The Polity Built on Authority That Cares
Submit to those that Love You, and build Virtue upon that Love.
If a ruler is just, he seems to profit nothing by it. For since he does not award himself more of what, [considered] unconditionally, is good if it is not proportionate to him, he seems to labour for another’s benefit; that is why justice is said, as we also remarked before, to be another person’s good. Hence some payment [for ruling] should be give; this is honour and privilege, and the people who are unsatisfied by these are the ones who become tyrants.
- Aristotle Nicomachean Ethics Chapter 5.72
Dear Readers, we are nearing the end of the beginning - where you will have had the reasoning, as I, your humble author, have been able to grasp and lay it out before you - on why one should fight to establish a Polity as well as how to do so. This beginning series on the Polity has been focused on the why’s, how’s, and overcoming some of the hurdles.
The last installment was that we vet possible places our families may move to, or stay at, but that the purpose of vetting those locations was to submit. In other words, without clear, philosophical and religious markers at the beginning of this, before you have a true Polity, there is no way you will ever found a Polity in the end. It will be hard enough, no matter how persuasive you are, to change peoples habits and opinions from the liberal soup that they are raised and mired in to one in which there is a clear US-THEM dichotomy to which they adhere.
To this end, you need a strong, loving leader that knows and embodies these characteristics. That knows the dogmas of the Religion - in my case, Catholic. That is an acceptable Catholic leader must be able to not only know the Truths of the Faith, but take in lost souls, deal with disagreements within those of his flock, and mend the bonds between those individuals where he is given the grace.
I, while writing this piece, began listing some of the individual strengths of the leader of my own Polity before, upon some meditation, realizing his strengths were only good for his people, and wouldn’t work for others. This fits with my experience living in other locations, and under other priests - they wouldn’t work in my Polity, but were the correct priest for their flock. Thus, I am hesitant to put forward specific recommendations after this careful thought. Peoples, as a whole, have their wounds specific to that people, which their leader must be able to address, and you must be able to submit to the leader whom is addressing it.
That is why we spent time looking at if the people in his care are in good health, asking if they’re growing in virtue, etc.
You will need to also submit to the unofficial hierarchies as they grow within the Polity. And eventually the formal ones as well, God willing!
So, for the budding, potential Polity, it is absolutely critical that one be willing to submit to the religious authority before him, with an understanding that he is the one tending the garden, growing the future plants, trees, and forest within which you, your kin, and your ancestors will find a home.
He will be the one disciplining those unofficial hierarchies.
He will be the one that will tell the crazy women to back off when weak husbands, absent husbands, or dead husbands can not do so.
He is the one who is, ultimately, responsible if those kids are alright - it’s simply that we have an easier time discerning children’s spiritual, mental, and emotional health than the leadership virtues of the Priest!
Ultimately though, the Polity exists that all might grow in virtue and bring Glory to God. While yes, Aristotle will say that they formed, initially, for their base, animal needs - their final needs are higher.
That of the Cultus. Of determining how this people will know, love, and serve their Creator.
In art.
In dance.
In festivals.
Theatre.
Singing.
And all will be, should be, unique to the Polity. A unique culture, for a unique people.
So, while I may advocate the best place to start a Polity is, in my opinion, rural; that is merely because the folke are destitute, dying, and starving - spiritually, emotionally, financially… on all levels.
And they need leaders that can see this, and shepherd them through the night that is dark, long, full of wolves.
To lift them up when they’re down, running from the enemy.
So that when the howling subsides….
So that when the folke are healthy and strong…
We can lift each other up in virtue and strength.
So that when the time comes, we’re ready to hunt wolves!
The chief concern of the ruler of a multitude, therefore, is to procure the unity of peace. It is not even legitimate for him to deliberate whether he shall establish peace in the multitude subject to him, just as a physician does not deliberate whether he shall heal the sick man encharged to him, for no one should deliberate about an end which he is obliged to seek, but only about the means to attain that end. Wherefore the Apostle, having commended the unity of the faithful people, says: “Be ye careful to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.” Thus, the more efficacious a. government is in keeping the unity of peace, the more useful it will be. For we call that more useful which leads more directly to the end. Now it is manifest that what is itself one can more efficaciously bring about unity than several—just as the most efficacious cause of heat is that which is by its nature hot. Therefore the rule of one man is more useful than the rule of many.
- St Thomas Aquinas De Regno 17