Откъси от материали за четене Decentralized government – experiments with rules
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- Някои кратки текста за прочит: 1. Property Rights and Law Among the Ancient Greeks By Gregory F. Rehmke
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| Стопанската свобода и правата на собственост в Древна Гърция и Рим
(откъси от материали за четене) *** Decentralized government – experiments with rules Central to the rapid progress of Greek civilization was its very lack of a political center. No great king ruled the Greeks. Instead, dozens and later hundreds of independent poleis, or city-states, developed in concert but with full political independence. They flourished, both in Greece and in its colonies around the Mediterranean and Black Seas, from 800 to 300 B.C. Each city-state became a testing ground for small innovations in laws, economic policies, and political organization. City-states whose laws and customs encouraged innovation and wealth creation passed on news of these practices through trade, and exported their laws and institutions by establishing colonies (which competed with the colonies of other Greek cities). Travel and intermingling at the Olympic Games and other athletic and religious festivals cross-pollinated the Greek world, communicating political ideas, economic policies, and business practices between citizens of independent Greek cities. Cities with relatively high taxes and duties or other barriers to commerce discouraged agricultural and commercial progress and therefore tended to stagnate or decline. The city of Corinth, for example, became the early commercial leader of the Greek world by developing its harbor and port facilities to take advantage of its prime location. By the [p. 61] early fifth century B.C., however, Athens had supplanted Corinth as the commercial center of the Greek world. When its policies made it less competitive with Athens, Corinth, which had no political power over other Greek cities, was unable to hold onto its commercial power. *** Protection of family property The powers of the early polis were limited by the same Greek tradition that served to protect private property: a deep respect-even worship-of the family. Unlike most states founded with the conquest of one people over another, the Greek polis had its origin in pacts, probably for defensive reasons, between neighboring clans and tribes. Each clan or tribe had its own traditions of worship, and each family had a sacred enclosure protecting its sacred hearth and flame. Thus the men of the early ages . . . arrived . . . by virtue of their belief, at the conception of the right of property; this right from which all civilization springs, since by it man improves the soil, and becomes improved himself. *** Protection from confiscation The appropriation of land for public utility was unknown among the ancients. Confiscation was resorted to only in case of condemnation to exile. ***
If we understand by legislator a man who creates a code by the power of his genius, and who imposes it upon other men, this legislator never existed among the ancients. Nor did ancient law originate with the votes of the people. The idea that a certain number of votes might make a law did not appear in the cities until very late, and only after two revolutions had transformed them. Aristotle echoes this tradition in the Politics when he says that it is more proper that the law should govern than any of the citizens and that those appointed to power should be but guardians and servants of the law. Aristotle condemns governments where everything is determined by majority vote and not by law for in such cases the people govern and not the law. Sophocles' play Antigone turns on the existence of this higher law, which even the king cannot or should not ignore. Antigone, disobeying the direct orders of Creon, the king, buries her brother according to the sacred rituals, and tells the king: ‘Nor did I think your orders were so strong that you, a mortal man, could over-run the gods' unwritten and unfailing laws. Not now, nor yesterday's, they always live, and no one knows their origin in time. So not through fear of any man's proud spirit would I be likely to neglect these laws.’ *** Rule of law II: The reforms of Solon 594 B.C. Solon was not only the wisest man to be found in Athens, but the most profound political genius of antiquity; and the easy, bloodless, and pacific revolution by which he accomplished the deliverance of his country was the first step in a career which our age glories in pursuing, and instituted a power which has done more than anything, except revealed religion, for the regeneration of society. To the rich, who alone had the means of sustaining the burden of public service in taxation and war, Solon gave a share of power proportioned to the demands made on their resources. The poorest classes were exempt from direct taxes, but were excluded from office. Solon gave them a voice in electing magistrates from the classes above them, and the right of calling them to account. It introduced the idea that a man ought to have a voice in selecting those to whose rectitude and wisdom he is compelled to trust his fortune, his family, and his life. Government by consent superseded government by compulsion, and the pyramid, which had stood on a point, was made to stand upon its base. By making every citizen the guardian of his own interest, Solon admitted the element of Democracy into the State. The greatest glory of a ruler, he said, is to create a popular government. Believing that no man can be entirely trusted, he subjected all who exercised power to the vigilant control of those for whom they acted. The only resource against political disorders that had been known till then was the concentration of power. Solon undertook to effect the same object by the distribution of power. He gave to the common people as much influence as he thought them able to employ, that the State might be exempt from arbitrary government. Solon refused to confiscate and redistribute land, but his reforms canceled or reduced debts for small farmers and allowed them to