Nathan Key

Husband, Father, Thinker.

 

 
 
Two days ago, I wrote a post that became more thought provoking than I had originally considered. It got me thinking about the "Consent of the Governed" and what that really means. Here are some thoughts from Thomas Jefferson (I posted these in the comments section of my previous post):

"Government exists for the interests of the governed, .... There is an error into which most of the speculators on government have fallen, ... Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. ... A court has no affections; but those of the people whom they govern ..."

From a libertarian perspective, this has always been used to argue for limitations on government- since powerful governments are often oppresive governments. But what if the governed ACTUALLY want intervention, regulation, and control? What if the governed don't consider these things oppressive, but liberating?

If consent is given to totalitarianism or facism, does the government have an directive to respond accordingly?
 


Comments

Jeff

Sun, 23 May 2010 03:36:45

Great questions. And they actually recently almost played themselves out.
After we invaded Iraq and through out the old government, there was an interesting contradiction.
On the one hand, the American administration at the time asserted that the new government had to be democratic. But they were also quite clear: a conservative Islamic government was not an acceptable outcome.
I was struck by how few people commented on this disconnect. Which was it to be: a faith in the democratic process or a faith that we (Americans) new that there were some government types that were "unnaceptable".
What would we have done, if the Iraqis had chosen a conservative, radical Islamist regime?
Vietnam actually experienced a similiar thing. Before America had anything other than advisors there, Country-wide elections (before America's invasion) were planned. But the American-backed, nominally democratic candidate looked like he was going to get crushed. So at our behest, the elections were cancelled, leading to the conflict that eventually ended so many lives.

 

Nathan

Sun, 23 May 2010 05:22:26

Jeff, I agree with your thoughts. I've always been a believer that ANY form of government could work. Dictatorships, Socialist, Democracies, and Representative Democracies, and Monarchies, and everything else have their strengths and flaws!

 



Leave a Reply