The Suitability of Government

The State is an organized society, wielding power and exercising authority. Society, however, is more than a political entity, or a set of boundaries on a map. The basic unit of the State is the citizen.

The basic unit of Society is the person. Because the person is also the citizen, Society and State overlap where social order and political fact are concerned. The vitality of the State is not conferred by its political order, but rather flows from the social fact.

This social fact is the spiritual and physical life of its many human members. When a man thinks of the State, he inevitably envisions policemen, taxmen, dog catchers, and bureaucrats in the highway department. When the same man contemplates his Country however, no such easily defined or concrete images come to mind. If the figure of the State is the lawmaker, the figure of the Country could well be the song writer or war hero.

An oppressive state leader could silence the song writer or cause the brave to lose heart, but all would be the poorer for it, because vitality flows from the society up, not the other way around. Men who love their country have been known to die for it. American history is full of such examples. At Valley Forge, Gettysburg, Belleau Wood, Midway, or Iwo Jima, men did not die for the War Department, the State Department, or the Tennessee Valley Authority.

They fought beneath the unfurled banner of their nation, with thoughts of home and family forever enshrined in their hearts. The stability of the state greatly depends on this love of country. The fact that Ceasar wants and needs this love proves that the political order should grow out of the social fact. Men should be governed in a manner that suits them.

This cardinal principle of government is today in eclipse. Today there is much talk and movement in every area of life towards a New World Order. This World Political Order or One World Government would be an attempt at political order without social fact. Men and women of any given country are well aware of their oneness in society and are therefore able to form a state. There is though, no such feeling of oneness for the human race as a whole in our present world predicament.

There is no common view on anything essential in the social fact. There is not even agreement on whom or what Man is. A world political order of any description is neither possible nor desirable at this time. It is also a grave evil to impose our form of government on the people of another country.

It simply is not possible to get a Constitutional Republic, with separation of powers, limited central government, protection of minority rights, and the rule of law, by installing ballot boxes in third world, Middle Eastern, or Islamic countries. There is no historical foundation there, which would guarantee the rule of law. What you do get by installing ballot boxes is a temporary democracy that leads to majority rule and eventually mobocracy, anarchy, and tyranny. In the case of America, there is no constitutional mandate to promote democracy anywhere. America is not a democracy and was never intended to be one.

The Founding Fathers of America knew this all too well. That is why they gave us a Constitutional Republic, not majority rule. America is a great example of how thousands of years of trial and error in government and economics finally came to fruition in the year 1776. This was indeed an example of the social fact moving to establish political order.

Our government suits us best because it is a result of centuries of effort, involving forms of government, rule of law, the idea of unalienable rights, checks and balances, and cultural diversity. The freedoms we enjoy as Americans cannot be gained by roaming the world installing ballot boxes and then sending Jimmy Carter to ensure the fairness of the elections. The end result of such arrogance and corruption is majority rule and tyranny.

Others before us have had similar thoughts on the nature of democracy. James Russell Lowell believed that democracy gave every man the right to be his own oppressor. Lord Thomas Babbington Macaulay, was convinced that institutions purely democratic, must sooner or later destroy liberty, civilization, or both. Oscar Wilde was quite certain that democracy meant the bludgeoning of the people, by the people, for the people. The great American Justice John Marshall new the difference between a republic and a democracy. The difference was like that between order and chaos.

Emanuel Kant, equated democracy with despotism. Democracy is nothing more than a platform for demagoguery and a perennial fraud. It is saddening to know that thousands of our young men and now our young women have been killed or wounded in conflicts half way around the world in order to spread democracy.

© 2006 -- Adrian Barrett -- To learn German or to learn to speak German online, please visit this website.