Thoughts on Government

The government is in the news a lot these days. Of course, that’s to be expected, what with extreme division in our national government that bleeds down into local governments along with a very dangerous war between very different countries that is occupying world attention and has resulted in the deaths of many people. It makes one, not everyone, but many of us, to think about our government. After all, it is governments that create laws, wars, educational programs, trade agreements between nations, various controls over different cultural behaviors, monetary structure, requirements of various cultures over internal populations, and agreements between governments. In the first place, do we need governments? It seems like we do, we’ve had government since, well, since before we even evolved into humans.

A government is a system to govern (control) a state or community. The Columbia Encyclopedia defines government as "a system of social control under which the right to make laws, and the right to enforce them, is vested in a particular group in society". A government can be defined as the collective body, or entity, that is invested with the power to manage a political unit, organization, or more often, a country, a city, or a state. Government, from the Latin locution gubernare - means steer a ship/vessel - describes the governing authority in charge of running a State. Some of the different types of government include a direct democracy, a representative democracy, socialism, communism, a monarchy, an oligarchy, and an autocracy.

You may be thinking, why do humans need governments? Well, it may be because humans are apparently still wild, aggressive, and uncivilized, but still, unlike other animals, we have intelligence and intellect, and the physical and mental capability to create tools and understand nature. As human beings, we have, or should have, what is called Natural Rights, that is, we have them as long as the government under which we live, recognizes and agrees that we have them. Assuring natural rights with good government is not an easy task. Democracy, although not perfect is the best form of government, when it is impartial, to secure and maintain human natural rights. Yet, even with joint national organization, religion, and comradery, we still covet our neighbors, you name it, wealth, water, animals, farms, and in some instances, even daughters. And humans are not above just taking what won’t be given. Thus, humans need laws and behavioral controls to be able to live together in large and small groups. So, we have laws, we like to think that democratically they apply to all people, because all people must have laws. And how well has that worked out? Apparently better than no law at all, but we are still working on that now here in the year 2023. Now that’s a topic for a long book, and there are a number of them out there already and others that are a work in progress.

As to our laws and their origin, look at a troop of chimpanzees, and some other primates. Humans are from the same lineage. Each “troop” of chimpanzees, and other primates as well, form into permanent groups, and there is usually one large male that controls the social element of a tribe. He governs with a physical presence that dominates the tribe, and if he kills an infant not of his progeny, there is no penalty. His female will then be stimulated to create another pregnancy and will soon be ready to accept his effort to impregnate her with his genetics. ?These chimpanzee social groups are flexible and live loosely within a form of government that we call Autocracy.

In an Autocracy there is one supreme ruler, this is one person, usually male, that rules with absolute power. He, or she (Bonobo chimps have female leaders), surround themselves with sycophants, minions, that carry out their orders without question or analysis and their reward is power and money, subject only to the orders and whims of the leader, the autocrat. This is how a tribe of chimpanzees maintains a close organization that provides environmental and social survival.

In humans, Autocracy consists of a strong leader who is in full control of the country, nation, club, troop, gang, etc., and he controls a strong bond of “like-minded” individuals who serve the interests and whims of the supreme ruler. Within their own sphere, these secondary autocrats may also be authoritative, but their power is vested by the supreme ruler and can be withdrawn on his or her whim. The military organization of US Armed Forces comes to mind.

There is another more fundamental form of organization, actually the absence of government, a form of “group living”, and that is Anarchy or Anarchism, which is a society without any type of government or established law, rule, or ruler. It has a larger footprint in the development of government, the lack of it, in the 19th and early 20th centuries than most people realize, and still active today. Each family or individual is free to live as they wish without law, politics, or a controlling authority. Voluntary cooperation is the structure of this society. The specter of religion, however, may tie the individuals into a cooperative group with unwritten rules, except for religious beliefs. This form of government is pretty much restricted to small groups. And is, in some circumstances, harbors a small form of Dictatorship.

Unlike other species of animals that exist on the basis of instinct and biology, humans, Homo sapiens, have evolved into a species with a physical and mental structure that allows this species to control and direct the ecological and biological structure of Earth and its life. However, unfortunately, this control does not include the reproductive control of Homo sapiens and the maintenance of a healthy planet. ?

Over many, many long years, humanity has ‘experimented” with many forms of government. A typical governmental structure is a Monarchy. A Monarchy is sort of an Autocracy, a rule under a single individual but with a family lineage and usually a religious component that establishes a supernatural blessing on the rule of the King and/or Queen, and that rule is inherited by a next of kin, unless a coup overthrows the ruling family and creates a new royalty, or a different form of government. A Monarchy can be a total single ruler, usually with religious support, of government, an absolute kind of royal Autocracy, or in modern times a Monarchy is often a traditional aspect of government rather than a power of rule.

A Dictatorship is an autocratic form of government, a totalitarian government that usually arises from a personality with a military and/or political history, such as famously, Hitler, Napoleon, Stalin, Hussein, Putin, and many others. A Democracy (government of the people for the people) can be stolen and become a Dictatorship where one element of the government, with the help of a segment of the populace, military, religious, or political, consumes a democratic government and constructs a Dictatorship. In a situation like this, the interests and health of a Democracy are soon destroyed and changed into a nation that serves a strong leadership rather than a nation where the people are governed by a leadership that serves the people. A Dictatorship could be considered as a government that imprisons its populations.

Human history is a rendition of government and its applications. Democracy is relatively new on the stage of government. It has its origin in the Greek term for that style of government, the Greek words “demos”, common people, and “kratos”, power, describe the anchor of democracy, “power to the people”. Thus “we the people” have a duty to develop a government that provides the five basics of government, and in brief, these basic freedoms are:

?Freedom to organize political parties and hold elections

?Freedom of speech

?Free press

?Free assembly

?Prohibition of unlawful imprisonment

In our world and country today there are various forms of government that are or could become governments of many people. These are a direct democracy, a representative democracy, socialism, communism, a monarchy, an oligarchy, and an autocracy. Our country was founded on an open to all Democracy, and this is worth defending at all costs, all over the globe. Of course, Democracy is complex, but freedom is worth any degree and any cost of complexity. Democracy allows, stimulates, and encourages, free speech and the pursuit and proof of TRUTH. And this guides everything, science, literature, religion, the law, the right to question, and among many other things, the right to question the truth of everything, the right to strive to prove truth, and to question what others claim to be truth. Always seek the real truth!

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Martin Moe