MIGHT VS. EVERYONE ELSE
Christopher Ebbe, Ph.D. 1-25
We seem to be forgetting in this country how important democracy is, when contrasted with other systems. Human history documents the long, slow process of moving from an ethic of “might makes right” to a democratic ethic, which emphasizes the power and equality of the people. Not that long ago, the person who could defeat everyone else in mortal combat got to be the leader, who got whatever he/she wanted as long as he/she did not alienate those in the rank just below him/her. The leader (the “king”) decided what happened to everyone else. The people suffered abuse and unfairness when the leader was more power hungry and aggressive and might occasionally have somewhat better times when the leader was not so power hungry or aggressive. The major shift over time has been for citizens to slowly gain more power while leaders have less.
Discontent with this arrangement led, slowly, to increasing “rights” of the people, all the way to our democracy in which the people, through voting, have ultimate control over the leader. This is an extraordinary evolution, and most of you readers have benefited from it greatly. Christianity made an important contribution to this evolution when Jesus spoke about everyone being equal before God (even though the declared structure of the universe still had God at the top with ultimate power).
The shift from leader power to citizen power has been slow and is not uniform around the globe. It is not even uniform in any given time period. There are many democracies now but also many autocracies and oligarchies (e.g., Russia) and also some theocracies (e.g., Iran), and clever leaders have virtually taken over countries that thought of themselves as democracies (e.g., Hungary). Just having elections is not democratic if people at the top control who can be on the ballot.
Being human, we still vacillate to some degree between wanting our freedom and equal rights and wanting to find a strong leader to take care of us like our parents did. This is because we don’t see ourselves as powerful enough to take care of ourselves, and we don’t want to be responsible for the outcome of government, so this is a challenge for citizens in a democratic system—citizens have to take on the responsibility for making it work. Don’t fool yourself; the strong leader approach ultimately has worse outcomes than the equality approach, no matter how much people want a caretaker or how impatient they are with the slow processes of democracy. This is why historically ordinary people have kept on clamoring for something better instead of being satisfied with strong leaders. This is an area where the relative ignorance of history of most Americans may result in catastrophe if voters don’t know what strong leaders can do to countries! Pres. Trump clearly enjoys power, and he would not have been elected if there were not many people in our society who feel that they have been treated badly by the more typical power structure that we have had. As citizens it is part of our job to monitor Pres. Trump’s uses of power and to give feedback to shape those uses of power as much as we can.
This question of some having power over others affects our lives in many contexts. Husbands having power over wives is based in the competitions for power between men and in the strength superiority of men over women, so the underlying issue in our gender relations conflicts is whether and why men “should” or “should not” have power over women. In actuality, there is no “should” here; it’s just a matter of what people want (which is why men did not give up their power over women voluntarily and why there was no advance for women without assertions of power by women). Our values are how people want things to be and have no objective reality in the universe (which is why changes in the perception of “rights” takes so long and is so fragile). The notion of “rights” is an invention to make what people want seem to have an abstract and important value, but it is actually only what a majority of people in a group accept.
Adults have power over children though this is somewhat different in that children could easily be harmed by their own behavioral choices in our complicated world with many dangers. Children almost universally want to get out from under their parents’ control as they grow. Some parents try hard not to lose that control, which illustrates how hard it is to choose to be vulnerable for the sake of someone else’s benefit, in this case, vulnerable to the pain of seeing harm come to one’s children if one lets them decide things for themselves.
It would seem that hierarchical social structures are necessary for more complex societies that involve a great deal of specialization. Not everyone is good at everything, so if some are better at organizing joint activities and directing them, then to use those skills, we create (without even trying) a hierarchy. The question for freedom/equality is how to keep those higher in the hierarchy serving the group interests and not their own and how to keep all of us from seeing those higher up as “better than” everyone else. Hierarchies probably seem necessary because it is the only system that every human being is familiar with, since as children we are all familiar with the hierarchy of power in the family.
