One of the curious things about political opinions is how often the same people line up on opposite sides of different issues. A closer look at the arguments on both sides often shows that they are reasoning from fundamentally different premises. They have different visions of how the world works. One view sees humans as permanently flawed but capable of continuous improvement over time by building up their body of knowledge through social processes like religion, commerce, and the legal system. The other vision is that humans are basically good but are corrupted by institutions like the church and familial traditions. One vision builds on history, tradition, and the rule of law and the other believes society needs to be transformed through human reason to bring about their Utopian vision. This article seeks to clarify the different visions through a look at the philosophies behind the American and French Revolutions.
The American Revolution, like the French, was an effort to create a just society based on liberty, equality, and the rights of the people. The Americans revolted to preserve the values and rights they believed were denied them by an out-of-control government in London. Most Americans were farmers or small business owners. They sought to preserve their traditional rights as secured by the English Magna Carta, not to overturn the social order. Individuals were equal in their legal rights to pursue their interests without government or other people’s interference but were not necessarily equal in talent, merit, wealth or social status. These rights were considered natural, endowed by their Creator, not given to them by any government. Religion was seen as a positive thing to preserve social order by instilling necessary values for people to govern themselves in a free society. They built a political system based on reason, guided by history and experience, to find a system that would provide a stable government. The Framers of the U.S. Constitution followed this vision by designing a system of checks and balances and separation of powers that recognized that people in government would be flawed but could rise above those flaws within a framework (Bill of Rights) that restrained their power.
The French Revolutionaries were mainly peasants, Parisian laborers and middle class lawyers who had no stake in society or the social order. The French economy was in chaos with a huge national debt, high unemployment, famine/malnutrition, and conspicuous consumption by the monarchy, the Catholic Church and nobility. This revolt was against the ruling classes and the social institutions that were created to support it, i.e. the Church, legal system and property rights. The motto of the Revolution was liberty, equality and fraternity. The focus was especially on equality of outcome: everyone was a citizen of the state which had total power, because it had the consent of the general will of the people. The general will was embodied in a ruling leadership group that on its own (no judiciary) decided what laws and punishments were necessary to achieve the goals of the Revolution. Rights came from the ruling government, not God. According to Rousseau, the most popular philosopher to the revolutionaries, “Human beings were born sinless but were corrupted by society.” The Revolution was based on human reason unfettered by history and experience because those ideas or institutions were corrupt and not a valid basis to build a Utopian society. Nothing or no one could be allowed to stand in the way of totally transforming mankind and society. This resulted in the “Reign of Terror” where over 40,000 people were murdered or sent to the guillotine including many of the early intellectual leaders of the Revolution. The government that the Revolution spawned proved unstable and resulted in the rise of Napoleon as a military dictator, and eventually a return to a monarchy.
If the goal is to build or maintain a stable society, it makes sense to build on what has worked in the past but resist the temptation to transform society by destroying institutions and expanding the role of government.
For an entertaining rendition of the two visions theory go to: www.economicsdecoded.com/book-summary/thomas-sowell
