this case, there are ready-made examples, and the occurrence of revolution is just around the corner.Revolution had become a common topic, and was, so to speak, on the agenda.

If a system of government could be introduced which would cost less than those now present, and which would benefit the masses of the people, all attempts to oppose its progress would, after all, be doomed to fail.Reason will advance like time, but prejudice will fall in the struggle with interests.If universal peace, civilization, and commerce are to be at last the blessings of mankind, it cannot be attained without a revolution in the system of government.All monarchical governments are belligerent.They make war their business, and their goals are plunder and taxation.As long as this government continues to exist, peace cannot be guaranteed for a day.Is not the history of all monarchical governments a hideous picture of human misery, with few years of recuperation?After being exhausted by war and tired of killing, sit down and rest for a while, call it peace.Surely this is not God's will for man; and therefore, if this is the monarchy, then it is a crime which belongs to the Jews.

None of the revolutions that have taken place in the world in the past have had something that appeals to most people.These revolutions were limited to changes in roles and means rather than in principle, and either succeeded or failed in the public transactions of the time.The revolution we see now might as well be called a "counter-revolution."Conquest and tyranny earlier stripped people of all rights, and now people are taking them back.Just as all human affairs have vicissitudes of ups and downs in opposite directions, so do revolutions.Governments based on moral doctrines, universal institutions of peace, and indefeasible inherent rights of man are circling from West to East with a stronger impulse than governments circling from East to West by violence.It will interest not individuals, but nations in progress, and promises to mankind the coming of a new age.

There is no greater danger to the success of a revolution than to attempt to make it before the principles on which it is based, and the benefits it brings, are not fully known and understood.Almost everything related to the situation in a country is absorbed and confused by the general and ambiguous term government.Although the government refuses to take account of its mistakes and the harm it has caused, it must nevertheless attribute to itself all apparent prosperity.It takes the honor of industry, boasts that it is the cause of its success; and steals from the general characteristics of man the virtues of man as a social being.

So, in this day of revolution, it may be useful to distinguish between those things that are caused by the government and those that are not.To do this, it is best to look back at society and civilization and their consequences, and distinguish them from what is called government.Starting from this investigation, we were able to attribute the results to real causes and analyze a large number of shared errors.