Georgic Economics: The Genesis of Liberty

A “Georgic economy” occurs when families plant seeds after preparing the ground; they then water, tend, protect, and eventually harvest.

In our modern day, it is experienced by families who adopt Georgic principles in their finances. It is compared to banking as well: Banks plant seeds (of capital) and harvests increase over time.

When America shifted from agriculture to industry they outsourced (unwittingly perhaps) the planting of seeds for their livelihood, to others. The professional farmers provided the food, and the professional financiers provided the capital.

We Americans now do the opposite of banks: We receive products first, then pay for them over time — providing bankers with a harvest.

In essence, Americans began choosing material comforts over economic freedom. We lost the principles of Georgics.

The Georgic economy is not a new concept or practice. It has peeked its perspiring head several times throughout history.

Adam was taught this economy by God in the Bible. We see it again with Abraham. It was then forgotten by the Israelites in Egypt — and it took God forty years to revitalize it in the people.

The Greeks had it early on; they cultivated it in their rocky soil, only to have the vine blossom in the Golden Age and wilt in the scorching heat of flamboyance and frivolity.

The Romans built a powerhouse economy using Georgic principles, but eventually rejected Georgics for bread and circuses.

The Intellectual Roots of Georgics

Virgil the Poet, coined the phrase to describe this economic genesis of liberty in The Georgics (29 BC) and had it read to Octavian, who continued his course for power, along with his people. He became Emperor in 27 BC, and the 800 year-old Republic continued imploding into the pompous Roman Empire.

Georgic economies found life in pockets and bore fruit in the Great Economic Revolution at the turn of the 1st Millennium (See Will Durant’s Story of Civilization Volume IV), in the Renaissance, and in Puritan England.

Many of the Puritans, known for their work ethic and devotion to God, sailed to American (beginning in 1620) and on American soil this economy blossomed, birthing the greatest movement of freedom that has ever spread across the world.

As the British surrendered to Washington at Yorktown, their drummers played the march “The Day the World Turned Upside-Down.” (see Siege of Yorktown.)

The world had turned upside-down; the Founding Era of our nation rested firmly upon the shoulders of a Georgic Revolution.

How is Liberty Secured?

Every burst of liberty on the landscape of humanity has been preceded, fueled, tempered, and preserved by Georgic revolutions.

We as Americans will not find and secure liberty by legislating it in Washington. It will not be securely founded if spurred on only by discussion, persuasion, rhetoric, and hype.

Liberty is a consequence of work — of hard work, sacrifice, patience, and perseverance.

Our government’s over-spending on social programs, subsidizing, and other fear-mongered policies, are symptoms of the real problem: We forgot, and eventually refused to admit, that we must first plant, before we can reap.

It is time, once again, to “turn the world upside-down.”

You are an American! Experience a Georgic Revolution in your own life, for thus it must spread across our land if we are to succeed in moving the cause of liberty with any permanence and authenticity.

We must do this as our founding fathers did. This must be pursued in the natural pattern: Georgic Revolution first, political revolution second.

The founders lived the Declaration long before they ever signed it…