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radiescent

~ Richard A. Davis blogging

radiescent

Monthly Archives: July 2015

“We Have Abandoned War” by Kagawa

24 Friday Jul 2015

Posted by radiescent in Japan, peace, state, war

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Japan, peace, war

from The Christian Century, December 3, 1947 (who took it from the “Kagawa Calendar” of 1948).

We Have Abandoned War

By Toyohiko Kagawa

A typical modern state, cumbered with its heavy armament but well-nigh bereft of other values, reminds one of nothing so much as a naked savage, lugging around his javelin and poisoned arrows. States today seem nearer to the stage of barbarism than do many individuals.

By the abandonment of war, we in Japan have emerged from the era of barbarism. Thus we have been accorded a chance to make ourselves the most progressive and civilized of all the nations.

If only we had done this willingly ten years ago, history would have taken another course. But it is not too late for us.

Our new constitution will become a milestone in the realization of world peace. For the first time in human history, by our abandonment of war, the warning of Christ has been accepted by a national government: “All they that take the sword shall perish by the sword.”

We are going to alter the definition of a “great” state. A truly great state is not necessarily big, nor rich, nor quarrelsome with its neighbors. The great state is the one which is wise, moral and God-fearing. The ideal we pursue is that of making Japan a state with which God can be pleased. Thus may we arrive at the summit of civilization and set an example of a peace-loving state. Though not large, nor rich, nor strong, we may thus become truly great.

Chesterton explains the robbery of poor Greece by the rich…

04 Saturday Jul 2015

Posted by radiescent in economics, Quotes

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Chesterton, poverty, robbery

To-day the rich man knows in his heart that he is a cancer and not an organ of the State. He differs from all other thieves or parasites for this reason: that the brigand who takes by force wishes his victims to be rich. But he who wins by a one-sided contract actually wishes them to be poor. Rob Roy in a cavern, hearing a company approaching, will hope (or if in a pious mood, pray) that they may come laden with gold or goods. But Mr. Rockefeller, in his factory, knows that if those who pass are laden with goods they will pass on. He will therefore (if in a pious mood) pray that they may be destitute, and so be forced to work his factory for him for a starvation wage. It is said (and also, I believe, disputed) that Blücher riding through the richer parts of London exclaimed, “What a city to sack!” But Blücher was a soldier if he was a bandit. The true sweater feels quite otherwise. It is when he drives through the poorest parts of London that he finds the streets paved with gold, being paved with prostrate servants; it is when he sees the grey lean leagues of Bow and Poplar that his soul is uplifted and he knows he is secure. This is not rhetoric, but economics.

G. K. Chesterton, Eugenics and Other Evils (1922) [link to source on archive.org]

Chesterton on “The rich man to-day …”

04 Saturday Jul 2015

Posted by radiescent in Quotes

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Chesterton, private property, public property

The rich man to-day does not only rule by using private property; he also rules by treating public property as if it were private property.

G. K. Chesterton, Utopia of Usurers (2017) [link to page on archive.org]

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