In October, 1959, Abraham Lincoln made his way to Milwaukee, on horse back, and gave a remarkable speech to the Wisconsin Agricultural Society. He went there to respond to charges that northern wage earners were no better off than southern slaves. This was a time when American industrialization was just beginning, when the entire economy was based on small farms. People with land had pretty much what they needed to take care of themselves, but this was beginning to change. Available land was running out.
Something about the southern charges bothered Lincoln. He may have sensed, as perhaps only he could, that something terrible like the Civil War was coming, and the southern charges would need full rebuttal. He likely had read the Communist Manifesto, with its thesis of wage earner slavery, it was published in English in 1850. An industrial worker society was already underway in England. He had been a farmer himself. Was he answering Karl Marx?
He spoke with great prescience. He foresaw the application of scientific knowledge to the problems of farming, and the coming of something like the tractor. He sensed how this would liberate farming from its drudgery and low return and greatly boost its production. But would this be progress? Would farm laborers be victims of their own success? Would they be more and more trapped by the low prices induced by their increased production?
Lincoln rejected what he called the ‘mud sill theory’:
“By some it is assumed that labor is available only in connection with capital – that nobody labors, unless somebody else, owning capital, somehow, by the use of that capital, induces him to do it. Having assumed this, they proceed to consider whether it is best that capital shall hire laborers, and thus induce them to work by their own consent, or buy them, and drive them to it without their consent. Having proceeded so far, they naturally conclude that all laborers are necessarily either hired laborers or slaves. They further assume that whoever is once a hired laborer, is fatally fixed in that condition for life: and thence, again, that his condition is as bad as, or worse than, that of a slave. This is the mud-sill theory”.
Labor creates capital, he reasoned, and in America laborers can own their capital, they can be both laborers and owners. In this way, they can avoid serfdom. In addition to the return from their labor, they can also receive return from their capital, thus avoiding the low wage effects of increased productivity, and maintaining independence from the power of capital.
“Property is the fruit of labor – property is desirable – it is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich, shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.” March 21, 1864 Reply to New York Workingman’s Association
People seem unusually polite in coffee houses. Coffee house patrons are often regulars, and social interaction research, launched by the seminal book, The Evolution of Cooperation, by Robert Axelrod, 1984, has found that an ‘expectation of future repetitive interaction’ drives cooperative behavior. When people expect to see one another again, they have a stake in getting along, and so they are more civil. What is important it that this civility happens unconsciously. We tend to think that civility and good behavior are learned. Yet, here, a circumstance of human interaction – an expectation of future interaction – evokes civility and good behavior. This is the central idea of communitarianism.
This should have profound implications for our political thinking.
There has always been a folk wisdom that holds that anonymity, living in crowds, fosters crime and uncivil behavior. Think of Kitty Genovese, stabbed to death in New York City, pleading for help while her apartment neighbors did not act. This is the corruption of the city, in contrast to the nobility of small town decency. In The Lord of the Rings, by J. R.R. Tolkien, the moral decency – thatliterally saves the world – comes from small people form small community life, the shire.
Jane Jacobs, in “Death and Life of Great American Cities” 1961, famously opposed the freeways that would break up New York neighborhoods. She highlighted the communal vitality of small enclaves of interactive, interdependent locations that have ‘eyes on the street’. She saved areas like Greenwich Village from the notorious highway planner Robert Moses. She loved coffee houses.
Physically organizing the architecture of our social interactions such that ‘expectations of future repetitive interaction’ regularly occur would seem to deserve to be an essential element of our political planning. Coffee houses, sidewalks, neighborhood schools, local business, front porches, all may drive civility more effectively than moral education. The social hygiene that is created from the proper scale and pattern of social interaction is likely every bit as fundamental as clean air and water.
If Progressivism increases mass scale in all aspects of our civil life, and breaks up the dynamism and autonomy of small scale communities, and thereby reduces future repetitive social interaction – and Thinkagain believes it may – then Progressivism may be due for an overhaul.
Public schools are no longer neighborhood schools, food is no longer locally produced, health care is slated for national organization. Progressives think of themselves as for small scale autonomy, like Jane Jacobs. Yet, the effects of Progressivism seem more and more to be large scale, and centralized, like Robert Moses.
Commit a communitarian act every day, repetitively interact.
Thinkagain is dedicated to coffee houses and Jane Jacobs.
https://thinkagainonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ThinkAgain-nsq.jpg00Think Againhttps://thinkagainonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ThinkAgain-nsq.jpgThink Again2010-01-11 16:42:282010-01-11 16:42:28Coffee House Progressivism
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Lincoln Economics
/in All, PoliticsIn October, 1959, Abraham Lincoln made his way to Milwaukee, on horse back, and gave a remarkable speech to the Wisconsin Agricultural Society. He went there to respond to charges that northern wage earners were no better off than southern slaves. This was a time when American industrialization was just beginning, when the entire economy was based on small farms. People with land had pretty much what they needed to take care of themselves, but this was beginning to change. Available land was running out.
