Why I Do What I Do

As we near one of the holiest days of the Christian calendar, I want to take time and reflect on those core values I hold dear that I hope I represented well on this blogsite, as well as when visiting yours. If at any time I did not, you have my deepest apologies. One of my biggest flaws is unbridled passion which gets in the way of my reason.

With that said, the enterprise of logic is one that effects every area of our lives. The focus of my blogsite has been mainly political, with moral and ethical issues a very close second. Politics is one those arenas that arouses deep feelings, since it is the one arena that we feel the most vulnerable; politics has in it the capacity to sustain our freedom, or to bring repression. In reading Plato's Republic, I am made more aware now than ever of the impact the polis (city) has on us, and the impact just or unjust rulers can have on "the city." The type of government Plato favors is an oligarchy composed of philosopher-kings who rule according to true justice, not an invention of the same. They are people who with right reason see truth as objective, and morality as absolute and universal. The relativism of the sophists are utterly repudiated.

In light of this, he sees democracy as a weaker form of government, in that it the body politic has no philosophical means to prevent the rise of tyrants. In book VIII of the Republic, he uses the "hive" analogy to compare these two types of rule. The hive inevitably produces drones, the male counter-parts to the females who add nothing to the hive except impregnating the females. They do not work to produce honey; they are large and imposing creatures that can offset the "culture" within the hive. They are essentially useless, and the bee-keepers strive to remove them from the hive. The oligarchy, in a way, is like the bee-keepers that remove the "drones" from the city. The drones are in essence, "demagogues" who use their rhetorical powers to try create power blocks to promote their political agendas. The oligarchs remove these men from positions of power and discredit them for who they are. The people and the peace is protected by the oligarch's actions. The democratic hive, however, has no bee-keeper to remove the drones; the drones eventually bring the downfall of the hive.

With this in mind, Plato sees that tyrants come into power in light of the rhetorical activity of these public drones. Since power ultimately rests with the people in a democracy, if the drones are to gain power, and can sway public opinion to believe that the state-of-affairs are as critical as the drones say, they can rest the power they need. When unrest ensues, an opportunistic "protector" arises that will "save" the people, who turns out to be a tyrant.

Although in history, democracies arose after periods of tyrranical oppression, my fear is that in America's case, Plato may be right. Although we have a democratic republic, which, thankfully, is somewhat of a safeguard against the actions of demagogues, demagoguery can still affect our nation. The political rhetoric is so thick and such a fever pitch right now, I am concerned just what damage has been done to us. We won't know this since the media is no longer putting forth news; they're very involved in the "drones" activities. Political positions and statements are made now that would be considered criminal a hundred years ago. The increasing onslaught of Marxist and Maoist ideologies posing as free speech is rotting away at the integrity and strength of our nation. I now wait to see what "protector" will rise to "help" our beleagered nation rise to greatness again.

Since we have no oligarchs who are wise enough to weed out these drones, we, as the people of this "city", America, must work to do the weeding ourselves. We cannot afford to allow the politicos to do this for us, for there are many "drones" among them. In order for us to do remove the drones, we must have the wisdom to do so, requiring that we know what is truth and true justice, and not the justice of Marxist and Maoist "drones" or the wimpish appeasement "drones." Drones of any persuasion must not gain the rhetorical upper hand in what I see as a political war.

Maybe you don't agree. Maybe you scratch your heads in wonder. That is okay. At least you can see that my methods are not simply to irritate or be devil's advocate for the fun of it. I'm really hoping that through dialogue and dialectic, we can awaken the reason that can prevail in these times.

May God bless you as you seek the truth at all costs.