I asked a friend of mine what she thought of democracy and the protests in Hong Kong. She replied I believe in the system of love - which totally caught me off guard; what do political systems have to do with love? (This is pretty long. If you dont have time, just skip to the last two sentences at the bottom). But after giving it a few thoughts, I realized this ties in with what Ive been talking about recently: democracy or (benevolent) dictatorship - doesnt matter; just be good. Now the big question is, who decides who and what is good and moral? The people, or the (benevolent) dictator? But we all know what is morally good and what isnt, dont we? Natural Law (or some people call it Moral Law) is universal isnt it? (Without getting too much into religion....) A benevolent dictator would (should?) find out what people want anyway (didnt some kings do that?). Does a bridge need to be built to connect this village to the school across the river? Should bike lanes be rerouted to ease traffic? Should we provide shelters for the homeless? If the people say no all of this, the dictator proceeds anyway - but is that really all that awful? Or how about a democracy in which there are a dozens of homeless people occupying a public park with their tents (true story... Oppenheimer Park in Vancouver).... suppose we hold a referendum to decide what to do with them. The dozens of homeless vote for more shelters to be built (or at least be able to continue to occupy the park). The rest of the roughly two million Vancouverites vote to ship them to a barren island in the middle of the arctic. (Remember, majority rules). According to the rules of democracy, wed have to honour that decision. Sure, you may say we have a Charter of Rights or a higher Senate (of some sort) that protects people, and it can override such a decision. But isnt that Charter/Senate (or whoever wrote it or decided to follow it) now a dictator? Or did the Charter of Rights come into being through the democratic system? If it did, then what did they base their decisions on? Benevolence, moral goodness... love, right? It not, then was there something even higher than that that could override the Charter of Rights? If there was, what was THAT based on? And what could override THAT? Just plain Moral Goodness/Natural Law/Love right? If the Charter of Rights was NOT drawn through the democratic system, then it was drawn by a dictator/dictators - even if they were benevolent (and we can stop worshipping democracy). So it seems like it doesnt matter what the people or the dictator decide; there is still a higher Charter of Rights (or a Senate of very old men)... and in fact, there is even a higher system of laws.... Natural Law/Moral Goodness/Love that DICTATES how we should behave and how we should run our society. I believe in the system of love, said my friend. If we love the homeless, how should our laws be drawn to help them? If we love disadvantaged children, how should our laws be drawn to help them? If we love the poor, how should our laws be drawn to help them? Now..... if we love money and selfishness more than the disadvantaged, how should our laws be drawn to help us? :D (Just joking). So whats more important... our type of political system, or that we follow the Laws of Moral Goodness? There IS a dictator. And its not a person.
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 11:36:50 +0000
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