Power can be utilized usefully and fairly, if the actions of powerful ones are focused on the common good and on fulfilling the responsibilities of the position in the group (this applies to presidents and parents alike) and if temptations to use power for personal benefit are rejected. This would seem to be possible if those in more powerful positions are average people, since they could be trained to the common good and monitored regarding personal interests, but unfortunately people who love power and do put their personal interests above the common good gravitate toward more powerful positions (through subterfuge and lying about themselves, for the most part), so we have a constant problem regarding protecting the common good from people who want more personal power.
In hierarchical social structures, then, those higher up have power over those lower down (everyone else), and we inevitably attempt to justify this to ourselves by accepting that those higher up are “better than” us, when in fact they are not inherently better. In fact, there are more caring and responsible people lower down than higher up, since lying and manipulation are key skills for moving up and staying up in the hierarchy. People who seek power are temperamentally oriented toward asserting that the rules that apply to everyone else do not apply to them, and they are attracted to demonstrating their power over those around them, which usually ends up badly for those abused.
The key concept in a more democratic structure is equality, so to maintain a democratic structure, we must give up our opportunities to be “better than” our fellow citizens and to have power over them. We must see ourselves as equal to other citizens and not better or deserving more. Sharing is the name of the game. When power or benefit get too out of balance in a supposedly democratic society, as they are currently in terms of income and wealth in our society, those down below will ultimately rebel and either burn the house down or elect someone who promises to change things (e.g., Mr. Trump).
If we wish to keep on having a democracy, will have to do the work of citizens in a democracy, and voting is by itself not enough. For a democracy to work long-term, there are certain attitude and behavior requirements needed to keep the nation together.
1. We must all accept that we citizens are all basic equals. We each should have an equal say in how the country is run. We all deserve equal treatment under the law and to some extent equal opportunity in life. If the leader gets to “skate,” then it’s not a democracy any more. Equality means equality. If you are one of those who are lower down in the hierarchy, you must remember that despite the difference in power, you are inherently just as good as anyone else.
2. The needs and feelings of all citizens must have equal weight in determining the actions of government. This means that the government does not have favorites, and everyone’s voice must be heard. If certain individuals can influence the government (lobbying?, campaign contributions?) more than others, then it’s a blow against democracy, because that creates differences among citizens as to who is more important, and without at least rough equality of benefit, we will end up once again with “might” having more power than the rest of us. Status and money cannot be allowed to determine who gets his/her way in government.
3. All citizens should be treated with respect and courtesy in their participation in government. We must hear the needs and feelings of other citizens and take them seriously. Democracy cannot be just an arena in which to compete and take whatever we can from each other. Equality does not include demeaning or demonizing or “canceling” your fellow citizens or trying to get your way when it harms other citizens (even if those were what you experienced in your family).
4. Since every citizen’s needs and feelings are equally important, and since we all have slightly different viewpoints on how things should work, it is clear that most government decisions will have to be compromises, so citizens must be willing to compromise and accept that they will not be able to have things their own way.
5. Citizens must accept the decisions of their democratic government and follow the laws as decided, even when they don’t agree. This doesn’t mean that we should not speak up about laws we don’t think are fair or good for the country (or good for us personally), but we must follow them until they are changed. If some laws unfairly benefit some at the expense of others, and they are not changed, then it will ultimately lead to rebellion.
6. Citizens must be informed about the issues faced by the nation. This means you understanding all sides in an issue, not just listening to people who agree with you and pretending that that represents everyone in the country—it doesn’t! (Every time a politician refers to “the American people,” he/she wants us to think he/she is speaking for the whole country, but he/she really means just his/her own group!) That’s why we must all listen seriously to all sides of issues, even if we don’t agree.
7. Citizens must “show up.” Citizens must participate actively in decision-making at whatever level they can. If we leave it to just those who are motivated for their own status or gain to show up in city council and school board meetings, then we deserve what we get, and we won’t have a healthy democracy very long. As voters in our elections, we must choose wisely and from a well-informed standpoint. Vote for people who will make government work by taking into account the needs and feelings of all citizens, not just those who voted for them.
(For more on this topic, see my essays “Democracy’s Participation Requirements” and “Cooperation and Vulnerability vs. Power and Advantage” on www.livewiselydeeply.com under “Government/Politics/International Relations.”)
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