Some Thoughts on Politics

Some Thoughts on Politics
By Elizabeth Szlek

For the Rome Observer, August 2, 2010

Well, it’s that time of year again. Along with crabgrass and goldenrod, political signage is sprouting on lawns everywhere. We are again being pressed to consider candidates to supposedly represent “US” in various legislatures near and far. This time, thought, let’s consider a few ancient ideas on governance, and we may get a slightly different result.

The mood in America is angry, to say the least. In our state, New York, I think it has moved to something like general outrage. Perhaps we need a new, or an old paradigm, to decide just what lever to push when we enter the voting booth.

Good Old Aristotle

For political wisdom, you just can’t beat Aristotle. Do you think people have changed in the 2000+ years since Aristotle wrote Politics? Not by a long shot. So, let’s start at the fount of political scrutiny. Aristotle figured that there were actually six different possible political regimes. They differed as to the number of those ruling, and the kind of rule they exhibited, that is, good or bad. So, first we come to the rule of one person. This would be called a kingship. We have rulers in this class, even without the royal trappings. Rule by one person, with the intention of bringing about the common good is called kingly rule. I realize that in America we have trouble thinking that having a king over one could possibly be a good thing, but, throughout history, people have found this to be so. He has much power, but he thinks of the good of his subjects, and that is that.

On the other hand, we have seen lots of examples of the second category of rule by one person: Tyranny. This is what we cited as the reason for the American Revolution. Just think about Idi Amin, and you get the picture. The tyrant rules only for his own advantage, and cares little or nothing about how his rule truly affects his subjects. No one can get behind this kind of regime, unless they are cold, callous and wicked.
Next we come to regimes where a few people rule. The first of these is called an aristocracy. If we look at that word, it means the rule of the best, or the most noble. The best people are not grasping sociopaths, so an aristocratic regime should, in theory, be a benign one, where the rulers again look to the common good. The corollary to this is an oligarchy, which means rule by a few, with the meaning that they are ruling for their own advantage and not for the common good. Remember that.
Next, we come to what most of us think is American governing style. It is the rule of the many, but for the common good, and such a regime is called a polity. We would love to believe this is what happens when good Americans send good representatives to their legislatures, but I guess it isn’t happening any more, if it ever did.

Finally, we have rule by the many, for their own advantage, rather than the common good. Surprisingly, this is called a democracy! Now, when I read this, I was shocked, shocked! I had no idea that the idea of a democracy was one of selfishness. I always thought it represented the highest, most ideal form of government.

Reconsidering the Federalists

Many of you are familiar with the Federalist Papers, written largely by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. These men were arguing for a strong central government, at the expense of the power of the individual states. We see this theme being played out today in the struggles of Arizona to control its undocumented alien population. The question is: Will the federal judges be able to quash the rights of this state to determine its own policies? The jury is out yet, but I wouldn’t bet on Arizona. The federal government is almost totalitarian in its powers at this point. Your guns will be the next thing to go, I think.

You might say that the Federalists, especially Hamilton, had strong aristocratic leanings. One of the main arguments of the Federalists was for the federal government to have enough power to tax the people in order to maintain security of the nation. Of course, citizens lost this battle a long time ago with the introduction of the federal income tax, and then all the other taxes leading to the entitlements. If you would like to follow these arguments, you can read C.S. Lewis’ The Abolition of Man, or Alexis de Toqueville’s Democracy in America, or even Friedrich von Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom. I know I wrote this before, but I always think about my college astronomy course, where we measured the parallax of stars. In measuring this way, an infinitesimal aberration of a part of one degree, multiplied out, would lead you to someplace millions of miles off from your destination. That’s sort of like the way our nation has been progressing, in my mind. We thought we were aiming for the right place, but now, we can’t get there from here!

So Who is Really Ruling in America?

In my mind, we do not have a polity, since few Americans are truly concerned about the common good. We do not even have a democracy at the upper levels of government. What we have now is an oligarchy. Rule by the few over the many, for their own advantage.

You might say, but we have elected officials, representatives. They do our will! Let’s see if that is really so.

It is no secret that fundraising is a major job of anyone running for any elected office. He (or she) with the most funds usually prevails. And, because of their “donations” the oligarchs call the shots all along the board. Who are the real rulers? The heads of the multinational corporations which dominate our lives, from the kinds of food they sell, to the drugs they push, to the trade agreements which have devastated our land and reduced much of it to rusting poverty. When you hear someone say that he or she wants to run our governments “like a business”, I say, “Beware!” Businesses do not care for the common good; they only look, with greedy eyes, to profits.

Elizabeth Szlek is a former State Department candidate for the Foreign Service, and is the Director of The Door Counseling Center of Utica, NY. Questions and comments can be directed to her at (315) 7687-8900 or at info@thedoorcounseling.com.