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The Evolution of Democracy:
Part 1:
About Philosophy:
The greeting of a new year is always a time to consider change.
It is our designated time to make resolutions and look to new
things. It is a perfect time for me, since I recently finished
61essays on writing and publishing. That series will become a
book one day. Meanwhile it is in our archive under On Writing
and Publishing.
Now, as a change of pace, I intend to address some concepts of philosophy. I do not, in any way, intend to pawn myself off as a legitimate philosopher, whatever that means. I simply want to look at some of the concepts and the interesting thoughts and ideas which come out of philosophy. In particular I wish to examine an idea which recurs so often that it seems to be archetypal in nature.
"All men are created equal." So says our Declaration of Independence. So said our founding fathers, and they supported that with this statement. "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor." Hey, they were a pretty gutsy bunch of guys.
When we think of it at all, most of us have been educated to believe that the Declaration of Independence and the ensuing constitutional government were uniquely American events. The truth is, these political philosophies have been part of the human psyche for a very long time; Perhaps forever.
Many years ago it occurred to me to wonder whence this concept of human equality derived. At that time I created a paper about the history of that "human equality" idea for a college term paper. I called it From Hobbes to Jefferson. I still have that paper. I did attend a college, though I never graduated. I never had time to finish. I was too busy learning things. That is another story. I may tell it some day.
Since I wrote that essay, I have reconsidered it. I have also reconsidered the origin of the concept. I have concluded that it is probably akin to what Dr. Carl Jung describes as an archetypal image. That is a basic original image which exists in the collective human unconscious. These images, as Jung describes them, predate the emergence of consciousness in man.
Although this is a concept rather than a symbol, I feel it qualifies. Of course, the symbol which we associate with that concept is our own Statue of Liberty. Liberty Enlightening the World is its true original name. That statue was a gift to the people of the United States from the people of France. We should never forget that.
In my paper I traced the expression "All men are created equal," from the philosophy of Thomas Hobbes to our own Thomas Jefferson. One of the things of interest to me was the strikingly different kinds of people who offered this idea. In many cases, the political philosophies did not agree at all except on this point. This leads me to the archetypal notion.
I don't think it was just a matter of people borrowing other peoples ideas. I believe this archetypal concept just continued to invade the conscious minds of man until it finally came to full fruition in the United States of America. By full fruition, I do not mean to say that there is nothing left to do. Perfect we are not. Our government and people still do some really crappy things. However, we do have and we do nurture the tree of freedom which will ultimately allow the ripening of the fruit regardless of those who resist it.
To follow the historical expression of these ideas I intend to present a short series of essays about the philosophies which expressed them. In that, I will examine the contributions of earlier Western philosophers to these concepts of equality which culminated in our American form of government. This is important because this concept of equality is the cornerstone of our entire social and political philosophy. As Woodrow Wilson put it, "Democracy is not so much a form of government as a set of principles." Equality, I believe, is the a priori principle upon which all else is built.
I will begin my study with Thomas Hobbes. Hobbes was an English philosopher who was the last serious Western apologist for monarchy. Hobbes proposed the idea that government is the result of a contract between the people and the government. He held that man's rights to life and liberty were not transferable. In his defense of monarchy, Hobbes gives a rather sobering discussion of pork barrel legislation. Shades of Washington DC!
John Locke was another Englishman who attacked rather than apologized for monarchy. He argued for the inherent right of the people to revolt. Locke also examined the principle of separation of powers in government.
From Locke I will move on to look at the philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment. These include Voltaire (the rule of law), Montesquieu (The separation and balance of power), and Rousseau. Rousseau postulated the inherent good of man. He defined the limits of sovereign power and the principal of majority rule. He also outlined what later came to be known as the American Homestead Act.
Finally I will discuss Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson was a great American and political philosopher in his own right. that notwithstanding, our declaration was his own reflection of the political temper of the entire Western world at that time.
Now, you may rest assured that I did not acquire my thoughts about these great philosophers through psychic perception. I did a lot of reading. However, I am not going to clutter up these essays with a lot of references. I will, however, post a bibliography with this series. Just as I did with the reference material for my math series, I will put it in the appropriate archive for whomever wants to download it.
Always bear in mind that these are my understanding of the
philosophies. If you discover and can prove that I am full of
crap, please do. As always, I may interrupt this series if I find
other things which seem to me of immediate and general interest.
Back to The Evolution of
Democracy.
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