Sunday, May 6, 2007

The Hitlers; and the Rebels

What do you think about tyranny? Is it completely evil? What about authoritarianism? What's the difference?

There are cases in which authority is needed, and when it works. In emotional situations, for example, authority can be quite useful, such as a battle or in an operating room. When the stakes are high in situations like those, the one person or group of people who know what to do must take charge. When this does not happen, chaos and anarchy result, spawning feelings and actions of a negative sort.

Democracy too, is important. Some would say more important. Others would say less. The democratic sets the precedent by a group of people coming to a consensus, after which they empower individuals with the authority to enforce that precedent. if a squad of soldiers was required to have a vote every time a new situation arose, there would be many more dead soldiers.

Balance between the extremes of totalitarianism and libertarianism is important. People must have rights and freedoms, but they must also have responsibilities and obligations. For example; a citizen has the right to make decisions for themselves, such as voting for an elected representative. They also have the responsibility not abuse their rights, such as choosing to commit a crime. Without balance between these, there can be no civilization, and no progress.

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World Peace

1 comment:

~Julia said...

hmmm... I did a debate on this on the affermative side of "Democracy is weak". Basically saying that in times of revolution democracy is too weak to prevail. for example Russia in WWI and Germany in 1930s. I think that authoritarianism is needed in times like these where there is termoil. Of course, Germany did not go over as well, but the dictators in Russia were able to modernise the country so that when they were invaded by Germany they survived, and were ultimately able to allow the allies to win.

In times of peace though, democracy is needed to provide stablility and ensure that the people have imput.