"Is a democracy, such as we know it, the last improvement possible in government? Is it not possible to take a step further towards recognizing and organizing the rights of man? There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly. I please myself with imagining a State at least which can afford to be just to all men, and to treat the individual with respect as a neighbor; which even would not think it inconsistent with its own repose if a few were to live aloof from it, not meddling with it, nor embraced by it, who fulfilled all the duties of neighbors and fellow-men. A State which bore this kind of fruit, and suffered it to drop off as fast as it ripened, would prepare the way for a still more perfect and glorious State, which also I have imagined, but not yet anywhere seen." - Civil Disobedience, 1849
Here are the questions that this quotation poses to me:
- Is democracy the best possible form of government?
- If democracy is not the best possible form of government, do we have an inkling of what is?
- Moreover, can government "work" at all?
Feel free to leave your answer via the comments section. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Here are the questions that this quotation poses to me:
- Is democracy the best possible form of government?
- If democracy is not the best possible form of government, do we have an inkling of what is?
- Moreover, can government "work" at all?
Feel free to leave your answer via the comments section. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
5 comments:
Winston Churchill said: "It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried."
So to answer your first question, yes, for right now. No one has seemed to have thought up a better one yet.
The idea of an individual based State as Thoreau mentions is nice on paper, but in practice, depending on the respect of other humans is going to fail miserably. We, as a species, are too young to be able to pull something like that off....right now. ;-) (can you see a trend?)
I do believe that government can work, and there are numerous instances of ALL FORMS of government working in some way, shape or form. But for a government to work, people have to work ON it, not necessarily FOR it but ON it. Like one would work on a very well designed piece of equipment, be it a car or the LHC. It takes ALL of those who need the government to work to work ON it. To keep it running smoothly, efficiently, and safely.
It's hard work, and many of us humans, although we have a wonderful history of hard work, are becoming more and more lazy and more and more deluded with the idea of entitlement. Even I have this problem.
But I have hope, humanity has been to the bottom before and clawed itself back up. We'll do it again.
(p.s. LRN2INTERWEBZ Jeremy!!! :-p)
Thanks Bill, sorry about your first post!
Democracy is the best form of government. However, it will become better as education, socialism, and individual ethics increase in importance and effectiveness. There's a lot in that last sentence - I'll leave at that.
Well...speak and think in terms of idealsim and Thoreau, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King might say that democracy is not the best form of government possible. These men were deemed well before their time. In the context of the evolution and effectiveness of government, democracy will probably evolve in the future into some other form of government. In the context of the individual, each must decide for themselves what constitutes justice first, before the state can be brought under the umbrella of what is right for the whole. There's only room for one with entrance into this world; the same with death. What is the state but a coalescence of ultimately, individuals?
All well thought out and eloquently stated comments. Thank you for your contributions to the conversation. I'm very impressed with the level of dialogue and thought that went into the responses to this question.
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