Politics!!!
I believe that anyone who displays ANY desire to be in public office should be automatically and permanently disqualified, and we should sentence criminals to serve in positions of power. heh heh.
Seriously though, the idealist in me believes that anarchy is the best "government". Of course, first we'd have to first make sure everyone in this country (the whole world, really) has genuinely accepted God's gift of grace, and is living with His Spirit in their lives, but THEN, we could abolish government forever!
Here's a neat example of anarchy in action. It isn't presented as such; it's the biography of a pencil. But it talks about the complex process of pencils getting made without any "government" as such, no "Pencil Making Constitution" or "Oversight Committee For The Fabrication And Use Of Pencils".
That's what anarchy is; it is not CHAOS, it is just stuff happening without Massive Oversight (The government) (and Massive Oversight can be taken two ways, both equally valid). And there need not be MO. We CAN self-organize. And with less selfishness, greed, hate and so on, WE COULD DO IT!!!
so go... self organize... and stop looking at my desk!
The pencil is a fabulous example… but not in the way the pencil sees pencils. Although the pencil had no hand it its own making, it sees its very existence as the central focus of billions of other people. Those people could really not possibly care less about that individual pencil, but the pencil thinks that without its existence, these people would be without purpose in life.
What the pencil fails to realize is that there are a billion other pencils just like him that are going to get shoved in the grinder by the man until their usefulness is exhausted. Then, when dull and no longer productive, they will be thrown aside.
The pencil should have concentrated on its role as a tool. Taking part in things that are of long-term significance, like writing and art… these are the meaningful work of the pencil. Rather than examining everyone’s contribution to the “miracle” of the pencil, the pencil SHOULD have focused on its potential contibutions to everyone.
The original pencil is an example of anarchy. My pencil is socialist. I am a capitalist. I want a lot of good, cheap pencils. :)
-- Eric (Email) - 30 March '04 - 12:28COMMIE HIPPIE PINKO SCUM PENCIL!!!
-- juanito - 30 March '04 - 13:32Do you remember the character in Douglas Adams’ HITCH-HIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY Trilogy, who sits in a shed with his cat, on a planet where it’s always raining, and is the ruler of the Universe — except he doesn’t understand this, and isn’t sure if anything exists at all?
That might be the solution: Find someone totally cut off from the world, like a little old lady in Sibiria or Afghanistan, and ask her advice about the really important decisions.
(I keed. Or maybe not.)
-A.R. Yngve
http://yngve.bravehost.com
-- A.R. Yngve (URL) - 03 April '04 - 06:25right, a dis-invested, but benevolent dictator. Someone outside the system, who is unaffected by the success or failure of the world, with infinite wisdom, knowledge and power… hang on, sounds like a theocracy but we all know how well that worked out for Israel. Humans are just wired to be greedy, selfish money grubbers. The political systems that “work” best are those that accept this fact.
-- juanito - 03 April '04 - 09:36Ah, but do you also remember that the “man who rules the Universe” in Adams’ novel is in turn ruled by his own cat? The idea that God may be a cat I find profoundly disturbing, but cat-lovers might appreciate it… I’m more of a dog person.
;-P
-- A.R. Yngve (URL) - 05 April '04 - 09:17well, if any creature firmly believes in its own deity, the cat would be it. Everything really does revolve around a cat. For dogs on the other hand, the concept of “self” is probably unthinkable.
I should re-read my “The Complete Douglas Adams” that Karen got me for christmas a few years ago.
-- juanito - 06 April '04 - 11:01