The Daily Stoic - The Kind of Politics You Should Study

Episode Date: September 30, 2019

Following today’s politics is easy. You turn on the news and a bunch of pretty people tell you that your side is good and the other side is irredeemably evil. You pull up social media and you get a bunch of rage profiteers telling you what to be outraged or angry about. Everything is simple and clear cut, compromise is unnecessary, and, in the end, none of it really matters anyway because the world is going to end in 2024 in nuclear holocaust, 2050 from climate change, or any day now in the rapture. Needless to say, that’s not very valuable or very philosophical. What is a Stoic to do? Especially when politics and participation in the polis and empire was so essential to Zeno and Marcus Aurelius and Seneca. Well first, they’d urge you to turn backwards to better understand the present day. Even the early American founders knew this. As John Adams wrote to his son in 1777:“There is no History, perhaps, better adapted to this useful purpose than that of Thucydides…You will find it full of Instruction to the Orator, the Statesman, the General, as well as to the Historian and the Philosopher.” Indeed, people in the State Department right now are reading Thucydides to better understand the rising threat of China. Countless millions—including many of the Stoics—have read it over the last 2000 years to understand the ethical dilemmas inherent in leadership, in war, in politics, and in life. Because Thucydides was so smart, so timeless, he is able to teach lessons to us even now. And because the countries and the events are so distant and impersonal to us, we can actually hear them and learn them.And if we’re smart, we can apply them to the political situations we face today. The ones that could desperately use less partisanship and less virtue signaling and a lot more actual wisdom, justice, temperance, and courage.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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You turn on the news and a bunch of pretty people tell you that your side is good and the other side is irredeemably evil. You pull up social media and you get a bunch of rage profiteers telling you what to be outraged or angry about. Everything is simple and clear cut, compromise is unnecessary, and in the end, none of it really matters anyway because the world is going to end in 2024 in a nuclear holocaust, 2050 from climate change

or any day now in the rapture. Needless to say that's not very valuable or very philosophical. What is a stoke to do then? Especially when politics and participation in the pollis, the empire was so essential to Zeno and Marcus Aurelius in Senica. Well, first, they'd urge you to turn backwards to better understand the present day. Even the early American founders knew this. As John Adams wrote to his son in 1777,

there is no history, perhaps better adapted to this useful purpose than that of Thucydides. You will find in it full of instruction to the order, the statesmen, the general, as well as the historian and the philosopher. Indeed, people in the State Department right now are reading Thucydides to better understand the rising threat of China. Countless millions, including many of the Stoics,

have read this book over the past 2,000 years to understand the ethical dilemmas inherent in leadership, in war, in politics, and in life. Because Thucydides was so smart and so timeless, he is able to teach lessons to us even now. And because the countries and the events are so distant and impersonal to us, we can actually hear them and learn them. And if we're smart, we can apply them to the political situations we face today. The ones that could desperately use less partisanship, less virtue signaling, and a lot more wisdom,

justice, temperance, and courage. Hey, just a quick reminder, stillness is the key. It's the key to success. It's the key to happiness. It's the key to insight. It's also the title of my next book. You can get stillness is the key to success. It's the key to happiness. It's the key to insight. It's also the title of my next book. You can get Stillness is the key. It comes out October 1, Everywhere Books are Sold.

It's currently available for preorder. You can get it in audiobook, e-book, physical, Barnes and Noble, even has a few signed copies. If you've gotten anything out of my writing, anything out of this podcast or my emails over the years, I would love your support. Stillness is the key, available. Everywhere sold in pre-order it now and it comes out October one. Hey, Prime Members, you can listen to the Daily Stoic early and add free on Amazon Music, download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen early and add free with Wondery

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