Thursday, February 6, 2014

Government 'begins' with language and should end with real results

The ancient problem of the One and the Many is still with us. Of course, not in the same manner as in the old days, but in a similar manner. Of course, the One and the Many will never 'meet', because the problematic applies to the act of governing, or the relation between the 'Governors' and the 'Governed'. The 'One' or a 'few' must govern the multitudes at the Bottom. The Divine Right of Kings had their solution to the problem, but, of course, that didn't last long. 'Thinking' and 'doing' is also a human problem. Of course, that's what raised the questions of 'free will', and 'doing' something within a definite human value system. Ethical 'behavior' applies to individual human behavior and has two aspects, the theoretical and the practical. However, governing applies to a 'One' at the Top and the millions at the Bottom. There's a huge difference between an individual 'governing' him/her self and a government governing the Many. Nevertheless, there is a similarity. The act of Governing is set forth in a written Constitution, which, of course, requires interpretation. Here enters language, and the formation into 'competing' political Parties; campaigns to solicit the votes of the people; and the important role played by the Supreme Court. The nature of democracy viz. the Freedom and Equality of everyone, at the Bottom of government, requires that the above 'steps' all be conducted in language and hence the 'meaning',or the semantics of political decisions, and political language, in general, becomes important. That linguistic 'gap' is huge, and it's huge because in a democracy every human being is Free and Equal and has dignity and integrity. That is the 'value system' of a democracy, and both the dignity and integrity of every human being, must be respected and protected. The institution of Number at the 'gap point' in every democratic policy cannot be ignored. That's the only way to 'implement' democracy and the only way to make it inclusive.

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Democracy For The Bottom by Gilbert Gonzalez is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.