Something about the southern charges bothered Lincoln. He may have sensed, as perhaps only he could, that something terrible like the Civil War was coming, and the southern charges would need full rebuttal. He likely had read the Communist Manifesto, with its thesis of wage earner slavery, it was published in English in 1850. An industrial worker society was already underway in England. He had been a farmer himself. Was he answering Karl Marx?
He spoke with great prescience. He foresaw the application of scientific knowledge to the problems of farming, and the coming of something like the tractor. He sensed how this would liberate farming from its drudgery and low return and greatly boost its production. But would this be progress? Would farm laborers be victims of their own success? Would they be more and more trapped by the low prices induced by their increased production?
Lincoln rejected what he called the ‘mud sill theory’:
“By some it is assumed that labor is available only in connection with capital – that nobody labors, unless somebody else, owning capital, somehow, by the use of that capital, induces him to do it. Having assumed this, they proceed to consider whether it is best that capital shall hire laborers, and thus induce them to work by their own consent, or buy them, and drive them to it without their consent. Having proceeded so far, they naturally conclude that all laborers are necessarily either hired laborers or slaves. They further assume that whoever is once a hired laborer, is fatally fixed in that condition for life: and thence, again, that his condition is as bad as, or worse than, that of a slave. This is the mud-sill theory”.
Labor creates capital, he reasoned, and in America laborers can own their capital, they can be both laborers and owners. In this way, they can avoid serfdom. In addition to the return from their labor, they can also receive return from their capital, thus avoiding the low wage effects of increased productivity, and maintaining independence from the power of capital.
“Property is the fruit of labor – property is desirable – it is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich, shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.” March 21, 1864 Reply to New York Workingman’s Association
Coffee House Progressivism
/in All, IdeasPeople seem unusually polite in coffee houses. Coffee house patrons are often regulars, and social interaction research, launched by the seminal book, The Evolution of Cooperation, by Robert Axelrod, 1984, has found that an ‘expectation of future repetitive interaction’ drives cooperative behavior. When people expect to see one another again, they have a stake in getting along, and so they are more civil. What is important it that this civility happens unconsciously. We tend to think that civility and good behavior are learned. Yet, here, a circumstance of human interaction – an expectation of future interaction – evokes civility and good behavior. This is the central idea of communitarianism.
This should have profound implications for our political thinking.
There has always been a folk wisdom that holds that anonymity, living in crowds, fosters crime and uncivil behavior. Think of Kitty Genovese, stabbed to death in New York City, pleading for help while her apartment neighbors did not act. This is the corruption of the city, in contrast to the nobility of small town decency. In The Lord of the Rings, by J. R.R. Tolkien, the moral decency – that literally saves the world – comes from small people form small community life, the shire.
Jane Jacobs, in “Death and Life of Great American Cities” 1961, famously opposed the freeways that would break up New York neighborhoods. She highlighted the communal vitality of small enclaves of interactive, interdependent locations that have ‘eyes on the street’. She saved areas like Greenwich Village from the notorious highway planner Robert Moses. She loved coffee houses.
Physically organizing the architecture of our social interactions such that ‘expectations of future repetitive interaction’ regularly occur would seem to deserve to be an essential element of our political planning. Coffee houses, sidewalks, neighborhood schools, local business, front porches, all may drive civility more effectively than moral education. The social hygiene that is created from the proper scale and pattern of social interaction is likely every bit as fundamental as clean air and water.
If Progressivism increases mass scale in all aspects of our civil life, and breaks up the dynamism and autonomy of small scale communities, and thereby reduces future repetitive social interaction – and Thinkagain believes it may – then Progressivism may be due for an overhaul.
Public schools are no longer neighborhood schools, food is no longer locally produced, health care is slated for national organization. Progressives think of themselves as for small scale autonomy, like Jane Jacobs. Yet, the effects of Progressivism seem more and more to be large scale, and centralized, like Robert Moses.
Commit a communitarian act every day, repetitively interact.
Thinkagain is dedicated to coffee houses and Jane Jacobs.
Terms and Conditions of Use
/in WritingsThe information and materials displayed on this site reflect the views and opinions of the individual authors. The information and materials are not to be relied on as factual or for any other purpose.
Disclaimer of Warranties
The authors make no representations as to accuracy, completeness, currentness, suitability or validity of any information on this site and will not be liable for any errors, omissions or delays in this information or any losses, injuries or damages arising from its display or use.
All information and materials on this site are provided “as is” without warranty of any kind, either express or implied including, but not limited to, implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.
Limitation of Damages
In no event shall any author be libel to any entity or individual for any lost profits, direct, indirect, punitive, special, incidental, consequential or other damages arising directly or indirectly from the use of, or the inability to use, the content, materials and functions of this site or any third party site linked to this site.
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/in All, Writings“May you live in interesting times.”
We do.
There is the power to inform,
And the power to misinform.
We must think. . . . and
Think again
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