Plato argues that a state which goes beyond need, into want, must necessarily organise itself constitutionally for warfare. This may be where the Jeffersonian appeal to a nation of yeomanry comes from. It is one of meeting needs, rather than the capital investment into luxury which Alexander Hamilton's central bank enabled. Then again, Jefferson was a shameless debtor, who, while in France, spent heavily on powdered wigs and other forms of European adornments and vanities.
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Went out looking for books on Chinese political history, and instead came back with; Aristotle's The Politics, Plato's The Republic and a book on the essential writings of the American Transcendentalists of the early and mid-19thC. Apparently the latter were influences on Deniehy, Harpur and other 19thC Australian Republicans. (more)
