Dear Friends,
It seems to me, instead of striving for democracy, we should be seeking polity. Democracy is where the majority rule the minority, but polity is where everyone agrees. The compromised would argue that it is impossible to get everyone to agree, especially in a large state encompassing millions of people. Which is a valid argument, just not for this discussion. The first reason is it is out of place, is because it assumes size effects the culture, when I don’t think there is much evidence to prove that as a fact. Second, is the assumption that there are people who are so disagreeable they will not agree to anything. In that I suspect they are projecting. Lastly, they assume that polity is everyone agreeing with zero dissent. When that is not the case at all, polity, is everyone being comfortable with the decision.
The old saying goes, democracy is three wolves and a lamb setting down to supper, and voting on what they will eat. Polity is each of them eating what they want and all of them being safe from each other. You and I may not agree on anything, on the face of it, but in reality we all agree on most things… except for psychopaths. I presume you and I agree the lot of mankind should be elevated whenever possible, I bet we agree that poverty should be eliminated, at least where it leads to destitute want, and that war is a bad thing… the point is, everyone sane agrees on the big questions. Where we differ is on how to get there. Democracy is when the majority decide and the minority knuckle under. Polity is where we all decide, and if that decision is too odious to someone, we just don’t implement it.
The more partisan the culture the less there will be polity and the more there will be democracy. In fact, when that is the case, the winners of an electoral battle will revel in the emotional pain of their enemies. This is what is happening in our culture. We are so tribalized now, we don’t seek victory to pursue our greater goals, but to smash the wills of our political foes. Which can only lead to greater polarization, fear and anger. The more people feel beat up the less we are willing to engage in dialogue. The end of such a feedback loop is civil war. That is the road our civilization is on. The dead end leads to oblivion. It is not because of the system it is because polarization serves the interests of the political elite. In that it keeps us divided so they can implement their despotic rule without push back.
Of course, if the electoral system itself is corrupted, the slide to civil war must accelerate. When the majority are silenced, threatened and disenfranchised, the polarization grows out of control. People in that situation, are like cornered animals, we could lash out in unpredictable ways, at unpredictable targets. Which, I am sure, is one reason the faction doing the disenfranchising, censoring and wielding mobs, is intent on disarming the American people. That would be effective at lowering our ability to harm those harming us. A position that psychopaths always want their victims in. There are those who will whimper and beg their tormentors, and others that are more like cats, and will scratch. Disarming us is ripping the claws from a cat you plan to torture. Such people make polity nearly impossible.
Aristotle’s republican form of government, the one adopted by the US founding Fathers, along with Montesquieu’s third branch, was designed to limit the passions of partisans. The system they devised, were we to follow it, would drag us back towards polity, and away from polarization, hate and tribalization. Sadly, we haven’t followed our Constitution since Woodrow Wilson, reducing it to a single layer of cheesecloth covering naked despotism. Since our leaders, elected, cultural and bureaucratic, will not willingly return to Constitutional rule, it is up to us to do it. By building a sense of polity in our culture. We are not helpless, we have claws, a voice and will. We can lead by example and build harmony instead of acrimony. We are a polity or a democracy, the choice is ours, not theirs.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
