Poetry in Statecraft
Poetry in Statecraft
What is Poetry?
In his work A Defence of Poetry, Percy Bysshe Shelley tells us that “Poetry, in a general sense, may be defined to be ―the expression of the imagination: and poetry is connate with the origin of man. Man is an instrument over which a series of external and internal impressions are driven, like the alternations of an ever-changing wind over an Æolian lyre, which move it by their motion to ever-changing melody. But there is a principle within the human being, and perhaps within all sentient beings, which acts otherwise than in the lyre, and produces not melody alone, but harmony, by an internal adjustment of the sounds or motions thus excited to the impressions which excite them.”
And we have Albert Einstein to thank for this piece of wisdom from an interview published in the Saturday Evening Post in 1929:
“I believe in intuitions and inspirations. I sometimes feel that I am right. I do not know that I am. When two expeditions of scientists, financed by the Royal Academy, went forth to test my theory of relativity, I was convinced that their conclusions would tally with my hypothesis. I was not surprised when the eclipse of May 29, 1919, confirmed my intuitions. I would have been surprised if I had been wrong.”
“Then you trust more to your imagination than to your knowledge?”
“I am enough of the artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”
Indeed, Einstein did not derive his theories of special and general relativity specifically from any pre-existing formula or theory. He was aware of previous ideas, such as James Clerk Maxwell’s unification of electricity and magnetism; Bernhard Riemann’s 1854 Habilitation Dissertation, which investigated geometry right up to the door of the physics department; Pierre de Fermat’s theory that light travels the “Path of Quickest Time,” and Max Planck’s contributions to physics, for example. Special relativity is the result of Albert Einstein imagining what it must be like to experience the universe from the perspective of an observer travelling alongside electromagnetic radiation. The discoveries which resulted from this “thought-experiment” have had the effect of unlocking a wealth of technology and potential for the benefit of posterity. Albert Einstein’s imagination quite literally changed the world. For as long as there has been man to think and ask questions, there has been imagination and its expression: poetry! Who, then, are poets? Looking again to Shelley’s same work, this time the conclusion, we find that:
“The second part (of Shelley’s A Defence of Poetry –ed) will have for its object an application of these principles to the present state of the cultivation of poetry, and a defence of the attempt to idealize the modern forms of manners and opinions, and compel them into a subordination to the imaginative and creative faculty. For the literature of England, an energetic development of which has ever preceded or accompanied a great and free development of the national will, has arisen as it were from a new birth. In spite of the low-thoughted envy which would undervalue contemporary merit, our own will be a memorable age in intellectual achievements, and we live among such philosophers and poets as surpass beyond comparison any who have appeared since the last national struggle for civil and religious liberty. The most unfailing herald, companion, and follower of the awakening of a great people to work a beneficial change in opinion or institution, is poetry. At such periods there is an accumulation of the power of communicating and receiving intense and impassioned conceptions respecting man and nature. The person in whom this power resides, may often, as far as regards many portions of their nature, have little apparent correspondence with that spirit of good of which they are the ministers. But even whilst they deny and abjure, they are yet compelled to serve, that power which is seated on the throne of their own soul. It is impossible to read the compositions of the most celebrated writers of the present day without being startled with the electric life which burns within their words. They measure the circumference and sound the depths of human nature with a comprehensive and all-penetrating spirit, and they are themselves perhaps the most sincerely astonished at its manifestations; for it is less their spirit than the spirit of the age. Poets are the hierophants of an unapprehended inspiration; the mirrors of the gigantic shadows which futurity casts upon the present; the words which express what they understand not; the trumpets which sing to battle, and feel not what they inspire; the influence which is moved not, but moves. Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.” Emphasis Added
What marvelous inspiration Percy Bysshe Shelley must have had! So much is implicit, here. Percy Shelley appears to be telling us that poetry, the expression of the human imagination, is the ability to challenge successfully the ridiculous and superstitious notions which are often afforded the status of “sacred cows” precisely because they cannot stand up to scrutiny. And that where most people see history from the perspective of a starting point from which all else has flowed, with one event or series of events leading into the next, the poet instead sees the principle in operation from the reverse perspective: that history, or more specifically, the events of the present day, no matter what day, is operated on by the interests of the future of humanity. This concept appears to be enforced in our own constitution, by virtue of the inclusion of “to… establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common Defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity” (emphasis added) in the Preamble. It is a sentiment similar to the expression “we do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our descendants,” which is often attributed to a conservationist point of view: keep the earth in the condition you found it, your children are counting on you! I submit this is a co-optation of a more moral perspective. If we borrow the earth from our descendants, it becomes our duty to return it to their care in a better condition than it was in when we found it when we were born into it. This may appear to be contrary to the Second Law of Thermodynamics: entropy. But then, so does the concept of creativity, does it not?
