/lit/ - Literature

>>14724457
Most people are better off being ruled than ruling, this is why mass democracy is a mistake.

>>13969250
As you say, the secret is the Cross. Noblesse oblige was born from Christianity; it was the "baptism" of the old Roman aristocrats and generals, infusing them with a sense of charity, a spirit of piety, and a meekness of spirit. Of course the average duke or knight could definitely be a bastard, but if the nasty ones were held in check at all, they were held in check by a Christian sensibility, one which, if they did not subscribe to it personally, they felt its shadow over them and reacted to it nonetheless.

This, of course, is why De Maistre is such a staunch Catholic. He knows how powerful Christianity is in creating the aristocracy he longs for. As in so many things, the key to it all is the Church. If the Church acts properly, it can generate an ideal society--not because it rules directly, as in a theocracy, but because through it, and through its Sacraments, the power of God flows out into men.

>>13913433
He's also an atheist, and a pretty extreme, fedora-tipping one at that, so he seems to completely miss how powerful the religious component of pre-Modern states was, and what a strong motivation that gave the citizenry to remain loyal to their rulers.