Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. Weak men create hard times. Thus the cycle goes, or at least so it is said.
History is not so neat and tidy, however. If history really had set, knowable patterns that could not be altered, then there would be no need to discuss or think about political life. If something is inevitable, there is no need to debate about it. There are no choices to be made.
For instance, there is no point debating whether or not jumping off a tall cliff will lead to you falling to the ground. Gravity is not open to debate. It simply is. One cannot simply choose to fly around.
Political life is not like this. The future is unknown. We can make real choices that either lead us towards better outcomes or worse outcomes. At the level of a political regime, if statesmen continually choose to avoid foolish wars and to punish criminals, they will bring about peace.
If a nation has peace and freedom, then its people will be free to seek happiness through association and exchange. They will improve the arts and sciences in order to satisfy their needs and wants. They will trade peaceably with one another. In such circumstances, life will inexorably improve over time.
This is because all men seek good things and avoid bad things. When we truly find the good things we seek, that is happiness. These good things range from the simple—food and drink—to the elevated—knowledge of the world around us and friendship. To see our loved ones cured of illness, our children prosperous, and our cities clean and safe—these are great pleasures indeed. A good political regime secures the conditions for such happiness by protecting the citizenry from violent death.
When we solve the most basic problems of life—finding food, shelter, and safety—then we have time and resources to solve new problems or to solve the old problems more efficiently. The more that human beings focus on solving a problem, the more likely they are to succeed in solving that problem. If we break big problems into small problems and each of us adopts one of these small problems as our own to solve, then big problem after big problem will become solvable and solved.
This is prosperity. It is the highest happiness of this life.
Once this prosperity comes into being, it will only be broken by unforeseen natural disasters or by threats that the regime cannot maneuver out of diplomatically or defeat in open combat. In other words, good times can, in fact, lead to even better times, and life really can improve continuously.
Diseases that were incurable yesterday have become treatable. Vistas of intellectual and spiritual life that were once closed off by brutal violence and civil war become available. Art that was once the province only of the super wealthy becomes accessible to the common man. Grinding poverty is replaced by ever better and more efficient work. Leisure time becomes available to all.
Peace is the source of the greatest happiness for the greatest part of mankind. And, once we secure it, it is theoretically possible to continue in that state for a very long time. It is not inevitable that peace will destroy itself of its own accord.
If good times lead to weak men, then the times were not really good to begin with. If peace and prosperity lead to man’s degeneration, then peace and prosperity are evil, and we should choose endless war instead. We should choose to stay in the hard times forever.
If, on the other hand, war and peace are not a matter of choice but come from fate alone, then there is no need to discuss the conditions of peace or victory in war because there is nothing we can do to bring either into being. We ought to abandon ourselves to chance and cease to search for the improvement of our condition, finding consolation in the muck.
In light of these alternatives, I hold that we should maintain equanimity towards the future. We cannot see the unforeseeable. We cannot foresee all threats, and we cannot prepare for all accidents. Good times do not end because they make us weak, but because we do not know all things. Our natures are prone to ignorance and to passions that occlude the truth. This problem is simply with us in times both good and bad.
Our task is not to transform our nature, however. This is not possible. Rather, our work is to do the best we can with what we have. By taking cognizance of our ignorance and passions, we can seek to curtail our deficiencies. We can take a step back before making rash decisions.
We can, through prudence, hard work, and diligence, seek to mitigate the threats we see most clearly. We can approach our problems logically and meet the most urgent first. There is no guarantee that we will achieve our goals and that peace will endure, but we may well be able to stave off disaster in our lifetimes. Our children and children’s children may well do the same if we leave to them an inheritance of accumulated wisdom that they can use for themselves.
We should turn aside from both delusional optimism and pessimism alike.
We must recognize that while peace can endure and build upon itself, human beings are prone to stupidity and wickedness. It is simply a fact that some human beings find their highest happiness in murder, rape, torture, and theft. Their greatest pleasure is dealing out death and destruction. They will never be happy within a peaceful civilization.
These people cannot be cured; they can only be stopped. This requires the use of violence.
Moreover, there are powerful tendencies within the human heart to disregard logic and reason. Our knowledge of the world around us is only partial, and we have powerful passions that dissuade us from calm reflection.
It is easy, even for humane and otherwise civilized men, to be led into delusion. They may come to believe that their highest happiness should be in war and death. The only solution to this problem is a diligent return to clear and logical thinking. We must always look and again back to our first aims. What is it that we desire? Is it truly good for us? What will it take to achieve it?
This is the work of civilized men.