Is Man inherently Rational? Is Man inherently Good? These and other questions are probed in the context of Government - such as the need for the Police and Military...
"Defund the police!" "Defund the military!" "Eliminate requiring bail!" "Eliminate government!" These are the call to arms of BLM, Antifa and too many others today. Although it is clear that many of these groups say the reason for the rallying cry is one thing (racism, privilege, social justice...etc.), the reality is that most of the organizations promoting these causes are working a silent agenda of Anti-Americanism and pro-Communism/Socialism - that they are tools and fools for dictators who torture and imprison dissidents and rule with an iron hand.
It is really nothing new. It is an old playbook, tattered and worn - published in Russian and German and employed by the Bolsheviks and Nazis.
It is a playbook that worked in the past, and unfortunately is working today. Turn citizen class against citizen class. Foment violence of one class against the other. Neuter the civilian forces that stabilize society.
Even if there were no hidden agenda being worked, the call to defund and de-criminalize is based on a belief that human beings are by nature kind and loving, generous and giving, and ready to sacrifice self for the common good.
Walden Pond, anyone?
Once again, ignorance is bliss. Utopian societies have been attempted throughout history, and without exception have failed. Why? The Nature of Man is not selflessness, it is selfishness. Perhaps it is because human beings cannot live without denying life to something else - without taking life from something else. Yes, even you vegans and vegetarians kill - plants - in order to have life. In fact, any life form that cannot synthesize its own life-giving chemicals from chemicals invariably is a Vampire - consuming the life of another in order to live. Cannibals do not have a monopoly on this practice - it's simply that cannibals include in their food source members of the same species.
Of course, if Man were by Nature a rational being, theft, murder, rape, etc. would not exist. War would not exist. So the absence of all of these things confirms that Man is Rational. Sorry....the presence of all of these things confirms that the Natural State of Man is Irrationality - driven by the instinct to survive which genetically is encoded to mean survival of the fittest - at the expense of the less fit (also known as dinner).
The conflict between rationality and irrationality - within the individual, within a society and between societies and civilizations - is a theme as old as Civilization itself - not just Western Civilization. But perhaps Friedrich Nietzsche summarized best the individual and species struggle between reason and instinct, rationality and emotion. In his Also Sprach Zarathustra: Ein Buch für Alle und Keinen, Nietzsche identified that the Übermensch would be a person who always did the right thing without thinking about it - without reasoning. In all others, conflict would be inherent, with the outcome always in doubt. In short, the Übermensch would have spontaneous, integrated rationality...and incidentally, the Übermensch would be new to this Earth.
To date, it would appear that no Übermensch has appeared - certainly none as a political "leader".
So the Übermensch is non-existent today, and perhaps has always been in short supply. As a result, Mankind has experienced consistent and constant turmoil and conflict - with irrationality ruling or challenging both the day and the lives of virtually everyone.
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History evidences that Man is not natively rational, and is not natively good.
What is the final Proof Positive? Why are the Buddha, the Christ, Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King considered to be so special, out of the ordinary? They are four individuals out of the billions and billions of human beings who have walked this Earth. If Man were inherently Good and Rational, none of those would have been special - would have spread a message - the Word - so different from how Mankind was acting.
So Man by Nature is lethal, greedy, self-centered and self-serving - and Utopian and other forms of Socialism that rely on a principle based in "giving" are doomed to fail (as are self-policing, etc.).
Of course, if you subscribe to the Rocky Horror Picture Show philosophy - that if you dream it you can be it - since you can envision a land of Kumbaya this must be a land of Kumbaya, and ridding the world of police and armies will make the world a better place. What do you think? Is Man natively Rational? Is Man natively kind and compassionate, giving and good? Will merely envisioning a world of peace change the Nature of Man?
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