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The principles of the enlightenment underneath western civilization are… Higher power / natural law v Irrevocable natural rights of individuals v Revocable
by happytiger 3y ago
The principles of the enlightenment underneath western civilization are…
Higher power / natural law
v
Irrevocable natural rights of individuals
v
Revocable rights given to the state for the common good
…
We can revoke the government’s mandate to rule us at any time. I understand people may have forgotten, or don’t know or have the background to understand, or maybe even don’t care. But that doesn’t change anything about the natural order or founding principles.
The system we are currently headed towards:
State
v
Subjects
This is monarchy / totalitarianism, and while it may be done for all the right reasons, it’s stepping backwards in terms of what’s good for the world, the progress of civilization, and is a failure to learn the profound lessons of the enlightenment that unleashed the greatest period of technology innovation and unrivaled economic expansion in history.
- pstuart 3y agoA considerable catch is when revocation happens, what takes its place? Authoritarianism is looming in the US and elsewhere; I worry about the efforts to "burn down the corruption" being replanted with a new authoritarian replacement.
- pockmockchock 3y agoRoving Bandits
- happytiger 3y agoThis is always the concern. Anyone who seriously studies social science shares this perspective with you. But these changes don’t usually happen until we have atrociously difficult or insanely outrageous behavior from the government, or conditions that are incredibly poor. People don’t make these kinds of changes easily and will argue for the status quo until the very, very last opportunity generally. At that point it is an inevitability… Still, worthy point.