POLITICS, RELIGION, AND SOCIETY

 1. POLITICS

  Politics is defined as the art and science of government. Insofar as the human race is making any plans for its medium and long term future, these are in the hands of governments, whether elected or imposed.

  However, politicians and governments, particularly in the democracies of the free world, are necessarily concerned mainly with the short term. Indeed, a politician proposing measures implying short-term penalties for long-term benefits would be given short shrift by the electorate (the only exception might be in the fashionable “environmental” areas, although these tend to ignore the real problem - population growth).

  The other grave handicap under which politicians labour is the need to reconcile and compromise with the many diverse sub-groupings of society.

  This virtually precludes any action, however necessary and justified, that would antagonise the majority, or any entrenched power-group.

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Politics inevitably tend to polarise to “right” and “left”.

  The high and mighty, the rich and powerful, are a minority.

  They wish to maintain the status quo, but since 1789 uneasily hear the baying of the mob, the clatter of the tumbrils and the swish of the guillotine. They seek, therefore, to placate that section of the community that in their hearts they despise. That is why the majority of humane reforms has been initiated by the party of the right.

  The left yearn to overthrow the “establishment” and usurp its powers. I grow impatient of the simplistic and ruinous follies of the downwards-oriented politicians, educationalists, mass-media mandarins and demagogues. Now that the privilege of inherited wealth has been significantly eroded, they see even the inheritance of intelligence and culture as a target for their class hatred. They seek not only to cripple the talented; they also in effect stamp on any individual aspirations in the underclass so as to maintain their own status as the one-eyed in the country of the blind.

  We should rise above the adversarial conflict of established complacent privilege and iconoclastic egalitarian radicalism.

2. RELIGION

  I would much rather have evaded a consideration of religion in my review of society. I fear that I may offend many good people whom I hold in high regard. However, there is no escaping this issue, and I have to refer to it elsewhere.

  All the major world religions are of considerable antiquity, and are culturally important. As Sir James Fraser says in The Golden Bough, they represent man’s attempts to come to terms with the transcendent power believed to lie behind the universe. At best they provide a symbolic mythology embodying the highest concepts and ideals of mankind. At worst they fuel bigotry and hatred, and can impede vital requirements (such as that of limiting population growth).

  One thing is certain: none of them is literally true. There can be no God as such, only as a symbolic reference point for man’s aspirations to an unattainable perfection.

  For various periods in history and in different cultures religion has bonded and regulated society in a way that could not have been achieved by any other means.

  In developed societies religion has now become largely irrelevant, except as a ritualistic social dynamic for many people.

  For some, religion provides an essential “security blanket”, and I would be the last person to wish to rob them of this. Indeed, I almost envy them their complacency (wouldn’t it be nice if it were true?).

The inescapable issue, however, is that religion places the ultimate responsibility on to the shoulders of an imaginary deity.

  It is my contention that mankind alone can decide the fate of humanity, and should not shirk this matter. If, Gentle Reader, you have a personal deity in which you believe - can we at least agree on this point?

3. SOCIETY

“O tempora, O mores!” (Oh these times, these customs!)

  Cicero’s oft-quoted indictment epitomises the perennial tendency to lament declining standards and values in society.

  In some quarters it is fashionable to ascribe such sentiments to fossilized and backward-looking geriatrics!

  Of course, it is both futile and undesirable to “turn back the clock”, and in many ways today’s developed societies offer a better life to a higher proportion of people than at any time in the historical past. But there is a depressing “downside” to this picture, and it is getting worse.

  Gresham’s Law, stating that bad currency drives out good, was formulated several centuries ago in the area of economics and money. However, it now seems to apply to the wider fields of language, culture, standards, ethics and behaviour generally. This has partly arisen through society’s well-intentioned and politically-motivated preoccupation with its less-gifted, “disadvantaged” and inadequate members. Education is largely geared to the less able, and trends such as “mixed-ability” classrooms inevitably penalise the gifted. An understandable anti-elitist and anti-authoritarian reaction has created a vacuum which baser elements are only too ready to fill. The deterioration has permeated all strata of society.

 O tempora, O mores!

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