Neoteronous
A Modern Man Standing in the Tradition of Catholic Platonism
A Modern Man Standing in the Tradition of Catholic Platonism
Friday, June 09, 2006
Any community, from the smallest to the largest, must be ordered in such a way as to respect the dignity of each of its members. This implies that each member is able to effectively take up the attitude of opposition, as JPG describes in the previous post, when he or she honestly has a problem with some aspect of the life of the community. (This does not imply that he or she need be correct, but only sincere.) All members of a human commuity have a radical equality due to their shared human nature. It is appropriate to the nature of a rational being that he or she provides an order to things. A community is composed of equal, rational beings, and therefore a community ought to provide each member with a share in the ordering or governance of such community. This principle applies in different ways to diverse communities, in one way to a family, in another to a college, and in yet another way to a government, but it nevertheless does apply to each of them. An example of a government so constructed would be a republic built around the conviction that 'small is beautiful.'
Simply having the right to vote in huge elections does not give a person the ability to exercise his right to have a hand in the ordering of things in a truly fulfilling way. In the past, when not so much states as counties and towns had meaningful and significant functions, a person's vote was meaningful and significant as well. It was an expression of his person, and not just some vote indistinguishable in the vast sea of votes. More importantly than this, the person was able to engage in meaningful dialogue, to have his concerns and thoughts respected and effective in a personal way. A vote is just 'yes' or 'no', and alone it has nothing more than numerical significance. People are not binary, they have a varied and complex richness.
I do not in any way intend to suggest that people should not care about voting in America because of the centralization of the federal government. Although politics in America (while staying way ahead of Europe and the rest of the world) fall short of according to each citizen their full civic dignity, the right to vote does contribute towards recognizing such dignity, and the act of voting helps each person to fulfill his dignity. It is also the only way things could ever get better.
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Any community, from the smallest to the largest, must be ordered in such a way as to respect the dignity of each of its members. This implies that each member is able to effectively take up the attitude of opposition, as JPG describes in the previous post, when he or she honestly has a problem with some aspect of the life of the community. (This does not imply that he or she need be correct, but only sincere.) All members of a human commuity have a radical equality due to their shared human nature. It is appropriate to the nature of a rational being that he or she provides an order to things. A community is composed of equal, rational beings, and therefore a community ought to provide each member with a share in the ordering or governance of such community. This principle applies in different ways to diverse communities, in one way to a family, in another to a college, and in yet another way to a government, but it nevertheless does apply to each of them. An example of a government so constructed would be a republic built around the conviction that 'small is beautiful.'
Simply having the right to vote in huge elections does not give a person the ability to exercise his right to have a hand in the ordering of things in a truly fulfilling way. In the past, when not so much states as counties and towns had meaningful and significant functions, a person's vote was meaningful and significant as well. It was an expression of his person, and not just some vote indistinguishable in the vast sea of votes. More importantly than this, the person was able to engage in meaningful dialogue, to have his concerns and thoughts respected and effective in a personal way. A vote is just 'yes' or 'no', and alone it has nothing more than numerical significance. People are not binary, they have a varied and complex richness.
I do not in any way intend to suggest that people should not care about voting in America because of the centralization of the federal government. Although politics in America (while staying way ahead of Europe and the rest of the world) fall short of according to each citizen their full civic dignity, the right to vote does contribute towards recognizing such dignity, and the act of voting helps each person to fulfill his dignity. It is also the only way things could ever get better.
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