But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature. If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In forming a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.
–James Madison, The Federalist Papers, No. 51
Can we appeal to our better angels and, in turn, oblige ourselves to be more responsible? The problem for all of us ordinary stiffs was defined a few centuries back by Plato.
In “The Republic,” Plato describes a cave where people don’t see what’s really happening in their world. What they do see are shadows made by puppets and reflected on the walls. It’s not as if the people in the cave even see the puppets, they see the shadows of the puppets.
Today, we see the shadows of what the puppet masters want us to see. Don’t believe it? Where do you get your news? How do you know what’s going on in your world? More to the point, who owns your news source? (more…)
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