Listening to the BBC World yesterday (Jan 31), my attention was piqued by an interview with Dr. Jan Halper-Hayes. Who is Dr. Halper-Hayes? Well, she is an advisor to Mr Trump. Her words: “Were this any other type of company, [Yates] would already be gone.” And, of course, she is right.
But this only punctuates the fact that the new administration (and evidently its supporters) believe that the United States is simply a “company” — poorly managed, perhaps — but a company nonetheless. And this means that they have no idea what distinguishes a republic from a private enterprise.
Oh. And did I mention that Dr Halper-Hayes is a writer for Breitbart? And that Steve Bannon, right-wing white supremacist and Breitbart leader is now on the National Security Council, I suspect less to serve as an advisor than to weed out the dead wood.
The term “statesman” here is better translated politician, “king” might be better translated oligarch, “household-manager” might be better translated business owner, and “master of slaves” despot. Aristotle’s point is that private entrepreneurs make terrible leaders in republics. They don’t get the rules.
How is it that 50% of the electorate does not know the difference between a private enterprise and a republic?