In The Republic, Plato described what he thought was the perfect society. In it, he believed that a society runs best when it is governed by the “philosopher king,” that is, someone with the knowledge necessary to address the problems of society, and the ability to operate the government. The rest of us are to follow, and society is in harmony when we just do what we’re told by this “all knowing” ruler. For thousands of years, brutal dictatorships have been justified by this philosophy of governance. Whether the rulers believed they had a “divine right” or were endowed with “special knowledge,” they believed they were put in charge of the government because of that special relationship with God or knowledge. They believed they had power because they were in the best position to exercise that power, and those of us who disagreed were dealt with harshly, because we were going against God’s will or accepted science.
During the Reformation period of Western Civilization, a doctrine arose in the legal and political firmament of the time called the “doctrine of lesser magistrates.” Simply stated, it said that those who were not in the top position of government, the so-called “lesser magistrates,” had a duty to resist the evil and/or illegal orders from the head of government. The Bible says that governments are put in place by God for the good of the people, and people have a Christian duty to follow the dictates of those in charge. In societies that cared about Christian values, that is a powerful mandate. How does one justify resistance to an illegal edict when the ruler invokes divine authority? Religious leaders of the time developed and taught the doctrine of lesser magistrates. It was one of the doctrines used to justify the American Revolution in the Declaration of Independence (“That whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it…”). In essence, the doctrine of lesser magistrates was a counterbalance to the tyrants, who claimed the divine right of kings (I believe there is no such thing as a philosopher king, all authoritarians are tyrants, no matter how benevolent the despot might be).
The doctrine of lesser magistrates fell into disuse in the wake of the rise of democratic Republics and Hegel’s philosophy of government. In a democratic Republic, rulers obtain their power through the “consent of the governed.” In a Republic, it was thought, people would remove the evil leaders, so the “people” were the lesser magistrates. In Hegel philosophy, which was used to justify the various forms of socialism (national and international), the “head of state” was the brains of the society, and had to have total loyalty in order to maintain order and prosperity. Since everyone else was the “body” that the brain was operating, no one could challenge the ruler. It would be like the liver overriding the brain and telling the brain what to do. Lesser magistrates were acting against the best interest of the body politic.
You are asking yourself, why is this guy talking about this stuff? Who cares? I believe that, if the last year has been any indication, we need to start talking about resistance to authoritarian rule, and its justifications. First, we were told we all have to bow to the “experts” and to “science” as they dictated our everyday lives. We were forced to stay at home, and stay away from our families, friends, churches and businesses, because so-called “experts,” in the Platonic tradition, knew best how we should live our lives. We should just accept our position as functionaries and leave the real governing to those who have the “special knowledge.” Unfortunately, too many Americans accepted this unauthorized intrusion into our daily lives.
In addition, many of the “lesser magistrates” who publicly claimed to oppose such intrusions, enforced them on the grounds that it was “their job.” These public health “experts” are not evil, we were told, they are just trying to keep us safe. They are only following the “science.” Yes, it intrudes on basic human freedoms, but we just don’t know what is best for us. We should just go along because these leaders know best. At every level, the state, county, local government, and courts have closed in around these experts, and have used government force to require us to become unemployed, or to lose our businesses, or simply stay at home. All of those in government, of course, continued to receive their paychecks, collect taxes from us, and told us simply to stay at home and shut up about their abuse of power. If any in government actually tried to resist this exercise of power, the full force of others in the government, the media, and the law was brought to bear to ensure silence or compliance.
Our Arrogant Lazy Authoritarian in Charge (ALAIC) Newsom, including many of the authoritarians who occupy positions of authority in the state government, has abused his power, using the so-called emergency of the disease as an excuse. The recent decision of the California Appeals Court that justified the illegal use of the “Emergency Services Act” was wrong. By placing no limits on the exercise of legislative power by the Governor in a state of emergency, except that his power ends when the Governor declares the emergency is over, the court has opened the door to the unrestricted use of power at the whim of the Governor, as long as he has some excuse for the declaration of an emergency.
That leaves us as the people of this state at the mercy of the corrupt use of power by an unrestrained authoritarian. Our only chance of resistance comes from the “lesser magistrates” who recognize the proper exercise of power, and are willing to resist the illegal actions of a corrupt Governor. It is time for the resurgence of the doctrine of lesser magistrates.