own property-freeing them of their historical clientship to aristocratic families. He encouraged local industry by offering citizenship to craftsmen willing to immigrate to Athens, and encouraged the production and export of olive oil (in part by banning the export of any agricultural products except olive oil). It is the essence of Democracy, he said, to obey no master but the law. The direction of its growth was determined by the fundamental doctrine of Solon, that political power ought to be commensurate with public service. *** Commerce: Lack of control over naval transportation The Mediterranean region was the first to see the acceptance of a person's right to dispose over a recognised private domain, thus allowing individuals to develop a dense network of commercial relations among different communities. Such a network worked independently of the views and desires of local chiefs, for the movements of naval traders could hardly be centrally directed in those days. *** Free farms: business outside the reach of the sovereign Family-owned and -operated farms provided both the wealth and the hoplite defense for early ancient Greek cities. Their achievement, … was the precursor in the West of private ownership, free economic activity, constitutional government, social notions of equality, decisive battle, and civilian control over every facet of the military-practices that affect every one of us right now. These independent farmers carved their farms out of the wilderness around cities and developed apart from the estates long operated by the great aristocratic families. Secure property rights were essential for encouraging the long-term investments made by farming families. *** 2. The collapse of Rome: an economic freedom prospective The history of ancient Rome repeatedly demonstrates the connection between low taxes and prosperity. Taxes reached the point that most people could not meet their tax burdens out of their incomes and had to liquidate capital assets. They consequently became less productive, which reduced their income and caused them to fall further and further behind. Government confiscation of property to pay taxes was common. In Egypt during the reign of Nero, some farmers found the burden of taxation so great that they abandoned their farms. Entire villages were depopulated. Abandonment and confiscation became so widespread that one of the most frequently asked questions of temple oracles about a perspective groom was whether he would eventually run away or have the State take all of his property. The middle class was systematically destroyed as commerce ground to a halt and small landowners gave up their property to work under the protection of the politically connected owners of great estates. Diocletian, emperor from 284 to 305 A.D., attempted to counter the economic instability caused by his policies of high taxation by the unprecedented act of setting fixed prices for all goods and wages. Wheat, barley, rye, pheasant, and even sparrows and mice were among the goods under price control. The penalty for producers who disobeyed the price edict was death. The resulting damage to the economy was disastrous. To extract money, the authorities routinely tortured and beat taxpayers. Constantine eventually addressed this abuse by issuing an edict banning the use of the rack and scourges to “persuade” reluctant taxpayers to provide additional money; he also reduced some taxes. However, the tax system continued to routinely employ such punishments as beatings and imprisonment, and rates were much higher than most people could afford. *** Ако се поинтересуваме от възникването на някои монашески общности, например ранните монашески общества в Египет, в ръкописите от трети и четвърти век ще забележим, че членовете на тези общности са избягали от земите си към плодородните земи в делтата на Нил, за да се укрият от данъчните чиновници. Римското общество от второто и третото столетие след Христа се било превърнало в едно общество, стремящо се да събира данъци. Също така то се милитаризирало, като войниците били високоплатени и за да може това състояние да се поддържа, цялото население било обложено с високи данъци. Това положение достигнало до там, че за да бъдат събирани данъците, властта задължавала първенците – богатите хора в обществото, да събират големи данъчни суми всяка година. Ако не успеели, трябвало да ги заплатят от собственото си имущество. Ако то не се окажело достатъчно, всичко, което имали, се конфискувало, а самите те били продавани в робство. Така се развила една могъща система за събиране на данъци, а с нея и неимоверни усилия за избягването на жестокостта на тази система. Когато отците на Църквата критикуват богатите за техните жестокости, те имат предвид богатите, които били принудени да станат събирачи на данъци и – за да оцелеят, правели всичко възможно, за да събират данъците от другите. Така че тогава съществувала система, в която цялото общество се занимавало с това да събира и да избягва данъци. Ето защо, за да избягат от данъчните чиновници, големи маси от хора напускали своите стопанства и градовете си и се установявали в провинцията и в по-дивите места. Много от тях били религиозни хора и някои от ранните монашески общества се образували именно от такива бежанци. Някои кратки текста за прочит: 1. Property Rights and Law Among the Ancient Greeks By Gregory F. Rehmke http://www.freespeaker.org/international/ancientgreeks.html 2. The History of Freedom in Antiquity by Lord Acton An Address Delivered to the Members of the Bridgnorth Institute
Леонард Лиджио http://www.easibulgaria.org/docs/Liggio.doc Каталог: docs docs -> Провеждане на общинските състезания от ученически игри – 2015 г. Гр. Стара загора docs -> Опит в група чрез психодрама, социометрия и групова терапия docs -> Дв бр. 103 от 2 Декември 2008г., изм дв бр. 24 от 31 Март 2009г docs -> Фондация «Гъривер клиринг хауз» (c/o Център за култура и дебат „Червената къща”) docs -> Иван (Ванчо) Флоров и м а г и н е р н о с т а docs -> Соу „СВ. Св. Кирил и методий docs -> Рискови фактори на тютюнопушенето Изтегляне 37.45 Kb. Сподели с приятели:
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