Friday, August 11, 2017

True Republicanism Requires Men and Women of Thought

   If we were to practice the republican form of government to its fullest, we would do things a little differently than what we do now. The wisdom in the republican concept, is that those you elect should be wise, should endeavor to think things out, and should weigh issues even-handedly.
   They should be seekers of truth, as much as people who think they have already arrived at truth.
   We lack that. Our politicians each think they already have the truth. Rather than looking at issues as through a microscope, examining and studying them, they view things through either the prism of conservatism or the prism of liberalism.
   Rather than thinking anew, they apply only the thinking fed to them through the prism they ascribe to. They don't consider ideas new to them. Rather, they myopically hold to ideas they are pledged to.
   If we would practice the republican form of government to its fullest, we would elect people not only for where they already stand on the issues, but because we recognized in them the ability to think things through. Do we do that now? Do we elect people to think out the issues? No, we do not. We elect them for their agendas, and we send them forth to fulfill those agendas, be they agendas that are conservative or liberal.
   We don't elect them to think, we elect them to follow prevailing thoughts.
   Does the system we practice encourage open minds? No, it does not. In fact, if our politicians have open minds -- if they could change their minds on climate change or whatever -- we don't want them. Such open-mindedness is not considered a positive, but a negative.
   You reap what you sow, it is said. And, if we value closed-minded thinking, we will reap being a nation of division, a nation that divides into two sides, neither willing to budge. We will reap being a nation of incivility, a nation in which neither side will even listen to each other.
   And, we have done much of our reaping already.
   If we do not value open-mindedness, we will reap being a nation that does not practice republicanism to its fullest, for -- at least to me -- a true system calls for those we elect to think things through, rather arriving with ideologies fed to them, rather than coming in with marching orders from their party.
   I think of the Electoral College, and how it was set up that we would elect those who would, in turn, elect a president. My thought is that the intent was that those who were the Electoral College members were to be thinkers, elected to think, weigh, and consider. My thoughts on republicanism not being practiced to its fullest are prompted by my belief of how the Electoral College should be operating.

(Note: Blog edited and added to after midnight going into 8/13/17)

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