| There are many "different" political theories. They come in a lot of different names. There was actually a golden era of the creation of political theory, starting in about 1600 and lasting until about now. Before 1600 about the only political theory was the divine right of kings. And it was good to be the king. Basically, for all of recorded human history the idea was that the leaders are anointed by God or the Gods to rule over His/Their people -- and all else be damned. By about 1600 there began the Enlightenment -- when new ideas really did come to the fore. What transpired in the beginning was a flowering of individualistic ideas -- though often just as willing to slaughter anyone who didn't agree. The Pilgrims, the Huegonots, Calvinists and others -- which all called into question the divine right of Kings. Alas they only renamed the idea -- and called it the divine right of the leader of the particular group. The Pilgrims weren't nice to non-Pilgrims, despite their call for free religious belief. But earlier, in two places there arose a certain level of free-thinking that said not only does the King not have the right to rule and slaughter -- but neither does anyone else. The first inkling of these ideas surfaced in history in the 1400's -- with John Wyckoff in England and Jan Hus in Bohemia. Both were against God, King and Church ever ruling people. They were snuffed out. But like Pandora's box, the idea had sprung loose. The ideas couldn't be put away. Over the next few centuries the two ideas slugged it out. They are still slugging it out, but the Divine Right has already lost. It's a matter of time. The Declaration of Independence was the first national expression of the freedom idea. It has now so permeated the world that even the most dictatorial of dictatorships at least pays lip service to freedom. Nearly every "new" political theory from Marx in the 1840's until folks like Castro in Cuba today has been but a restatement of the divine right by the use of other words. The idea was still that the "King" got to rule because of some "natural" or "Divine" or "scientific" reason that was somehow floating through the air and landed on the Dear Leader. It is only a minority of people who claim they believe this anymore. And most of them probably know the end is near, but they hang on because their place in the future is undetermined. And they want to live good now; after all, it's good to be the king. The political theory which will remain is actually more of a general principle. All men are created equal, and are free to pursue their happiness in liberty. |
History is more unknown than the future
could ever be. We can see what we can create
for tomorrow. We can think about what we do today
and how that will translate to tomorrow. We can
alter, minute by minute, what transpires going into
the future.
But we are wholly in the dark when it comes to
history. Particularly before the era of computers,
where we can at least now keep some sort of
organized data that is comparable. And where we
can take different information from different sources
and compare it.
Before the computer we had printing, for only about
450 years in fact. And that made it a little easier to
keep track of things -- because one could refer to a
text that was printed decades or two or three
centuries ago.
Before printing we only had writing. And as the
destruction that rampaged across the planet for
thousands of years, whether at the hands of man, or
by nature itself, history was lost. The writing was
lost. Only the inaccurate and fautly memories were
left to try to reconstruct the history.
And the clearest example of this is genealogy. We
know we can keep track of what our families are in
the future, because we are creating the databases,
which will be indestructible, for the future about
today. Our great-great-grandkids will know more
about today than we know about our parents and
grandparents. When a family looks back at the past,
what they find are legends and memories that when
the documents are finally found are blown out of the
water. By the time you go back just three or four
generations nearly all the information is lost. There
is no "history." We don't know, or know so little as to
be of little use.
But history going into the future will be different, and
the internet and the computer, where information
isn't really anywhere, not physically located, will be
the great change in the way we look at history.
Those, though, who rely on history for anything are
always subject to the reality of not only incomplete
information, but often bogus information.
could ever be. We can see what we can create
for tomorrow. We can think about what we do today
and how that will translate to tomorrow. We can
alter, minute by minute, what transpires going into
the future.
But we are wholly in the dark when it comes to
history. Particularly before the era of computers,
where we can at least now keep some sort of
organized data that is comparable. And where we
can take different information from different sources
and compare it.
Before the computer we had printing, for only about
450 years in fact. And that made it a little easier to
keep track of things -- because one could refer to a
text that was printed decades or two or three
centuries ago.
Before printing we only had writing. And as the
destruction that rampaged across the planet for
thousands of years, whether at the hands of man, or
by nature itself, history was lost. The writing was
lost. Only the inaccurate and fautly memories were
left to try to reconstruct the history.
And the clearest example of this is genealogy. We
know we can keep track of what our families are in
the future, because we are creating the databases,
which will be indestructible, for the future about
today. Our great-great-grandkids will know more
about today than we know about our parents and
grandparents. When a family looks back at the past,
what they find are legends and memories that when
the documents are finally found are blown out of the
water. By the time you go back just three or four
generations nearly all the information is lost. There
is no "history." We don't know, or know so little as to
be of little use.
But history going into the future will be different, and
the internet and the computer, where information
isn't really anywhere, not physically located, will be
the great change in the way we look at history.
Those, though, who rely on history for anything are
always subject to the reality of not only incomplete
information, but often bogus information.
| Practicalist |
Jim Hlavac |
| Someone had to make a simplified explanation of the way the world works. |