[lit-ideas] Ideas to think about (3)
- From: John McCreery <mccreery@xxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2004 22:03:16 +0900
The following is the third installment of my series on bestoftheblogs.
As always, any and all feedback is welcome.
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Ideas to Think About (3): What Kind of People Are We?
In developing the system of checks and balances built into the
Constitution, the Founders created a mixed government whose goal was
not to abolish social class but, instead, to achieve balance and
harmony between them. Their pursuit of liberty was tempered by other
values: order, stability, and virtue. Their problem was, they believed,
human nature. The whole elaborate edifice of separate executive,
legislative, and judicial branches of government, with the added
complications of dividing the legislature into upper and lower houses
and reserving for the states rights not specifically given to the
national government was, writes James MacGregor Burns, "based on the
theory that men, being naturally selfish, irrational, aggressive,
greedy, and lustful, had to be not only protected in their liberty
*from* government but protected from one another *by* government."
But this was not the only view of human nature in the air at the time
the Constitution was written. Tom Paine was only one of the radicals
who espoused a different view that, freed of the inequalities built
into European societies, ordinary people would be naturally
good-natured. "Farmers and mechanics and all others who wore 'leathern
aprons,' being more open and fraternal and less grasping and
competitive, were more reasonable and virtuous." Thus, a government
directly representing the people, of whom these would be the majority,
would be reasonable and virtuous, too. Liberty would be protected,
simply as a matter of course.
This latter, more optimistic view of what we human beings are is one
that many on the left find attractive. It is, unfortunately, wrong.
That men are naturally selfish, irrational, aggressive, greedy and
lustful can hardly be denied. That they can also be thoughtful,
rational, cooperative, sharing and loving is also a fact and the source
of all progressive political hope. But that hope depends not only on
the checks and balances that keep the dark side from getting totally
out of hand. It also depends on institutions that provide fair
opportunities to all the nation's children and provide safety nets for
the sick, the weak, and the elderly.
Our opponents have long preached the need to protect liberty from
government. They have forgotten, it seems, that protection from one
another should include protection from malefactors in high places and
reject outright the notion that government has an active role to play
in providing the opportunities and safety nets on which a decent and
civilized life for most of us depend. Here we should heed James
Carville's advice and never forget the title of his book: We're Right,
They're Wrong.
=======
John L. McCreery
International Vice Chair, Democrats Abroad
Tel 81-45-314-9324
Email mccreery@xxxxxxx
>>Life isn't fair. Democracy should be. <<
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