Nick Arnett wrote
I cannot agree with the premise that underlies this -- that evil
is "out there" and we "in here," if powerful enough, can eliminate
it.
Well, how about a premise that includes people `in here'?
that some of the people who gain governmental power,
whether here or abroad, are evil
(This is the old `Fall of Adam' presumption, not applied to friends
and family, but applied to those who seek power successfully enough to
run governments. I think one should presume that friends and family
are fundamentally good. One should act with a `Fall of Adam'
presumption only with respect to particular friends or family who
prove themselves evil.)
If you make the premise that some of the people who gain governmental
power, whether here or abroad, are evil, then you need to figure out
what kind of mechanism tends to create a more or less decent
government, even when the people who make it up are evil. Or else
live with tyrannical governments.
As far as I can see, the only workable mechanism to prevent tyrannical
government has evil men working against each other rather than using
us to fight each other.
The US Constitution was based on this presumption: that powers in
different states (which were conceived as we do countries or
`nation-states') would be sufficiently different from one another that
bad guys would check each other.
Now, at the moment, the different branches of the US government are
all controlled by the same interest. So you can see the current
situation as a failure, at least as a temporary failure. Or you can
see it as forcing interests out of power to articulate and organize
better.
>From the point of view of 200 years ago in America, the contemporary
US government is like we would think of a government that includes
both mainland China and the United States, with both the Chinese and
US interests coalesced.
I do not know whether advances in technology have enabled policing to
become that much better they were 200 years ago. I suspect not yet,
but think the possibility (as illustrated in Vinge's novel, `A
Deepness in the Sky') will exist if technical progress and innovation
continues.
Nick, so my first question is:
how about the premise that some of the people who gain
governmental power, whether here or abroad, are evil?
and my second is,
what do you think is the best mechanism for dealing with this
problem of government, presuming also that some non-governmental
people will not have your faith or goodness?
(As I have said elsewhere, for a government encompassing different
countries, I doubt that legislatures with power determined by history
and by population work well enough. Such an institution needs a third
house.
(For the US, I think we need an opposition that judge proposals using
the `alliterative Ps of politics', to protect, preserve, prepare, and
provide, along with the more detailed `Rs', reason, rigor, reality,
and responsibility; and the honesty of reports.)
--
Robert J. Chassell
[EMAIL PROTECTED] GnuPG Key ID: 004B4AC8
http://www.rattlesnake.com http://www.teak.cc
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