Cato's Letters: The Rules for Republics
Cato’s Letters help us recall the remarkable ideas and philosophies that helped shape
Cato's Letters Dallas, Sushi, and South Africa
Thanksgiving brings to mind not only turkeys, family, and friends, but also should help us recall the remarkable ideas and philosophies that helped shape, and indeed were, the foundation for the United States of America as a Republic.
In that spirit, we will forgo for this week the series we have been exploring on cycles and the examination of budgets and deficits, debt and taxes, and the future crisis they will bring if not dealt with. Rather, let's reflect on what we want our world to look like after that crisis. What should be our guiding principles?
Most of us are aware that the founding fathers read Locke, Hume, Smith, et al. But not many of us are aware that there was another series of papers that were just as influential as the works of more famous philosophers. They were clearly a part of the background for the Federalist Papers and, later, our Constitution.
My friend Joe Lonsdale, most well-known for his prodigious and successful venture capital efforts (Palantir, Anduril, Oculus, software, healthcare, etc.) and founder of 8VC, which manages $6 billion in early-stage startups, also writes and hosts a podcast on a wide range of topics. He also founded The Cicero Institute, a pro-liberty think tank and activist group focused on changing things at the state level. They have been very successful.
This week, he writes about Cato's letters, a series of 144 writings published between 1720 and 1723 in London on government and corruption and what is necessary for republics to succeed. They were very influential in pre–Revolutionary War America. He has kindly given me permission to use his work for this week's letter.
Before we dive in, let me strongly encourage you to subscribe to his newsletter. You can navigate to all his work from that site. He interviews the Who's Who of the tech world, politics, and more, as well as writes.
Now, let's think about what we want our country to look like, to act like, after we solve the coming crisis.
Cato's Letters: The Rules for Republics
By Joe Lonsdale
In Revolutionary America, colonists read Cato's Letters for its rousing lessons on liberty, power, tyranny, and republican government.
If you were to attend an average American history course today, you'd be lucky to pick up on any principles behind the American Revolution beyond unjust taxation and perhaps opposition to monarchy. If you were unlucky, you might hear fantastical reasons like white supremacy and slavery, as posited in the radical revisionist "1619 Project."
One thing you would struggle to find is any mention of the most popular political work of the late-colonial period that educated colonists knew and could often quote: Cato's Letters.
2023 marks the 300th anniversary of the publication of the collection of 138 pseudonymous letters in English newspapers. They were penned in response to public outrage over the South Sea Bubble and were influential in British politics and in the colonies.
Authors John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon chose the Roman statesman and Stoic Cato the Younger (95–46 BC) as a pseudonym because of his strong opposition to corruption in the Roman Republic. In his final days during the Civil War, he committed suicide rather than surrender to Julius Caesar, whose tyrannical claims Cato opposed.
The South Sea bubble was an early instance of government-corporate cronyism. In 1711, the South Sea Company was formed as a speculative venture to exchange England's nine-million-pound national debt for shares in the company. The company's purported value was based on a monopoly granted by Parliament to trade in the Spanish colonies of the New World and a license to provide African slaves to those colonies.
The company never turned a profit, nor could it even make interest payments, but company leaders, speculators, and even British royals drove the price of the stock in 1720 from £125 to £950 in just six months through intense speculation. When the bubble burst, share prices fell to £185, many lost huge sums, and the debt had to be exchanged once again into the national bank and other public financial institutions.
Trenchard and Gordon recognized the South Sea Bubble not merely as a financial crisis, but a crisis of political corruption and lack of public spirit: government leaders had colluded with financial manipulators on a huge racket and betrayed the public trust. If that sounds familiar, you'll understand why I want my fellow citizens to revisit the letters with me. The acts of government-corporate collusion and mischief take different forms today, but the underlying problems are largely the same. Below, I share some key lessons for our current age.
Note: unless otherwise noted, "Cato" refers to Trenchard and Gordon, the authors of the 18th-century letters, not the ancient Cato Younger
The Art of Liberty Foundation has become the #1 voice in the voluntaryist revolution exposing the illegitimacy and criminality of “Government.”
Operating on a shoestring budget we have proven ourselves to be capable, ingenious and thrifty, hitting above our weight in every category.
Here is a sneak peek from our upcoming annual report to give you a flavor for what we have been able to accomplish in the past year.
Foundation Total Revenue – Up 27% (from $116K - $148K… through Nov!)
Media & Podcast Appearances – 263% (from 11 to 40… through Nov!)
Conferences & Events – Up 100% (from 3 to 6, including creating our own!)
Book Sales Revenue– Up 40.4% (from $27,825 to $39,081… Through Nov!)
New Bookstore Customers- Up 37.9% (from 416 to 574… Through Nov!)
Copies of “Gov’t” Sold- Up 28% (from 871 to 1114… not including conferences)
Total Books/Products Sold On-Line – Up 25% (From 1599 to 1904)
New Publications: 1 The Daily News on Substack
Major Accomplishments in 2023: New 5th Edition of “Government” – The Biggest Scam in History… Exposed! New 64GB Liberator, Our own conference (Liberty on the Rocks – Sedona), which was recorded and being released on streaming, a DVD and flash drive, a new streaming media website (Watch.ArtOfLiberty.org), new publication: The Daily News on Substack,
We are in the midst of our first major fundraising campaign.
If you value what we do, would you please consider becoming an annual sponsor of the Foundation at ArtOfLiberty.org/Sponsor
OR Going paid on Substack at whatever level you can comfortably afford!
Thank you,
