Civil Responsibility (1) Definition of a State State is nothing more than a social contract among citizens. Like all kinds of contracts, they can be cancelled when obsolete. The state is a tool to improve the standard of living of humans, no a curse to control or repress them. State has only existed for a short period in human history. Humans lived without a state for several million years. We have no reasons to worship a state, don’t we? History has taught us a fact that, if we don’t have our own power, we are just pawns of the others. We will just become the pawns to be abandoned at any time. Our culture will not be respected; our existence will be played down. So what can we do? The only way is to acquire our own power, and to establish our own empire. Definition of Politics The essence of politics is to solve conflicts. If there is just one person in this world, there is no need for politics; if there are two, you need trust; if there are three; you need friendship; more than that, it’s politics. When there are more than three persons, they cannot be unanimous on everything, there must be conflicts. Politics is not being a bureaucrat and holding meetings, it’s about cooperation among people. Initiating conflicts is not politics, solving conflicts is. In an ideal world of politics, statesman or president has the responsibility to solve the conflicts among the people, using their own ways, maybe through emotional appeal, maybe through persuasion, maybe through establishing new system, to solve such conflicts, so that talented people will not waste their times in conflicts. Those people who simply follow the herd and make comments that politics is dirty just lack the basic understanding of history. They are just superstitious sheep among the herd. Essence of politics is how one gets along with another. For those who say politics is dirty, human relationship must be the same. It is not the fact; politics is not dirty, either. One of the dirtiest things is the apathetic and parrot attitude, which never tries to understand facts and think logically, but simply judge by their superstitious, suspicious and biased brains. Why can’t politics be the matters of the public, or a way to solve conflicts and balance the interests among different parties? Why must politics be something involving conspiracies and tricks among some conspirators? It is very common among the Chinese to say “I don’t talk about politics”, is it because politics has been distorted to mean something weird? So what politics actually is? You may understand like this: two guys are going to fight, another two guys persuading them respectively, persuasion goes on until both are convinced and give up their fight, to save from injuries. This is politics. Politics is nothing dirty; it’s just a part of life. Of course, those in power like to intimidate their subjects, to mystify politics into something out of touch from the daily lives of them. But in my opinion, something like local gentry or gangs are already manifests of politics. Functions of Democracy Democracy can never solve any problems. It just reveals problems and forces the citizens to face them. It functions to dig out the dirtiest things of the state to come under sunlight. So the advantage of totalitarianism is to deny these problems, to keep the dirtiest things of the state deep underground. Seeing is believing, keeping these things out of sight can comfort many. The prerequisite of democracy is a civil society. The prerequisite of a civil society lies on the awareness of self-identity. One must first establish his identity as a citizen and build up his dignity, could a civil society be formed. But in the process of building up dignity, there will be conflicts with those who have not. The feature of democracy is not to reflect public opinion. Quite the opposite, it is a tool to punish all involved when the votes are lazy. The gist of democracy is the share of responsibility. Everyone bears his own share of responsibility, he shares his share of power from the society. Responsibility of Election Never depend on a small number of people or organizations to bear the responsibility and power. To share the responsibility of the power to the majority, or even all the people is a more sustainable system for the society. Everyone corrupts, including you and me, it is a fact as we are humans. We live, we grow old, and we fall sick and die. We have wants and demands like animals; we have needs of affections and to live; and we are anxious about the future. These are the reasons why we corrupt. Based on this fact, we just cannot rely on any single person, even he looks like a saint, in politics. Individuals can make great contributions within a short period of time, but this is more by luck and no guarantee. We should never put something which works constantly, such as a state, on the shoulders of some heroes. Every one of us is selfish; every one of us can err. So it is dangerous to concentrate the power on one or few persons. He or their faults will lead to wrong ways. We may rely on their leadership, but maybe such reliance is also a fault. Everyone who wants to save himself must admit that everyone is just a flawed human being. There is no Messiah among us. Even if there is one, he is just a human being who thinks he is. To save ourselves, we must learn how to break up the responsibility of one into the share of everyone. If people are apathetic to elections and democratic movements, some may come out to grab the power unwanted, sipping blood from everyone.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Jul 2013 15:56:24 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015