HISTORICAL CONCEPTS
Cultural Development
Human Endeavor
ETHICAL FOUNDATIONS
PROGRESSIVE IDEAS
Government takes many forms throughout the world and in history. We judge governments to be viable to the degree they maintain peace and keep citizens from harm, just to the degree they uphold personal liberty equally for all citizens, and successful to the degree they usher in content, learning, and especially prosperity. These are the proper domains of government and ought to be our goals in self governance.
A government founded on the principle of individual worth cannot avoid its responsibility to uphold the moral imperative of "Do no harm." It is the basis of legislation, adjudication, and foreign and domestic statecraft. As with its practical application for the individual, it likewise implies an array of variants for the state. Indeed, at times harm must be done to prevent harm to the state; in other situations, people must make the most rational decision available to them in the time allotted in spite f the fact that some harm must be done. Regardless, this standard remains the best, all others being irrational. Suffice to say it is a standard by which governments ought to determine their policies and a yardstick with which we can measure their actions and determine who we vote for.
Our governments often fall well short of the goals of peace, justice, and plenty and the standard of "Do no harm." Because we can sense keenly the insidious effects of harm, injustice, and wont, however, to the degree that we have acted accordingly and collectively we have been able to stave off the worst of these evils. Our ultimate failure lies in not achieving our potential. Our collective knowledge is today unsurpassed in our history, but we stifle our human potential with inadequate education. Our skill in medicine has never been so great, but we chafe under inefficient and inhumane medical systems. It is ultimately our own failure to organize these systems which has kept us from reaching the heights we spire to.
The US today exhibits a high degree of the ideals, and yet its government is still remiss in its calling: it has failed to develop fully the successes of individuals. It is doubly mired: first in ideological parochialism, then in financial interest. Partisan politics practically disallow innovative thinking on any level: we'd rather be right than good. Equally troubling are the fantastic sums we spend on political campaigns. The use of our limited time and resources on anything beyond public debate is absurd: it produces nothing but consternation and is an unqualified waste. Worse is the impression- and likely reality- that our leaders are beholden to the people who provide their funding, causing them to act while in office not in the best interests of the whole, but of the few.
We the electorate have accepted the status quo until the present, and are therefore responsible for the corruption that lurks at every level. We are owed a platform of rational government based on anti-corruption; we owe it to ourselves to support that government.
British Parliament
London
Member of Parliament
Caricature