http://www.americaontrial.biz/nucleus3.22/ political theory philosophy political science america on trial m.c. williams en-us Nucleus CMS v3.22 © Weblog http://backend.userland.com/rss http://www.americaontrial.biz/nucleus3.22//nucleus/nucleus2.gif http://www.americaontrial.biz/nucleus3.22/ http://www.americaontrial.biz/nucleus3.22/index.php?itemid=18 This new political philosopher's master-work presents an elegant political theory based on fractal geometry, Aristotle and Montesquieu. M.C. Williams' America On Trial is not for beginners, but serious lovers of political philosophy will cherish it. Intricate, fascinating, and utterly classical, Williams has prepared a feast for thinkers of all ages. At only $3.50 for the e-book, its a sure bet.]]> Harmonic Constitution http://www.americaontrial.biz/nucleus3.22/index.php?itemid=18 Fri, 22 Dec 2006 17:29:36 -0700 http://www.americaontrial.biz/nucleus3.22/index.php?itemid=15
WHAT IS THE HARMONIC CONSTITUTION?:

Technically, the Harmonic Constitution is a constitutional meta-theory combining three separation-of-powers theories into a unified proportional equation. It attempts to specify the correct proportions in a constitution of nine elements: democracy, aristocracy, monarchy, executive power, legislative power, judicial power, and the three matrices of geographic dispersion, the x,y,and z coordinates of the Cartesian grid. These nine elements are put into mutual balance by inserting them algebraically and geometrically into the ancient harmonic mean, thus the Harmonic Constitution. It is a theory posited by the American political philosopher M. C. Williams in his book, America On Trial.

THE BASIC THEORY:

The Harmonic Constitution is a formula for political justice. Justice is always found in a mean of some kind, and political justice is always concerns who rules, how they rule, and where they rule. Hence, political Justice requires an amalgam of 3 separation-of-powers theories, one addressing each of these concerns, to wit: who gets to rule, (think Democracy/Monrachy/Aristocracy), how they rule, (executive/legislative/judicial power) and where they rule (federalism and fractal geometry) These three theories pre-date the Harmonic Constitution by hundreds and even thousands of years. The Harmonic Constitution merely combines them by applying a harmonic mean. This produces the Harmonic Constitution, a framework for weighing and analyzing all constitutions, thus a constitutional meta-theory.

THREE PARTS OF THE THEORY

Williams' theory combines three ‘separations’ of powers theories. The first of these concerns who rules. “Who gets to rule” is essentially the ancient separation of powers doctrine presented by Plato and Aristotle. The answer is a balance between the one, some and all, or Monarchy, Aristocracy, and Democracy. It is a 3-way separation of powers, often called the per-capita separation theory, or simply the ‘ancient’ separation of powers.

“How they rule” is essentially Montesquieu’s functional separation of powers, between executive, legislative and judicial exercise of power. This is also a three part separation of powers theory.

“Where they rule” is the federal question, namely, where do certain groups exercise certain functional powers, i.e. this government here, that one there, this above that, and those below these. This is a three-element separation, as each is arranged spatially on the x-y-z Cartesian grid. The question of where is geometrically solved by application of principles from Fractal Geometry. In brief, the constitution should be as fractal as possible, being made up entirely of smaller copies of itself, ad infinitum. Thus, the Harmonic Constitution purports to supply the ideal geometry of justice.

APPLYING THE HARMONIC MEAN

The Harmonic Constitution prescribes how these three separation theories, each subdivided into three components, “fit” together, i.e. how and in what proportion each of the sub-divisions or ‘elements’ interrelates with the others. It does this through application of the harmonic mean.


GEOMETRY OF THE HARMONIC MEAN

Geometrically speaking, the harmonic mean is obtained by cutting a line in two places such that the interior sections mirror the exterior. In the line segment A***B*C**D, the harmonic mean is realized if cuts are made at B and C, since the internal section B*C**D is proportional to the exterior sections, A**C****D. One is the other, flipped around and doubled.

The proportions are deduced through the following reasoning: Justice results from the government being balanced with the people, i.e. 50% of the power should be held by the people at large (the democratic element) and 50% by the government (aristocratic and Monarchic elements) Then, the Government itself should be a balance of the 3 functions, the Legislative, Executive, and Monarchic. The government’s three branches, and this is crucial, are not democratic. The government is completely made up of Aristocratic and Monarchic power, counterbalanced by the equal and opposite democratic element, the People. The Executive function is intrinsically Monarchic, and the Legislative and Judicial are Aristocratic (both being the rule of the few). When diagrammed geometrically, this turns out to be an instance of the harmonic mean, a geometric and algebraic formula mentioned by Euclid and Archimedes, among others. The Democratic Element is the people, and these have an equal power against the Government, influencing it through the elective and other processes.

