On this episode Brian O’Leary and Adam Haman take on frat boys!
No, no… that’s not right. They analyze the history of fraternal organizations in society.
What are/were they? What happened to them? And are they making a comeback?
Today’s show brought to you by OLearyHealthcare.com
We’ll give you a hint: It rhymes with “The Other Mint”.
What is the proper size and scope of government?
The smaller is the size and scope of government, the larger is the size and scope of private institutions.
That’s just math.
Alexis de Toqueville (1805 – 1859)
This French aristocrat and liberal politician loved America and wrote about it often:
“Americans of all ages, all stations of life, and all types of disposition are forever forming associations. In democratic countries knowledge of how to combine is the mother of all forms of knowledge; on its progress depends that of all others.”
“The more government takes the place of associations, the more will individuals lose the idea of forming associations and need the government to come to their help. That is a vicious circle of cause and effect.”
“Society will develop a new kind of servitude which covers the surface of society with a network of complicated rules, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate. It does not tyrannize but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to nothing better than a flock of time and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd.”
“It is easier for the world to accept a simple lie than a complex truth.”
“As for me, I am deeply a democrat; this is why I am in no way a socialist. Democracy and socialism cannot go together. You can’t have it both ways. Socialism is a new form of slavery.”
“Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”
“The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.”
Private associations are often mocked in popular culture.
Remember The Flintstone’s and the “Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes”? And their “Grand Poobah”?.
And then there was Happy Days and Mr. Cunningham’s “Leopard Lodge #462”.
Despite the mockery, private associations are vital to a healthy and vibrant society.
Mutual aid societies used to proliferate all across the country, often oriented around a specific type of vocation or avocation, or just a specific locality. They have been crowded out by government, but they’re making a comeback.
Americans form private institutions for all manner of reasons, social, charitable, to do good locally – very similar to the kinds of things churches would do, but not necessarily bound to any specific religion.
Humans love to connect this way and we still do. The connectivity made possible by the Internet helps in this endeavor. The lockdowns enacted under COVID helped motivate a whole bunch of mutual aid type societies to form.
The destruction wrought by the government (hat tip to the ACA) to health care has prompted the formation of cost-sharing associations related to health care. Many oriented around religion, but not all.
This guy gets it:
“A fraternal analogue existed for virtually every major service of the modern welfare state including orphanages, hospitals, job exchanges, homes for the elderly, and scholarship programs.
But societies also gave benefits that were much less quantifiable. By joining a lodge, an initiate adopted, at least implicitly, a set of survival values.”
“Societies dedicated themselves to the advancement of mutualism, self-reliance, business training, thrift, leadership skills, self-government, self-control, and good moral character. These values, which can fit under the rubric of social capital, reflected a kind of fraternal consensus that cut across such seemingly intractable divisions as race, sex, and income.”
“It is worth noting that the women who belonged to these societies, regarded themselves as members of fraternal rather than sororal societies. For them, fraternity, much like liberty and equality, was the common heritage of both men and women.”
– David Beito, Senior Associate Fellow at the Heritage Institute, author of, From Mutual Aid to the Welfare State: Fraternal Societies and Social Services, 1890-1967 (2000)
Adam’s “other” gig:
The Nevada Libertarian Party Presents: The Battleborn Podcast
Co-hosted by fellow Nevadan Randy Sadac, the LPNV’s Battleborn podcast features commentary about goings on in Nevada from a liberty perspective. Here you can find some great interviews with people doing great things to advance liberty in the state of Nevada, and beyond.
Don’t miss their great interview with economist (and libertarian superhero) Bob Murphy!
Randy and Adam Interview Robert Murphy
Brian’s empire of great content:
BrianDOLeary.com
Where you’ll find all the interesting things Brian is up to, including:
The O’Leary Review – Writing and associated Podcast
and more.
While you’re there, don’t forget to buy Brian a coffee. He’ll greatly appreciate it, especially a darker roast.
Adam also runs on coffee, and he would greatly appreciate any contributions that listeners would like to make to help keep him in front of the microphone and producing content.
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