Alex Binz - An Intellectual Biography

Spartan and Platonic Utopias:
Realism and Idealism

ALEXANDER D. BINZ

Athens had fallen; only Sparta remained. In the aftermath of the Peloponnesian War, the Greek intelligentsia grew increasingly discontented with democratic forms, and the philosopher Plato was a leading advocate for a more authoritarian structure based on the Spartan oligarchy. Sparta avoided Athens' costly mistakes by forbidding dissent and disobedience; it concentrated political authority among the rational few, rather than diffused it among the uneducated many. Thus, the Spartan polis conformed closely to Plato's rationalist vision for city administration, by preserving a hierarchical structure in which a monarchical "head" might rule over the "body" of common people. But Plato also recognized the imperfection of the Spartan system. Such exquisitely rational means-the system of central planning-were directed towards this irrational end-the military subjugation of neighboring poleis. Conquest did not befit the Platonic state, which was instead engaged in realizing the cardinal virtues of justice and reason. While retaining the administrative means, Plato rejected the militaristic end. He reframed Spartan organization in light of his own ideals. The Republic is a vision of a contemplative Sparta-if reason is indeed the ultimate end of man, as Plato argued, then surely it ought to be the end of society as well.

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Laissez-Faire Darwinism?

ALEXANDER D. BINZ

History textbooks typically treat laissez-faire economics as an unfortunate by-product of an ideology of Social Darwinism. However, there is not so direct a connection between the two theories, for there are in fact two schools of laissez-faire thought. One arises from rationalism and the French Enlightenment; the other, from traditionalism and the British Enlightenment. The first is associated with René Descartes, Jean-Baptiste Say, and Ludwig von Mises; the second with Edmund Burke, Adam Smith, and Friedrich Hayek. I argue that Social Darwinism permeated only the British School, while it left the French School largely untouched. In fact, it seems that Social Darwinism is linked to polar opposites: as laissez-faire, it is associated with traditionalism, while in its socialist forms (Marxism and the eugenics movement) it is tied to utopian rationalism. Thus, there is no direct connection between Darwinism and laissez-faire: for even when they can be associated, it is principally through a parallel ideology of traditionalism.

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The Politic Atheist: Dante on Machiavelli

ALEXANDER D. BINZ

Though today celebrated as the 'founder of political science,' there was hardly another in Europe more demonized than Niccolò Machiavelli in life. The British, in fact, adopted his name as a sobriquet for Satan: 'Old Nick.' As the historian Thomas Babington Macaulay wrote: "We doubt whether any name in literary history be so generally odious as that of [Machiavelli]%u2026 Out of his surname [the English] have coined an epithet for a knave, and out of his Christian name a synonym for the Devil" (Macaulay 2). Machiavelli's individualistic vision of Prince and principate proved too radical for even his humanist contemporaries. His writings ran contrary to both the moral and political foundations of Western culture. Just as he rejected the ethics of Christ, Machiavelli also rejected the medieval vision of politics, inherited from Aristotle through the poet Dante. Yet Dante had anticipated Machiavelli; for, while a theoretical defense of realpolitik was new, the practice of it certainly was not. Dante's allegory in the Inferno portrays hell as the perversion of the ideal state, founded on the same self-serving ambition that would define Machiavelli. Dante's archetype of politics denies Machiavelli's model, and thus serves as an effective critique for it. Dante ultimately posits that Machiavelli's approach to leadership fails, as it lacks both realism and idealism.

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Letter to the Editor (Seattle PI)
Kids need to know about all their options

Am I the only one who noticed the irony? In Tuesday's paper, I read that my representative Shay Schual-Berke is sponsoring a bill to forbid abstinence-only sex education in schools. Later in the same article, however, Schual-Berke is quoted as saying: "When you limit what kids know or you misinform them, they make bad choices based on that information."

I couldn't have said it better.

If abstinence-only programs are taught along the lines of "Don't have sex. Now, back to math," they will not succeed. But let's not deceive ourselves with semantics. Schual-Berke's "comprehensive" program would limit the information given under the cover of full disclosure. If a sex-ed program avoids value judgments, if it presents equally a variety of options with unequal outcomes, it does not give students the knowledge needed to make decisions. And if it does make value judgments, if it openly affirms that abstinence is the only guarantee against teenage pregnancy and STDs, it would be labeled "abstinence-only" and blocked.

It's ironic that the proposal for "comprehensive" sex education would ban a particular kind of sex education. Let's hope the Legislature sees the irony, too.

Alex Binz
Normandy Park

Social Security Numbers Abused

By ALEX BINZ
GUEST COLUMNIST

At age 15, I've already found my calling: information rights activist. No, not your right to information but the natural rights of information, particularly against cruel and unusual punishment. I say this because a lot of Social Security advocates seem to be manipulating statistics and torturing facts to suit their preferences.

I am part of the generation most affected by changes to Social Security, so I decided to investigate. I began my research -- where else? -- at the Social Security Administration. I was particularly interested in the legendary "trust fund" that seems to be the crux of the controversy. In a section on "Internet Myths," the SSA writes: "From its inception, the Trust Fund has always worked the same way. The Social Security Trust Fund has never been 'put into the general fund of the government.' " In two sentences, the SSA seemed to strike a deathblow to Social Security naysayers.

