The heart champions feelings 

The pursuit of blame toward people can be a real annoyance because it is distracts from real issues. It is characteristic of the cult of personality we have today. Those who are obsessed with ego quickly take the shortcut of passing blame rather than taking the effort to objectively look at an issue. But realistically, most people are trying to do the best they can with what they know. We also have different passions and different things that are important to us. When we come together to make laws, they should cover common interests. But but if we allow ourselves to become crisis mongers and personality worshipers, we become ineffective at finding this common ground. Parents find out that the problem isn’t the kid who knocked over the lamp, it is the fact that all the kids were too rowdy and needed to take their energy outside. Each individual needs to tone it down and be considerate of their surroundings when we use principles over blame. Even in ourselves, it is only when we get past that unattainable perfect character we all expect to be and look objectively at what works best for us and what we enjoy, that life can become enjoyable. Guilt is the product of blame. Although we should be responsible for our actions and not blame others, it is counterproductive to beat ourselves up too. The same goes for those around us. We can recognize principles and the ramifications that usually follow but really don’t know their motives and circumstances. Examining other cultures works the same way.

The issues among people have striking similarities throughout history and that is what makes ancient writings and history fascinating. We can see how they dealt with things and what the outcome was for them. Since no one can see into the future and see the effects of what we put in place, we can at least look at what happened historically and avoid the pitfalls they ran into. Rather than looking for characters to assassinate as today’s custom is, we can observe actions and principles and see what happened.

The Greeks thought it important to record their history and perspectives so others could build on them. They are considered the ones who started looking objectively at governing systems that get the most out of human potential and writing down their observations. We see the fruit of their endeavors still today through their philosophy, writings and archaeological remains. The history of these regions is a fascinating one too. Traveling Europe can spark ones interest. Many areas were settled, conquered and resettled by different people at different times. Our minds like to think that everything stays the same, but history shows otherwise.

The eastern coast of Turkey along the Aegean sea was the stage for much of the Greek ancient history. Ancient Troy was located along that coast as was Constantinople. It is called Istanbul today. The Greeks first and then the Romans settled and controlled the area and it eventually became Christianized. Afterward, the Latin and Greek part of the Christian church separated. The area around the Aegean sea became a powerhouse and the Greek center of Christianity was Constantinople for a thousand years. The Muslim incursion into the east sparked crusades and help was given from the Latin side of Christianity. But power struggles broke their unity, Constantinople was sacked by the Latin side and the Muslims eventually took over the entire area and westward. The Muslim Ottoman empire lasted until World War one when it was broken up since they supported the Germans on their eastern border. This is a very vague summary. But you can see that conquering lands and taking them over happened over the years in every country. America’s natives were no less conquering each other before Europeans settled and took over themselves.

It was normal for the middle class in ancient Greece to own slaves. This was the practice for mankind for most of history. The reason was due to large projects that required little skill that needed to be completed. Mundane tasks that brought income to middle class people could best be done by servants so the owner could improve everyone’s lives by attending to management. It also made it possible for advances in writing, architecture and produce. The mindset was that slavery was better and held more hope than the barbaric or impoverished system they would otherwise be trapped in. Some ancient cities distributed food from central areas to feed their population. Certain foods were free such as grain. Slaves provided the backbone to have a city-state structure where citizens could give themselves to governing, science philosophy and protection. Today we have harnessed chemical energy from carbon to do the work that slaves used to do. But when we look at other civilizations, they didn’t have what we have today. This is something we have to consider today when we study other cultures.

In this quest to shake the mundane

To get along with anyone, we have to first find common ground. In order to accomplish great things, people have to cooperate with each other. This is an axiom we start from in all our conversations about governing. But so there isn’t an overbearing group of people holding creativity back, we must set limits on how much control is ceded over to others while allowing people to be free. It works this way in family relationships too. This too has to find a mean or a good place where security and help is available and yet freedom is exists to be one’s self. Over a large group, such as a country, the three areas a government exists to protect are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. By now you probably see that these areas of preservation also exist in our close relationships. We are first glad the person exists, want them to be free to be themselves and to be able to accomplish their dreams. We want the same for ourselves and for others. These are the traits of good governing both for ourselves and those we come in contact with.

A person who is rich and greedy might try to control others to their own advantage. A person who is dependent might exchange freedom for control of a portion of another person’s money. Both of these people are controlled by money and are not really free. In order to be free, a person needs to be independent. Self respect and honor between people have to do with an exchange of work or use of one person’s talent to help another in their endeavors. Eventually they both, through a mutual agreement, can work toward their dreams. We want to preserve an environment that encourages this practice. Governing doesn’t exist to create, even within ourselves; governing exists to preserve. Free thought and actions toward dreams can only be accomplished by individuals.

So the subject becomes on of sustaining an environment that will allow people to both think and do things freely. How much governing does it require? But along with freedom to do, people need to be responsible for what they do with themselves and how they interact with others. An environment where people govern themselves is ideal since this also helps with accomplishment. Anyone who has artistic ability will see their expression increase as they use self discipline and practice. This works with music or other talents. Our biggest resistance isn’t the person across the street but it is in ourselves. A culture that encourages pointing fingers is one that will also inhibit the finger-pointers talents. So a governing system that points out differences and gives preferences is also a governing system that will stifle creativity. Individuals that take responsibility for themselves are the only ones who can improve themselves. We might just take a look into the subject of Blame a little deeper.

Some are content 

To understand where we are going with this, we need to review the doctrine of the mean. Virtues always lie in between two extreme passions. A person who possesses the virtue of courage is somewhere between fearful and foolhardy. A good soldier is willing to give his life for his country but takes care to preserve his own life and those of his fellow soldiers. A person caught in vice has sacrificed the middle and is compelled to stay at an extreme due to a pleasure they get out of it. A foolhardy person wants so bad to appear courageous to his peers, he takes unnecessary risks. A fearful person wants security so bad he can’t move forward. We all take pleasure at times with pushing limits, but all should agree that virtue is the best place to be. This also has a political application.

We looked at what brings tyranny to a country. It started with a description of three types of authority; monarch, aristocratic and democracy. But technically there are only two. A monarch can be concluded to be an extreme form of aristocratic governing so we are left with aristocratic and democratic. On one side we have only the elite and best running a government and on the other we have the common people running things. The qualifications for aristocratic authority can be due to inheritance, a virtue of some kind such as war experience or simply having money. The qualifications for democratic are the various definitions of citizenship.

An aristocratic government becomes a tyranny when the leaders become more concerned with securing their positions, wealth and honor than the well-being of the citizens. A democracy becomes a tyranny when the majority of people lack virtue and want heroes to tend them rather than rising up themselves, solving their own problems and becoming better citizens.

There are two things at issue, quality and quantity. To be ruled by a few elitists has its obvious disadvantages for the common people. A democracy that contains people who are dependent and submissive will set the stage for abuse. The virtue of having a nation has to be somewhere in between. This is called the middle class or the mean. A country that has a large middle class both in virtue and in wealth will be the least likely to allow abuses from either direction, elite snobbery or complacent poor. A country that champions middle class leaders will contain satisfied citizens. The ultimate goal of a community would be to grow citizens who have enough virtue to handle either wealth or poverty with good character. Those of wealth giving others a hand up and those in poverty despising it enough to work their way into the middle class. The best way to do this, taking into account the particulars of a society, is what good political debate should be focused on.

A body is confined

My daddy taught me how to talk 

Hey mister moon, I see your plight