SUB-THEORIES OF THE HARMONIC CONSTITUTION

Fractal Micro-Fedaralism. This sub-theory posits that all governments should be made up of smaller, identically formed governments, from the largest political unit down to the individual citizen. This purportedly is the most politically powerful constitutional arrangement. As the harmonic constitution is posited as the largest political unit, it follows that it must be federalized entirely into smaller harmonic constitutions, which are themselves likewise micro-federalized into still smaller harmonic constitutions, ad infinitum. This is known as fractal micro-federalism.

Constitutional Dialecticalism This sub-theory posits that the functional powers of legislation, execution, and adjudication continually fragment and recombine, ad infinitum. In an unbalanced constitution, they start as a whole, fragment into three, and then recombine, again and again. This process is arrested by the construction of a balanced harmonic constitution, whereupon the dialectical action is stayed by mutual counterbalance.
]]> General Category http://www.americaontrial.biz/nucleus3.22/index.php?itemid=15 Thu, 23 Feb 2006 11:33:14 -0700 http://www.americaontrial.biz/nucleus3.22/index.php?itemid=9 Apportioning the Attorney General http://www.americaontrial.biz/nucleus3.22/index.php?itemid=9 Tue, 8 Nov 2005 14:24:19 -0700 http://www.americaontrial.biz/nucleus3.22/index.php?itemid=8 Harmonization http://www.americaontrial.biz/nucleus3.22/index.php?itemid=8 Tue, 8 Nov 2005 14:23:59 -0700 http://www.americaontrial.biz/nucleus3.22/index.php?itemid=7 Constitutional Dialecticalism http://www.americaontrial.biz/nucleus3.22/index.php?itemid=7 Tue, 8 Nov 2005 14:23:39 -0700 http://www.americaontrial.biz/nucleus3.22/index.php?itemid=6 Fractal Micro-Federalism http://www.americaontrial.biz/nucleus3.22/index.php?itemid=6 Tue, 8 Nov 2005 14:22:51 -0700 http://www.americaontrial.biz/nucleus3.22/index.php?itemid=5 Harmonic Constitution http://www.americaontrial.biz/nucleus3.22/index.php?itemid=5 Tue, 8 Nov 2005 14:22:20 -0700 http://www.americaontrial.biz/nucleus3.22/index.php?itemid=4 The Absolute Equation http://www.americaontrial.biz/nucleus3.22/index.php?itemid=4 Tue, 8 Nov 2005 14:21:05 -0700 http://www.americaontrial.biz/nucleus3.22/index.php?itemid=3
But where most Greek and Roman philosophers stopped, M.C. Williams plows on, reaping the harvests of Jean-Jaques Rousseau, Niccolo Machiavelli, Montesquieu and John Locke, tenderly reaping their fruit and placing it logically into the feast of political theory he is preparing. Lost in his summations of the giants of philosophy, one often forgets that Williams is quietly becoming one himself, building an utterly astounding political theory upon the shoulders of these luminaries, and not just teaching, although he does plenty of that.

M.C. Williams borrows equally from law and economics, as well as political science, in casting his philosophy. John Rawls, Adam Smith, Posner, Scalia, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, Algernon Sydney, Trenchard and Gordon, Thomas Jefferson, Hobbes, Kant, Hume, Heidigger, Hussurl, and Helvetius all make appearances, and great as they are, become but marionettes in Williams' hands as he works towards his ultimate exposition.

One cannot be surprised, after awhile, to find M.C. Williams mining the subjects of Physical Science for political gems and nuggets. Williams makes it clear that there is a geometry of justice, a shape, an equation, a physical reality to it, taking him deep into the realms of fractals, fractal geometry, from which he constructs crystalline structures of fractal politics and fractal constitutions. Just as he did in the Sophomoric Discourses, he continues to display his almost supernatural ability to find political truths in practically anything, however seemingly irrelevant, esoteric or unrelated.

M.C. Williams' esoteric political theory is based upon Greek drama, especially Sophocles' Antigone. But against this backdrop, he ruthlessly applies Plato's lessons from the Gorgias, Crito, Meno, Laws, Protagoras, Phaedrus, Alcibiades, Hippias and other dialogs. Aristotelian principles are also brought to bear, from the Posterior Analytcs, Prior Analytics, Metaphysics, Nichomachaean Ethic, and Rhetoric. To this he adds historical lessons and examples from Napoleon, Julius Caesar, Roman history, the Achaean League, Athens, Sparta, and even ancient Korea. Williams has a relentless and bewildering ability to synthesize virtually everything he touches upon into his fascinating final tour-de-force theory, the fractal harmonic constitution. With his work, he has left everyone so far behind that he virtually cannot be argued with, only argued about. His esoteric style and literary genius render him nearly impossible to refute, or even pin down entirely, and yet his political theory arises as crisp and precise as an architects' blueprint. ]]> Philosophy of M.C. Williams http://www.americaontrial.biz/nucleus3.22/index.php?itemid=3 Tue, 8 Nov 2005 14:08:03 -0700