The word democracy comes from the Greek demos (the people) and kritas (rule). Now, if we claim to be democratic then it is permissible for people like us to examine what democracy is, or should be. In my last post I noted how the Greeks claimed to be ruled by law. Aristotle wrote that
"It is more proper that law should govern than any one of its citizens: upon the same principle, if it is advantageous to place the supreme power in some particular persons, they should be appointed to be only guardians, and the servants of the laws".
To return to Pericles, he told us that;
"Our polity....is called a democracy, because not the few but the many govern. If we look to the laws, they afford equal justice to all in their private differences; if to social standing, advancement in public life falls to reputation for capacity, class considerations not being allowed to interfere with merit; nor again does poverty bar the way, if a man is able to serve the state, he is not hindered by obscurity. Where the law is subject to some other authority and has none of its own, the collapse of the state, in my view, is not far off; but if the law is master of the government and the government its slave, then the situation is full of promise and men enjoy all the blessings that the gods shower on a state".
If we take such ideals as the starting point for our investigations then we can only conclude that Britain is indeed a barbarian state. I wrote how politics is a decision-making process. Today we read that the average Scottish wage has fallen by £1900 since this government was elected in 2010. At the same time, a CEO in one of our major companies earns the average working annual salary every 2 days. That situation is the result of deliberate political policy decisions. Such situations don't happen spontaneously or by the workings of the 'market' despite what politicians consistently tell you. British politicians took the conscious decision in the late 1970's to erect an economic system that would quite deliberately transfer wealth from the poor to the rich and to strip as many rights from workers as possible to remove the constraints on such an economic policy.
What gives Westminster politicians the right to make such decisions that have such consequences for people? They cannot claim that they have a mandate from the electorate. No government in Britain has been elected with more than 42% of the vote since the 1950's. Today we see the news that the government is going to impose a 'luxury' tax on female sanitary products. Thus, tampons are now a luxury. I am sure that some people reading this will be sure that I am making this up because it smacks of genuine insanity. The word government comes
from the Latin word gubernare, to
govern. The Latin in its turn takes the word gubernare from the Greek kubernetes.
In Greek a kubernetes was the pilot
of a ship, the steersman or the helmsman. So government is the art of steering,
of guiding and governing the ship of state. These Greek and Latin roots were
translated into the English as governor, or ruler. The position we have in Britain today is that the government not only steers the ship but determines its course, its speed and its ultimate destination. This is not the function of government. I will return to this again.
Your Servant
Doktor Kommirat.
No comments:
Post a Comment