Random ramblings: politics and faith.
- “Political science” is a troublesome term. Can politics be reduced to a science? Scientific knowledge, as we have been reminded of lately in the healthcare field especially, has its limits. Science does not and cannot address questions of morality, because morality cannot be measured and tested; it is something beyond the physical world. Yet so much of politics boils down to morality. Perhaps we need to go back to the political philosophy of Plato or the political theology of Christendom.
- Would you rather live under a totalitarian government led by Jesus Christ or a democratic republic led by Satan? The form of government is secondary to the morality of the people who lead the government, and also secondary to the morality of the citizenry. Issues of morality and ethics are what should be held under the microscope when assessing candidates for public office. How good a job are we doing on that score?
- The physical world is governed by entropy (things moving from a state of order to ever increasing disorder). The political world moves likewise. Political systems decay regardless of how well they were crafted, because humans are sinful (or, we could say imperfect if you prefer secular terminology). Look at the United States, a fine example. The Founding Fathers crafted a system of checks and balances because they knew men were sinful (or imperfect). It was a brilliantly conceived system. But does the system still work? Few family businesses survive the force of entropy for even three generations; how can a vast and complex government survive it for five or 10 times as long?
- Entropy has accelerated in our times because of technology and perpetually unaddressed moral disagreements. Technology speeds up the consequences of our mistaken behaviors; unaddressed moral divisions drive people into ever-smaller clusters of “special interest” groups competing ever more chaotically for attention.
- Fixating on the science of politics cannot slow the erosive tide of entropy; in fact, it is threatening to sweep us entirely away.
