Liberal Thought in Argentina, 1837–1940. Группа авторов
Читать онлайн книгу.
father against son, brother against brother, family against family, in order to rule.
Blinded and confined in his ego, man thought it just to sacrifice the well-being of others to his passions, and peoples and men warred and tore each other apart like wild animals.
“By the law of God and mankind all men are brothers. Any act of selfishness is an attack on human fraternity.”5
Selfishness is the death of the soul. The selfish man does not feel love,
[print edition page 33]
or charity, or friendliness toward his brothers. All his acts are for the satisfaction of ego; all his thoughts and actions revolve around his ego; and duty, honor, and justice are empty, meaningless words for his depraved spirit.
Selfishness becomes deified and makes its heart the center of the universe. All tyrants are selfishness embodied.
It is the duty of all men who know their mission to fight it hand-to-hand until it is annihilated.
Fraternity is the golden chain that must link all pure and truly patriotic hearts; without this there is no strength, no union, no homeland.
Any act, any word that seeks to loosen this tie is an attack on the homeland and on humanity.
Let us forget the errors of our forefathers; man is fallible. Let us fairly take stock of their deeds and let us see what we would have done under the same circumstances. What we are and what we shall be in the future, we owe to them. Let us open up the sanctuary of our hearts to those who truly served the homeland and sacrificed themselves for it.
The selfish and the evil shall get their due; the judgment of posterity awaits them. The motto of the new generation shall be fraternity.
“Under the law of God and of mankind, all men are equal.”6
For equality to become a reality it is necessary for men to be imbued with their rights and obligations unto each other.
Equality amounts to those rights and duties being equally admitted and declared by all, and no one being able to avoid the action of the law that establishes them, each man being equally entitled to their enjoyment in proportion to his intelligence and labor. All privilege is an attack on equality.
There is no equality where the wealthy class takes precedence and has more privileges than others.
Where a certain class monopolizes the public future.
Where influence and power paralyze the action of the law for some and strengthen it for others.
Where only the parties, not the nation, are sovereign.
Where taxation is not shared equally and in proportion to the assets and industry of each man.
[print edition page 34]
Where the poorer class suffers alone the harshest social burdens, such as military service, etc.
Where the last henchman of power can violate the security of the liberty of the citizen with impunity.
Where rewards and jobs are not given on fact-based merit.
Where each public employee is a mandarin to whom the citizen must bow.
Where public employees are servile agents of power, not paid by and dependent on the nation.
Where the parties grant titles and rewards at their whim.
Where talent and integrity have no merit, but abject stupidity and adulation do.
Any privilege granted to a civil, military, or religious corporation, academy, or university, any exceptional or special law, is also an attack on equality.
Society, or the power that represents it, owes all its members equal protection, security, and liberty; if it is granted to some and not to others, there is inequality and tyranny.
Social power is not moral, nor does it fulfill its ends if it does not protect the weak, the poor, and the needy; that is, if it does not put to use the means that society has put in its hands to bring about equality.
Equality is related to the enlightenment and the well-being of citizens.
Enlightening the masses on their true rights and obligations, educating them in order to make them capable of exercising their citizenship and instilling in them the dignity of free men, protecting them and stimulating them to work and be industrious, giving them the means to acquire well-being and independence: this is how we raise them to a position of equality.
The only hierarchy that must exist in a democratic society is that which originates in nature and is as invariable and necessary as nature itself.
Money can never be a qualification if it is not in the hands of the pure, the charitable, and the virtuous. A stupid and villainous soul, a depraved and selfish heart, might be favored by fortune; but neither the gold nor the incense of the lowest commoner will ever instill in them what nature has denied them: republican capacity and virtues.
God, supreme intelligence, wanted man to stand out for his reason
[print edition page 35]
and intelligence so that he would rule over all creation and overcome all other creatures.
Intelligence, virtue, capacity, proven merit; these are the only hierarchies of man’s natural and divine origin.
Society acknowledges only merit attested for in deeds. Society asks of the general, covered in titles and medals: what useful victory have you brought for your country? Of the leader and the affluent it asks: what relief have you brought to the poverty and needs of the people? Of the individual: for what deeds have you merited the respect and consideration of your fellow citizens and humanity? And of all of us, in short: under what circumstances have you proven yourselves to be capable, virtuous, and patriotic?
He who has no answer to these questions, and yet manifests pretensions and seeks supremacy, is a fool who deserves only our pity and contempt.
The problem with social equality lies in this principle: “To each man according to his capacity; to each man according to his deeds.”7
“Under the law of God and of humanity all men are free.”
“Freedom is the right that every man has to use his faculties without any hindrance whatsoever in the pursuit of his well-being, and to choose the means that might help him achieve his goal.”8
The free exercise of individual faculties must not cause injury or violence to the rights of others. Do not unto others what you would not have done unto yourself; human liberty has no other limits.
There is no liberty where man cannot change his abode as he pleases.
Where he is not permitted to enjoy the fruits of his industry and his labor.
Where he must sacrifice his time and his assets to power.
Where he can be harassed and insulted by the thugs of an arbitrary power.
Where without having broken the law, without prior judgment or
[print edition page 36]
due process whatsoever, he can be incarcerated or deprived of the use of his physical or intellectual faculties.
Where his right to speak or publish his opinions is limited.
Where a religion or form of worship is imposed on him that differs from that which his conscience judges to be true.
Where he can be arbitrarily disturbed in his home, torn from the bosom of his family, and banished beyond his homeland.
Where his security, his life, and his assets are at the mercy of a leader’s whim.
Where he is obliged to bear arms without absolute need and without this being required by the common good.
Where obstacles and conditions are placed on the exercise of any industry whatsoever,