Most of you who know me, (and especially if you follow me on twitter), you know that I’m acutely aware of politics. Politics is a challenging field, because of the obvious ego/greed base of most of the players in that particular game. And frankly, it’s exhausting to pay attention to it, much less be involved. Yet, since that is the way we’ve organized our society right now, this game and its players impact us all – so we’d best pay attention.
I tend to agree with Plato about the quality of individuals who should be in positions of any kind of authority — although in a perhaps more updated form. Plato believed that the people should choose a Philosopher-King. In my imagining, we would more likely have Councils of philosophers, so that power would not be centralized into one individual or group.
Plato’s Philosopher-King possesses an open mind, intelligence, and a love of knowledge – combine with and a willingness to live a simple life.(The Republic, 5.473d) Compare that with the ignorant, often religious, greedy billionaires we have in the US Congress right now: many who obstruct any movement towards helping the citizens of this country because of money they get from polluting or other negative corporate interests.
I imagine us as a species, outgrowing our selfishness and moving into a place where our actions are taken only after considering whether this choice honors and protects our living planet and our fellow earthlings. I imagine us cooperating rather than competing. I imagine a world of art and music, with a beautiful chaos of new ideas and, of course, a giant dose of silliness and fun!
So it’s painful to pay attention to politics as it is right now. Yet, if we don’t…
One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. – Plato