Although we speak of rule by the people, the people cannot rule by themselves.  At most, rule by the people means rule by that faction of the elite that enjoys the support of the majority of the people.

True, elites cannot rule without some compliance on the part of the people.  On the other hand, popular compliance can be manipulated.

True, elites are not always able to replace themselves with persons who see things just as they do.  On the other hand, they may be able to keep that up for quite a while.

True, elites are limited by the customs of the people.  On the other hand, although some elites respect the customs of the people instead of trying to change or destroy them, others don’t.

We should hope that ours do. 

Let’s return to the beginning.  The people cannot rule by themselves.

Just because they cannot rule by themselves, the people cannot peacefully dislodge a hostile elite unless they have allies within the elite.  They might – though in our age I doubt it -- dislodge them by rioting and assassination instead, but it is hard to imagine even rioters who don’t also need allies.  Besides, that sort of revolt would only put in place an elite of ex-rioters and assassins.  It hardly seems a good trade.

William F. Buckley famously said “I should sooner live in a society governed by the first two thousand names in the Boston telephone directory than in a society governed by the two thousand faculty members of Harvard University.”  He explained that he did not hold lightly the brainpower, knowledge, generosity, or even affability of the Harvard faculty, but that he feared intellectual arrogance, a characteristic that distinguishes any university that “refuses to accept any common premise.”

I sympathize.  Whatever their good qualities, most of our present elites have nothing but disdain for the lives, hopes, and common premises of ordinary people – the “deplorables” who “cling to their guns and religion,” as a pair of recent despisers have described them.  But Mr. Buckley was using hyperbole to make a point.  If the first two thousand people in the telephone directory really could govern all by themselves, that might be good.  They can't.  Not in any society.

Whither populism?  Our goal should not be that the first two thousand in the telephone directory would rule, but that our elites would respect and honor the aspirations of that two thousand rather than despising them as yokels.

In times like these, respect of the elites for the aspirations of the people may seem even more utopian than literal rule by the people.  But the times were not always like this.  They will not always be like this.

Whether you think the Supreme Court's decision in the so-called gay marriage case Obergefell v. Hodges was right or wrong, it could not be what it is said to be.

Marriage concerns the association in which children are conceived in the stable, loving union of their parents.  This is a unique relationship, crucial for the continuance of society, and we need a name for it so we know what we are talking about.

Consider then the notion that Obergefell gave homosexuals the right to marriage.  It did no such thing, for they already had the right to marriage.  A man attracted to men could always marry a woman.  A woman attracted to women could always marry a man.  Some have always done so.

Or consider the notion that Obergefell gave persons the right to homosexual marriage.  It couldn’t do that either, because a procreative association requires both sexes.  Whether you think the sexual pairing of two women or two men is a good thing, a bad one, or indifferent, by nature it is incapable of producing new life.

Or consider the notion that Obergefell redefined marriage as merely an association between two persons who want to cohabit sexually.  If you have the power, you can use words any way you want to, but you cannot change the realities that words are intended to name.  Redefining the word “obtuse” so that it refers to both obtuse and acute angles does not make acute angles the same thing as obtuse ones.  Redefining the word “dog” so that it refers to both dogs and rabbits does not make rabbits the same thing as dogs.

Suppose then that we do scramble our words.  Henceforth, let us say, the word “marriage” is to be used with no procreative connotations whatsoever.

In that case, it is hard to see why the Supreme Court should have taken any interest whatsoever in “marriage.”

For the law has excellent reasons to define and protect the union that turns the wheel of the generations, so that each child has the strongest possible chance of being raised by his natural mom and dad.  But it has no parallel interest in blurring the difference between that kind of association and other kinds.

And notice:  This conclusion has no logical dependence on how favorably or unfavorably we look upon the other kinds.  You can’t blame it on hostility or animus.

Related:

The New Marriage and Its Consequences

I am glad to announce the publication of my new book by Cambridge University Press:  Commentary on Thomas Aquinas’s Treatise on Happiness and Ultimate Purpose.  The details of the book on the Books page of this website tell a little about the book, quote the endorsements, and provide links to the Table of Contents, the Introduction, and two different samples.

Let me say a word about the lovely picture that graces the cover of the book.  Many readers will find the choice self-explanatory.  Others may find it a little puzzling.  What does Joseph DeCamp’s The Blue Cup – a painting of a housewife, face and eyes glowing, admiring a cherished piece of crockery which we can hardly make out -- have to do with happiness?

My original thought had been to use a quite different image, some suitable illustration of the Parable of the Pearl of Great Price:  “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”  All I can say is that the available paintings of the Pearl of Great Price all seemed to leave something to be desired.  Of course I may have overlooked or misjudged some great work of art.  But for me, the homely Blue Cup evokes the Pearl of Great Price with truer pitch than any image which is known to me of the parable itself.

According to one theory, the best way for small and unpopular groups to bring down a government is to commit acts of such atrocity against the citizens that in order to protect them, the government becomes severe and arbitrary – so much so that at last the citizens themselves turn against it.  That is one of the reasons why it is so important to stay within the rule of law even when acting against terrorists.

Supposing that the terrorists themselves hold this theory, no one would be more delighted than they that elements in our justice and intelligence services have violated the rule of law to persecute, frame, and bring down their political opponents.

Contract

Adapted, with appreciation, from a version by Professor James Pesta,

Department of English, University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh

In this course, we study literatures and systems of thought from cultures not only of our own time, but of ages before you were born.  Their world is not ours.  Their beliefs may not be yours.  No one asks you to believe or endorse any premise, attitude, precept, theology, philosophy, ideology, or political system contained in these books or expressed in class.  Nor will you ever lose points or be docked grades because of an opinion you express courteously by giving reasons for what you think.

We will not malign or trivialize these texts or views because they do not always parrot the beliefs common in our own day.  We will not assume that these books are bigoted because of the views they express, the period in which they were written, or the race, class, sex, or religion of the authors.

Persons who approach alien cultures with such preconceived notions are bigots masquerading as critical sophisticates, often in the name of “toleration” or “social justice.”  By diminishing the past in this way, they are neither tolerant nor just, especially when they compel others to adopt their biases.  In this course we will be free to disagree with each other, but always with courtesy, and always giving reasons for what we say.

If you are “triggered” by free speech, the free exchange of ideas, or people who courteously express and defend ideas or opinions that differ from your own, please drop the class immediately.

If you are “triggered” by open, direct, adult discussion of issues including but not limited to faith, war, race, sexuality, moral law, or moral character, please drop the class immediately.

If you are “triggered” by recurring encounters with heterosexuality, traditional attitudes toward marriage, sympathetic representations of Christianity, Judaism, or belief in God in general, positive views of property ownership or free markets, or unapologetic defenses of patriotism, chastity, hierarchies, or merit-based institutions or attitudes, please drop the class immediately.

If you are “triggered” by traditional pronouns such as “he” and “she,” or by traditional nouns such as “man” and “mankind,” please drop the class immediately.

Finally, please drop the class immediately if you consider yourself entitled to censor the thoughts or the courteously expressed words of others, or to insist they tailor their language or attitudes to your preferences.

Please sign your name to certify that you have read this contract and accept the norms by which the class will be conducted – or, that if you don’t accept them, you will drop the course immediately.