As I looked at this reading assignment, I began to muse about what Fredrick Douglass, an abolitionist, could have to do with Ideologies? I stopped and said "wait what?" Then I read the article (well most of it, I skimmed over some of the boring stuff but hey who hasn't?) and wait... yup at one time people actually thought that it was okay to have slaves. I particularly enjoyed the first part of the speech. To many who were listening to it on that day, they probably were thinking he was just praising the "fore fathers" for being patriotic. Reading it today, it is quite evident to see that he was drawing parallel after parallel to the slaves' collective struggle for freedom to the struggle that the revolutionaries did during the war.
We now live in a time when it seems that racism should be evaporating faster than the profits made in the stock market. It is good to remember how, can I say stupid?, okay stupid people were back in the day. One last thought, this speech reminded me of the Patriot (rip heath, you are the man) of the slave who was signed to serve by his "master." He was able to fight for the freedom of a nation, and his own personal freedom from bondage. Even after he serves his six months required to be free, he fights for a better world. I know its a movie, but still, its a good thought to end on.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Sunday, September 14, 2008
John Locke and Civil/Political Societies: Failure and Success
John Locke approaches government and the social contract a little differently then our dear friend Hobbes. Locke seems to have a little more faith in humans than does Hobbes. He asserts that "men" will do what is necessary to preserve their fundamental rights of life, liberty, estate, and freedom from injury from other "men". He goes on to say that one way of preserving those rights peacefully is to come together as a community.
This community would become the foundation for Democracy and, to a lesser extent, the revolutionary era of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The application of citizens of a nation banding together to establish legislation over themselves was a radical idea at the time. In today's world most societies see it as the best form of government. Representative democracies and majority rule have led many nations to form peaceful and relatively long lasting governments. Notable democracies that have had success are nations like the United States, France, Canada, and the Scandinavian nations.
This is not the case in all democracies. Often people elected to public office become corrupted by power and dismantle their own countries. (Such is the case in many of the new nations of post-colonial Africa). This happens due to a variety of reasons. These reasons range from differentiation of ideas of how nations should be run, to long standing cultural strife's and controversies.
Although Locke's notions of self rule by a community of the willing to submit provide an excellent rationale for a nation, it is in no way fool proof. Does anyone know of a way to better his ideas, or figure out a way for a new system of government?
This community would become the foundation for Democracy and, to a lesser extent, the revolutionary era of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The application of citizens of a nation banding together to establish legislation over themselves was a radical idea at the time. In today's world most societies see it as the best form of government. Representative democracies and majority rule have led many nations to form peaceful and relatively long lasting governments. Notable democracies that have had success are nations like the United States, France, Canada, and the Scandinavian nations.
This is not the case in all democracies. Often people elected to public office become corrupted by power and dismantle their own countries. (Such is the case in many of the new nations of post-colonial Africa). This happens due to a variety of reasons. These reasons range from differentiation of ideas of how nations should be run, to long standing cultural strife's and controversies.
Although Locke's notions of self rule by a community of the willing to submit provide an excellent rationale for a nation, it is in no way fool proof. Does anyone know of a way to better his ideas, or figure out a way for a new system of government?
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