Plato ’ s Cave to Unite Americans
Political Structure
Further , the economic system functions in a political environment . The structure of that environment could be chaotic as in failed states . However , out of chaos , order may emerge . That is part of what complexity science is about . An ordered political structure , such as a democracy , has the monopoly on force for its territory . Nevertheless , it requires a rule of law and an accountability to the source of authority , the electorate . Given political structure is an organic entity , it is subject to decay . That is what has started late in the twentieth century with American Democracy . Organic systems emerge from interactions of entities , and grow through stages , sometimes to a great flourishment . However , the natural course of events in the process is decay .
Sometimes the system will be rejuvenated , and some systems simply generate offspring . There are various processes operating . In the case at hand , we have just mentioned the political and economic processes as with complexity economics . We also note the sociological processes . That discipline has also evolved .
The Whole of the Democratic System
The whole of the democratic system , economic , political , and social , is rooted in the agents . That gets down to the individuals . Those individuals evolve influenced by their genes and memes ; or what is often termed nature and nurture . We can go back to Machiavelli ( 1469 – 1527 ) for the roots of political science and the view of dealing with reality of what is rather than what ought to be . Then we can move to the heart of the Enlightenment era with Kant ( 1724 – 1804 ). It appears in various translations from his Proposition 6 of ( 1963 ) Idea for a General History with a Cosmopolitan Purpose making the point that we loosely state as whomever is in charge is still operating under animal instincts and will take care of himself at the expense of others .
Yet there is a morality issue in whom to trust . It was easier to resolve in primitive societies where the social capital emerged from the necessity of operating as a team to hunt big game . The leader divides the spoils , but if he is not fair , he will have difficulty in assembling a group for the next hunting party . When the scale gets large , many participants work the system for their individual benefit at the expense of others in the system .
The invisible hand concept is that individuals working for their own benefit , but within the societal rules based on a level playing field , will enhance the wealth of the community . The incentive is important to the productivity of the individual , but the social capital emerging out of the self-organization is critical to the productivity . Working the system erodes the social capital and unfairly distributes the benefits . We argue it is a cancer in the system . In many systems , it is not moral .
The Mind in Human Evolution
In American democracy , we are free to believe whatever we choose to believe . Increasingly there is belief starting with the premise of science , but many people include civil religion . Others select faith based on a deity . However , the behavior makes the difference on how we live in a free society . In addition , that behavior is heavily influenced by the capacity we have in the use of our minds .
The capacity of the mind and willingness to learn in order to make use of it varies widely . As inferred , the success of democracy his heavily dependent on its use . Unfortunately , we are still “... hampered by
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