Genius

Genius, the collaboration of the soul. A spirit unto itself, it is created by those who stand with a sense of purpose, a part of this universe, and dis-attachment to themselves. the word change comes to mind, certainty of change and the ability to cause change, as well as the ability to prevent change. The world exist in symbols and metaphors, which in term are put together to manifest a certain type of change.

Would the world be better off fostering a social environment that nutured genius?

You have to be pretty damn smart to say for another individual what he most needs for his happiness and well being....What is wrong with all our forms of government is simple: Each denies to itself the wisdom of the people... They are not self government, but various forms of rule, so the people are not informed, and they cannot inform their rulers...If two heads are better than one, all the heads are better than a few or many... Concentrated rule in a few people leads to speed, but also haste, and waste....Each person speaking for himself can state his needs and show his ability... It is natural for needs to exceed ability, and for people to form relationships to solve large problems with a concerted effort...This fact is no licence for people to serve themselves, and justify it as serving the people when they are only throwing crumbs to the people...

I would disagree with this. An excellent book I read this year, and one which I'm sure many others on the forum have also read, is The Lord of the Flies. The entire point of the book, whose view I agree with, is that all forms of government, whether representative or non-representative, oppressive or not, have at times failed, not because they are inadequate or because one form is inherently superior to the other, but because the fate of a society as a whole depends on the actions of its individual citizens.

They all fail... The only reason gentile democracy lasted so long and persists in places today is that there was no excess of wealth to spread inequality... All forms fail... Marriages seldom last the entire lives of the married couple, and many which do survive are not successful in spite of that fact... Failure should be expected from forms, and people should be expected to confront that failure...Our government has been a failure almost from the start...It has not met its own goals, and has resulted in one civil war, and is working on a second... Jefferson had it right, and it is obvious that people do not like to change, and fear change and so endure form while they are sufferable... But everyone should know that humanity progresses with a change of forms, everywhere and always because we cannot change what is essentially human and what our human needs are...If this is true, then forms should be built with a time limit, and everyone should face that fact, that their form is their responsibility, and to change them is natural, and for them to change without common consent, as it were, on their own, with a nudge here, and a pull there until they little resemble their former form...

And I disagree...It is always the form which is inadequate...And they are made that way...If you make a form changeable enough to respond to the needs of individuals, you also make it malleable to the desires of individuals for wealth and power through the form... There is no remedy that I can see except the understanding and expectation that this is exactly what always happens, and since forms cannot be avoided any more than change, each should be embraced... Think of a form as a snake's skin which is shed to rid the snake for a short time of parasites...Parasites are a natural fact of life...That does not mean we should endure them, but rather, that we should not find our form so dear that we embrace parasites with the form... Get rid of both at once, and begin fresh...

Desiderus wrote:

I'm a bit confused by your position. That all forms of government fail was my original point; does your disagreement occur over the cause of this failure?

We have only the choice between government and being ruled.. There is a tendency of people to take over their forms and use them for themselves as individuals rather than themselves as nations, or humanity, like a kid inheriting grampa's car and taking it to the dragstrip...People are not blessed with historic vision, but have to learn to see historically...It does not help that in the case of our constitution we are taught that it is perfect, and the best possible... Such thoughts are nonsense...It is neither what it was, nor does what it was designed to do, which is clearly stated...How can it be perfect if it has led us to impasse and hatred of our fellow man and each other???

Quote:

Once again, you are going to have to clarify. By "forms" you mean the various forms of government? And you mean to say that every time a democracy, for example, runs into problems, it needs to become something other than a democracy?

I use forms in exactly the sense that form has always been used, and for example, as Jefferson used the term, correctly in the Declaration of Independence... If we start out with democracy, understanding that it will be perverted then the goal is again democracy...Democracy is particularly suseptible to perversion as we have it, as majority rule... This is hardly self government... And something else: There has been a quality of successful revolution that should be noted... It is not the capture of tomorrow, which few will sign on to, and most would rather avoid...It is the recapture of a mythic past... In England with her Round Heads, and America with her Yankees; each was revolution made to recapture the English Constitution which has never, as a guide, been written... The Roundheads came very close to achieving all the American revolution did accomplish a few hundred years later... But we see the conflict between those who see only the form, the constitution, and those who want to govern with empathy, which is to say, with the spirit that guided our revolution and constitution...Even those who most realize how badly the constitution has failed us dare not tamper with the only protection most of us have from each other or the government...

Monarchy has made England a secure democracy and the constitution has made America an insecure one. How's that for irony?

We don't have a constitution, and it has done us very well thank you very much. We are not on the brink of revolution we are merely in a mire of mediocraty, unrelated to the perfectly good systems of democracy we have in place. We are certainly a hell of a lot more of a democracy than the US, which barely counts.