The most important area everyone should master is politics since every area of our lives is affected by it. The trouble is that different views concerning situations, priorities and opinions become conflicts and wars. But that doesn’t make politics bad. Acknowledging the existence of a conflict is the first step to knowing how to resolve it. Everything in life contains a war to a certain extent.

To understand any topic clearly, one has to have a starting point where things are basic. When the first principles are understood, it is easer to move on to more complicated things. This post concerns these basic principles.

Inside every person there is a community of passions, ambitions and reasoning. The first conflict we have to master is the one within ourselves.When we say someone is confident, we are referring to the absence of conflict within themselves. This person is sure about the direction they are going. Someone who is confident in wrongdoing cannot be given responsibility. A person who has the habit of winning the war within themselves in favor of good behavior is a trustworthy person to have around. Temptation is the word we use for those passions that cause conflict within ourselves and if they win, can make our quality of life worse. Plato called these internal wars, civil wars. The conflicts we have with others are external wars and are much easier to resolve than struggles within. This principle follows into our community of associations.

Within a family there is a reputation that follows its members. In a small community, there is a certain culture that is somewhat predictable in their behavior in the same way an individual will have a certain character. A state will have a certain culture too. No one wants bad people in charge of an entire state because it reflects on everyone. In a similar way we have inner conflicts with passions that are detrimental, there are people in every state that are given to bad behavior and therefore shouldn’t be in control. If these people are in the majority and vote in someone of like character, the entire city or state suffers. Majority rule isn’t effective in this situation. History is full of examples of bad characters taking over countries through intimidation and convincing the majority that they must be in charge.

The ideal is that the best people are in control and the worse people are content along with having laws that keep them all out of trouble. This is the goal of a good legislator. A state or a nation with civil unrest cannot face the world with confidence. Some philosophers believed that good will always find a way to win and if a nation doesn’t follow good principles another will rule over it. It is much the same with a person who cannot rule himself. Another will have to take the reins of his life and steer him in the right direction to keep him out of trouble. There is an abundance of people  wherever you go who desire to control others. To remain independent, every individual, community, or nation must face outside hostilities with confidence. This only comes when good principled people are in control and conflicts with those who have overwrought passions are pacified somehow. A poor leader will stir up dissention and break unity and cooperation to cause civil unrest. A good leader will consider everyone’s wellbeing and enact laws that have the goal of bringing unity and goodness that will advance their country. This may start as a war against those who cause strife, but the end is peace. This is a conclusion found in Plato’s discourse on law.

Fault finders are a dime a dozen. A person can ruin any good thing by becoming critical. The virtue of having a rational mind is that it helps us rise above any faction through proper reasoning. It is a valuable part of us that cannot be stolen and every person has access to become rich in understanding.

No one wants to be treated like a child and yet there are always self righteous tenders who think they know what is best for everyone. Government is the perfect environment for those who have a superiority complex. In order to have a civil society, governing is necessary. The dilemma we face is how does one maintain order while keeping the meddlers at bay?

It is easy to get caught up in left and right: conservative or liberal. Any form of government ranging from monarchy to democracy can become abusive. Both have the potential of having one group meddling in everyone’s affairs. The real questions are about limits. One group might be stronger at law enforcement yet want less intrusion in business. The opposing group could want less local and more federal control. They all have pet areas they want either protected or expanded. When factions are formed there is far less consideration to particulars due to loyalties.

The purpose of a constitution is to limit intrusion. The ideal culture will have strong ethics therefore fewer laws. It is a burden on everyone to pay for excessive administrators and enforcers. A reasonable person sees that a certain amount is necessary as long as it doesn’t intrude to the point of producing a cowering society that has no honor. Honor is produced by voluntarily doing the right things. Hope and change is an internal state of being that is produced by virtuous individuals. It cannot be externally produced by virtuous factions or laws. Every good political discourse begins with this reality.