talking about the United States governmental system today with Meg, I came up with an interesting thought. This was spurred by the desire of many people to give the CDC authority to take away the rights of individual citizens for the good of the rest of the United States, regarding Ebola. We think of ourselves as a Democracy, work in practice like a Republic, show signs of an Oligarchy/Aristocracy, and we as citizens sometimes arbitrarily expect reactions like what would come out of a Monarchy. BUT, only when we approve of it - otherwise its Tyranny instead. Thinking back to Alexis de Tocqueville, who worried about the Tyranny of the Majority, I wonder if thats the true desire that people have? A tyrannical governmental structure, as long as its on Our Side? Fact is, people, we dont run as a tyranny, and the CDC has limited emergency powers. We may want a strong, authoritarian figure or department to take care of it for us and keep us safe - but giving an entity the authority to suspend an individuals or groups rights of citizenship on suspicion of danger to the State and/or to other citizens is a very dangerous thing. A measure of inefficiency is expected when dealing with a democratic/republican government, especially a large one such as ours.
Posted on: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 17:03:56 +0000
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