But did it, really? I went to the "Ask an Actuary" site for more information. My screen immediately filled with obtuse charts and spreadsheets detailing trust fund finances. Therein lay the problem: The trust fund is "invested" in special-issue bonds and government IOUs. In other words, the trust fund money is separated from the general fund, loaned to the federal government and then spent on all kinds of programs through the general fund. Bureaucrats get the best of both worlds: They can claim (rightly) that the money is set aside in bonds but they still get to spend it freely.

There is no substance behind the trust fund; it is a mere promise of repayment, without any money backing up that promise. Without any real assets, Social Security resembles nothing more than a pyramid scheme, funneling money from new "investors" (current workers) to those who invested from the beginning (current retirees). And like any pyramid scheme, it cannot hold out forever. The SSA itself admits that by 2018 retiree benefits will exceed worker contributions. It will run a deficit, cash in its bonds and eventually have them dissolve for all the world to see.

If we stay the course, we have two options. If we raise taxes, we would be taking money from people to repay existing debts owed to them. If we reduce benefits, we would arbitrarily declare that the government owes less money than it "borrowed" when it originally levied the tax. Both are forms of theft.

But there is an alternative. We could, the Bush administration suggests, partially privatize Social Security, giving contributors the option of investing a portion of their tax money in selected bonds or mutual funds. Some have objected that the stock market is too volatile and may not have as great of returns as the current system. To which I say, "What returns?" Social Security bonds have not been invested productively but were spent creating the largest bureaucracy in world history. (Besides, stock indexes average 11 percent, far greater than even the nominal 2 percent return on Social Security bonds.) Others believe that personal accounts would bankrupt Social Security. But the system is bankrupt already; why not try to salvage some value before it's too late?

Twisting and turning the facts, the happy-go-lucky SSA continues to insist that Social Security is healthy. The assertions are false and futile; Social Security's fall is inevitable and our inaction merely hastens its demise.

While we search for a solution, however, I urge you all to turn your eyes to the suffering of the downtrodden statistics. Information has rights, too. We must defend the facts against torture, against ill treatment and against the specter of factionalism. Datums of the world, unite!

Alex Binz of Burien is a research intern at the Discovery Institute in Seattle.

The Age of the French

The Creation of Classical Economic

By Alex Binz

Grade 8

For all of human history up to the 18th century, the science of economics was stagnant, nearly nonexistent. But then in the 1700's, economics unexpectedly sprang out of obscurity, quickly rising to become the most recognized social science of the modern world. Something of historic import had happened during that one century. The most identifiable event in the 18th century was the American Revolution; however, this was merely a consequence of another revolution, this one economic. This long-forgotten movement was the Age of the French; the founding of modern economics. It all began with "L'economistes," or, as they preferred, the "Physiocrats:" the rulers of the mind.

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2003 Letter to the Editor

Weight has no bearing on importance of life

In her Wednesday guest column, Monica Casper protested against a fetus' right to life. What caught my eye was how she distinguished a fetus' rights from the rights of adults. She wrote, "I am angry because my government ... has decided that my one-pound, non-voting, non-taxpaying fetus has more value than I do."

I am a 112-pound, non-voting, non-taxpaying 13-year-old. So what about me? I can't see how my existence is any different from that of Casper's child. Our only difference is weight. Are the natural rights Jefferson listed in the Declaration of Independence -- "the right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness" -- derived from human weight? If weight indeed measured human worth, we'd all be that much more valuable after Thanksgiving. I don't think that's what Jefferson had in mind.

Fetuses are human beings and, therefore, have the same rights as any other infant, adolescent or adult. These are merely descriptive words for age, not terms for the relative value of human beings.

Alex Binz
Seattle

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2002 Letter to the Editor

Argument against religious schools no longer relevant

On the subject of school vouchers, my belief is that money given by the government in the form of school vouchers is not the government's money. Parents pay taxes to the government for their children's education and the government spends that money on public schools. In the past, a few have recognized that their child's best education might not be in the public schools, and so they spend additional money for a private or home-based education. In effect, these people are willing to pay a double tax to help their children succeed.

An educational tax is not the government's money -- it is the parents' money. So the argument against using government money to finance religious schools is no longer relevant. Parents should have the ultimate choice on where to spend their educational dollar.

I suggest that we take Bush's proposal one step further. If the entire education system were voucher-based, then the market would decide what schools would succeed. Currently, public schools run a monopoly on educational tax dollars. I believe we should turn to the free market model where the people decide which "product" they like best. Public schools would cost money, along with private and home-based schools. You would give your voucher money to your chosen system and you wouldn't be forced to pay the "double-tax".

Alex Binz, age 12
Homeschool student
Normandy Park

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2001 Letter to the Editor

Shining examples

I'm a home-school student and was shocked that someone would evaluate home-schoolers everywhere based on a single family. I attended public school through second grade and have been home-schooled since.

First, socialization: In public school, children are broken into three castes: cool kids, rejects and the untouchables. In home-school, everyone accepts each other as friends.

Home-schoolers receive some of the best scores in the nation in every subject. Remember, only a small percentage of children are home-schooled, so their ranking is significant.

Also, remember that many famous scientists were home-schooled, e.g., Thomas Edison, Isaac Newton and Samuel Morse.

The parent who locked the girl in the closet wasn't a product of home-schooling. The victim was. Was the girl to blame? Not all parents who home-school are like that.

Even though some think home-schooling is wrong, I thoroughly enjoy it, and have no desire to return to public school.

-- Alex Binz, 11 years old (fifth grade home-schooler), Everett

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