Voltaire, the French enlightenment philosopher, believed in the power of reason as a defense against the whimsical monarchies and religious doctrines of the 18th century. This emphasis on reason has become a staple of modern democracy. We talked with John Ralston Saul, author of "Voltaire's Bastards: The Dictatorship of Reason in the West" about the decline of Western civilization. The full, fifteen minute interview follows.
The first edition of the book was published two decades ago. At 6:13, Saul explains the history of debt, and why African in-debt-ed-nes is not just so disimilar to the predatory financial industry constructs in the U.S. Also, we get into the worship of the managerial state and our so-called "leadership" at 1:22.
Unfortunately, we didn't get into the issue of whether there's too much "stuff" in the economy. But, we did get into some of this:
And that's just the introduction :->
Best,
Bob (twitter: EnglishPI [4])