{"id":2835,"date":"2026-07-11T17:39:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T17:39:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=2835"},"modified":"2026-07-11T17:39:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T17:39:22","slug":"2400-years-ago-aristotle-perfectly-described-todays-leftist-tyrants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=2835","title":{"rendered":"2,400 years ago, Aristotle perfectly described today\u2019s leftist tyrants"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

This is an edited version of an\u00a0essay that first appeared in American Thinker\u2019s subscribers-only newsletter.<\/em><\/p>

Read more Democrats de-civilize Montgomery County\u2019s parks and roads<\/a><\/p>\n

I admit without shame that I\u2019m one of those people for whom classic philosophy is a closed book. That\u2019s my excuse for being unfamiliar with Aristotle\u2019s Politics<\/em>, an eight-volume work from the middle of the 4th century BC that analyzes various political systems. Fortunately for America, many of the Founders had read Politics<\/em> and applied it to the Constitution.<\/p>\n

I mention Aristotle now because I learned yesterday that Aristotle, looking at examples in the ancient world, predicted the growing threat of leftist tyranny in the U.S. and Europe. He also answered a question I\u2019ve been asking myself as I think about Europe\u2019s imminent downfall because its leftist leaders decided to erase all borders and welcome in the entire Middle East and Africa to replace the native populations. Here, too, Democrats (and some Uniparty Republicans) tried desperately under Joe Biden to do the same, only to be foiled when voters insisted on reelecting Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

With these thoughts in mind, I asked myself (literally, I spoke the words out loud), \u201cHas there ever before been a country in which the leaders simply replaced the native population?\u201d I couldn\u2019t think of one\u2014but Aristotle could. He revealed that one specific type of leader desperately wants to be surrounded by foreigners: the tyrant.<\/p>\n

Having alienated his own people, writes Aristotle, the tyrant can no longer trust them, and he feels safe only when surrounded by those to whom he imputes the virtues he believes his own people lack\u2014and whom he believes (probably naively) will not destroy him as his own people will eventually be driven to do.<\/p>\n

Picking my way through Harris Rackham\u2019s translation of Politics<\/em> as it relates to tyranny (a task, thankfully, done with help from AI), I found the key language in \u00a71314a: \u201cAnd it is a mark of a tyrant to have men of foreign extraction rather than citizens as guests at table and companions, feeling that citizens are hostile but strangers make no claim against him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, \u00a71314a, after making this point about a tyrant\u2019s preference for citizens other than his own, adds this, which also sounds remarkably like leftist politicians across the West:<\/p>\n

\n

[F]or tyranny aims at three things, one to keep its subjects humble (for a humble-spirited man would not plot against anybody), second to have them continually distrust one another…and the third is lack of power for political action (since nobody attempts impossibilities, so that nobody tries to put down a tyranny if he has not power behind him). These then in fact are the three aims to which the wishes of tyrants are directed; for all the measures taken by tyrants one might class under these principles \u2014 some are designed to prevent mutual confidence among the subjects, others to curtail their power, and others to make them humble-spirited.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

We see all this daily from Democrats in culture and politics.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s the forced humility. We\u2019re taught that the climate is out to destroy us, so we must be cold in the winter, hot in the summer, and use one sheet of toilet paper; that we don\u2019t even know the true meaning of what\u2019s in our own underpants; and most significantly, we are taught that we are uniquely evil because our behaviors, despite having raised more people out of poverty than any other societies in the world\u2019s history could do, are morally bad. We have sinned, and only our elite can save us.<\/p>

Read more Germany\u2019s Debt Crisis Crescendos<\/a><\/p>\n

There\u2019s the distrust. Once, Germans trusted Germans, the British trusted the British, and Americans trusted Americans. Assimilation and shared cultural histories bound these groups together.<\/p>\n

Now, though, among all the little bits and pieces in the salad bowl that replaced the melting pot, hatred is endemic. Because the government has become the fount of all good things, women, LGBs, transgenders, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, differently abled\u2026all the little intersectional pieces are savaging each other. The only thing that binds them is that they all hate white men and Jews (and Christians aren\u2019t getting any love letters either).<\/p>\n

And finally, there\u2019s the lack of power for political action. From a conservative perspective, there was the disaster of 2020, which culminated in the even greater disaster of January 2021. In 2020, we saw violent leftist street protests that were given a pass, only to experience the opposite outcome on January 6, 2021, which was much less destructive, but ended with a militarized government hunting down every granny whom the Capitol police invited in. 2020 also brought us the devastating systemic changes to elections (mail-in ballots, late voting, no ID, etc.) that destroyed faith in the system.<\/p>\n

Leftists have their own issues. There was Kamala Harris\u2019s anointing after primary voters were sold a decrepit, senile Biden. This year, the pattern is being repeated in Maine, where a sex-fiend Nazi whom the base preferred is summarily being replaced with someone (anyone) that the solons in the smoke-filled backroom prefer.<\/p>\n

The left is a new tyranny, but the nature of tyrants is unchanged. In the upcoming election, it\u2019s up to ordinary Americans to change what Aristotle (and, presumably, the Democrats) see as an inevitable drift toward tyranny.<\/p>\n

Start by showing up. When Normal Americans stay home, they feed the tyrants. Let\u2019s make November 2026 different. And for those who are unhappy with Trump, I won\u2019t argue with you. I\u2019ll just remind you that the Democrats are infinitely worse, and the election presents only a binary choice.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Image created using AI.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Read more Golf, tennis, whatever \u2014 play a sport this summer<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is an edited version of an\u00a0essay that first appeared in American Thinker\u2019s subscribers-only newsletter. Read more Democrats de-civilize Montgomery County\u2019s parks and roads I admit without shame that I\u2019m one of those people for whom classic philosophy is a closed book. That\u2019s my excuse for being unfamiliar with Aristotle\u2019s Politics, an eight-volume work from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2833,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,173],"tags":[1147],"class_list":["post-2835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-philosophy","tag-related-topics-philosophy-democrats"],"yoast_head":"\n2,400 years ago, Aristotle perfectly described today\u2019s leftist tyrants - Interstate Logistics Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=2835\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2,400 years ago, Aristotle perfectly described today\u2019s leftist tyrants - Interstate Logistics Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This is an edited version of an\u00a0essay that first appeared in American Thinker\u2019s subscribers-only newsletter. 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