If the poet is the mirror of the gigantic shadows that futurity casts upon the present, what information may we ascribe to that future by an examination of those shadows? Well, that depends on the poet! If your poet is suppressing speech and the exchange of information and ideas; if your poet is discriminating against the exercise and values of certain religions and facilitating and supporting others; if your poet is systematically denying by force and coercion the free exercise of God-given liberties, then that future is menacing, vicious, furious, and lethal. It is inspired, as Carl Schmitt was, for example, by Thomas Hobbes’s vision of an eternal war of each against all, where life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. If your poet honors and cherishes those rights of yours as much as his own; if he provides a vision and offers a challenge consistent with the morals and values of your history and founding; if he then steps back and allows the creative imaginations he has unleashed to work, then that future is bright, and filled with potential and opportunity, and the power of human beings to exist in nature, our economy, grows and expands. Consider the challenge offered by President John Kennedy of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth by the end of the 1960s. It was not something he decreed, or ordered. It was an appeal to our history and pride, and America willingly and eagerly accepted that challenge. By even the most conservative estimates, the Apollo Program returned to the economy one dime for every penny invested: 1000%! Eat your heart out, Adam Smith! This is a rate of return on investment which is unparalleled in human history, and remains unmatched to this day. There was no “invisible hand” at work, here. It was good old-fashioned American ingenuity and creativity. The Apollo Program had a distinctly Hamiltonian character. President Trump’s Artemis Program envisioned picking up where the Apollo Program naturally left off, with plans to return to the moon not simply to plant a flag, pat ourselves on the back and return home, but to establish an industrialized lunar colony and base from which to proceed with manned and unmanned exploration of the solar system and beyond, with eyes immediately upon Mars. President Trump would have left us a legacy which included the birth of the first human being born off of planet earth: the birth of humanity as a celestial species. President Washington would salute such an American leader! This is truly why he has been so viciously attacked and vilified as a President. He threatens to approach President Washington for his importance to human history, and we support him!
What happens when man achieves nuclear fusion power, especially if he is already established on more than one celestial body? The stars become the limit! It may be that the potential for the growth of that power to exist is as limitless as the universe appears to be, and our own imaginations!
What is Statecraft?
The dictionary defines statecraft as “the skillful management of state affairs; statesmanship.” Does this definition seem lacking to anyone else? By this definition, Lord Shelburne, William Petty Fitzmaurice and Lord Palmerston, Henry John Temple, were skillful statesmen. Accepting this proposition seems as problematic to me as accepting the notion that either Joe Biden or Kamala Harris are skillful statesmen. Or even that they are legitimately elected leaders, for that matter! May I submit for consideration an alternate definition of statecraft? One which may be more consistent with our American sense of justice and tranquility? Statecraft is the art and practice of establishing a just and lasting constitutional peace. It is not a coincidence that this definition offered here is reminiscent of the object of war, as war, justly and competently executed, is an instrument of statecraft. The establishment of a just and lasting constitutional peace requires as a precondition a population which shares the commitment to that object, and this is where our work must focus, in my opinion. Luckily for us, our American Revolution, the most stunning example of Poetry in Statecraft in human history, is already won. Consider, if you will, what it must have been like to be on the green by Concord Bridge on the morning of April 19, 1775. Paul Revere has alerted the militia, which has turned out under their flag to face oncoming trained and experienced British marines. You do not know what the future holds. You do not know if you will live to eat lunch. But you stand up and face the threat, prepared to defend principle, justice, and the future of humanity at the cost of your life, if necessary, because you imagine what it must be like to be born into a world where freedom from rule by oligarchy is the gift that your sacrifice has earned for posterity. What greater love of humanity can there be? Whenever the principles behind the American Revolution are employed, they prove superior to any other system known to man’s experience.
It has taken a long time, and a great deal of effort and corruption, for us to arrive at our present predicament. It may take some time to recover from this. But when we do start to recover, it should happen quickly. Our Constitution still has the answers. It always has; it always will, even as our descendants travel to distant stars. It is based on principles which are scientific, rigorous, moral, and eternal. It is based on the Natural law of the Creator, not the positive law of man. If we ever fail to be moved by a work of Classical art or music, is it the fault of the piece, or of the observer? If we fail to follow the Constitution, is it the fault of the Constitution, or of the people who do not follow it? The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, are such works of Classical art. They are timeless. They are, taken together and as a whole, the closest thing to perfection that mankind has yet achieved. The problems that we face today have their basis not in our constitution. Rather, they are based in the population which has that constitution, yet tolerates the abandonment of its principles in its public affairs. This is the issue I hope to address in my work. This is what my understanding of statecraft demands of me at this time in our history.
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-Tex