ON GOD AND GOVERNANCE

ON GOD AND GOVERNANCE
By: Ambe Nkanwi Fokwa
Published: Wednesday, June 18th, 2014

Is government a natural phenomenon, or is it the design of some few “intelligent” individuals capable of rallying the population to believe they have their altruistic interests at heart, but really they are just “pigs” as portrayed in George Orwell’s, Animal Farm? The book was written as a satire of communist socialism, but ultimately the method by which the pigs in the story ascended to authority is the same used in every political setup where controlling government is the objective.
If you’re in a room with another individual, take a moment to ask them; “What is the first impression that pops into your mind when you think of government?”  You’d be surprised or perhaps you wouldn’t be, depending on whether your own perspective will be in line with theirs.

The general population tends to believe all "politicians" are naturally "pigs," but the truth about the "ruling" vs. "ruled" relationship in humanity is more subject to class consideration, than labour definition. A poor man with limited understanding of his responsibility to others makes a far worse tyrant, meanwhile a man born in affluence can also be a savior or extravagant embezzler. The nature of a man's knowledge of self determines his capacity to lead others as equals or as servants.

The recent events in international politics beginning in the year 2001, with the War on Iraq’ which was not sanctioned by the U.N., lead by the United States of America, which until that point in history had always advocated majoral consent as the virtue of democracy, has caused the vast majority of humanity despite the massive propagation spit out by most major world government communication departments to view all issues of state and sovereignty with suspicion, fear and scorn. When we reflect on how as young individuals we are taught nationalism, patriotism and the virtue of the order of society which must be maintained by governments, it all becomes a little conflicting when we become adults and realize there are several problems in our communities that can be related to the deficiency in these structures. What is more disheartening is our contribution to state revenue in the form of taxes and its attempt to regulate certain aspects of our private lives, which we acquiescently accept, meanwhile when we are faced with certain distresses we discover this very same government gives us no entitlement to support or an extremely minimal intervention attached to so much bureaucracy it seems we weren’t supposed to even benefit from the responsibility we have given it in the first place.  

Why should we even think our governments should be responsible and capable of solving all of our problems? 

From antiquity, history teaches the whole system of modern governance evolved from a basis of “divine rights” with the monarchial system that preceded secular constitutional government, being attributed with its authority to some supernatural entity or occurrences as with the story of the founders of Rome in 753 BC, by Romulus and Remus being descended from “the god of war, Mars” (Greek, Ares) and nursed by a she-wolf, or a supreme “God” as in the Abrahamic traditions selecting a particular family or individual with Saul chosen by the Prophet Samuel, to “rule” over the other tribes or clans. As such a system of authority then became invested in a particular family or tribe as per “bloodlines” as we still see remnants of this in the persevered British Monarchy and those which exist on the African continent and elsewhere on the globe. By this tradition the right of rule was a divine responsibility, of which those bestowed with it were to make decisions in the best interests of the land with which they oversaw, to preserve not just their bloodline, but the basis of its existence, the people, being the kingdom.

In the film “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” a mockery is made of this type of belief system when King Arthur traveling on his quest passes through a parish in England and presenting himself as king is scorned by a group of farmers who do not recognize his authority advancing they live as an “Autonomus Commune” or an, “Anarco-cyniclyst Commune,” a system where each member of the community must “take it in turns to act as a sort of the executive officer for the week. But all the decisions of that officer have to be ratified at a special bi-weekly meeting, by a civil majority in the case of purely internal affairs or by a two-thirds majority in the case of more major affairs.” When asked who made him king, Arthur begins to explain his encounter with the Lady of the Lake, to which he his ridiculed and told that just because he had some interaction with a “watery tart”, it doesn’t give him the right to exact his authority over others who don’t believe in that sort of rubbish and by proxy if everyone went around making such claims they would be confined to an institution for mentally disturbed people. Behaving quite with or without the piety of a man ordained by “divine rights,” what happens next is, after ordering the farmer expressing his opinion to be silent since the idea of democracy perplexes him, he attempts to aggressively silence the farmer who shouts to his fellow farmers to come and see the “oppression of the system.” 

You can start to see the inevitable outcome of divine monarchical government and why so many people became disenchanted with it in the European society during the 18th Century. The film though a satirical comedy brings out several powerful points; representative communal government with or without constitution has existed where “centralized” government has not for ages AND “divine rights” is flawed in that not everyone has the same idea of what is “divine” and it still is no basis for the right of responsibility over those who do not accept the belief system.  

Divine rights goes right back to the days of the Khemeti (Ancient Egyptians) who believed their Pharaoh was an incarnation of one or another of their gods, particularly the sun, Ra or Amon, or at best a representative of this deity. This was a deified monarchial system which history records often faced assassinations of the Pharaoh and the shift of authority from person to another at times outside of bloodlines even.  The population enchanted with religious pageantry naturally accepted the explanation such change in politics was the will of the gods and goddesses. Where they received a good Pharaoh, it was a blessing and where they received a wicked Pharaoh it was a matter of divine sanction. 

There are surely those controlling state administrations who would love to be vested with this level of dogmatic authority today, but constitutional government which has become the order of the modern world does not permit this type of absolute fascism, though other forms of constitutional despotism prevail. To the greatest extent, democracy with its aristocratic tendencies, may not be the best form of government as some may argue, but it is the most practical and the rights of both minorities and majorities are considered in most if not all decisions of governance. It is quite common for its dissenters to render it synonymous with capitalism, but granted most modern democracies do offer social services to their citizens, this type of comparison is not well placed as in a purely capitalist society, the government would leave all social services including military and clerical occupation to private institutions. 

The structure of government didn’t exactly just appear like some might assume, but naturally as humanity began its evolution of consciousness, hierarchy was established at the level of the family and then the clan of families that lived in nomadic groups and eventually established settlements. Authority under these circumstances being based on a different type of bloodline, was based on two factors, age (maturity) or experience, giving forth “elders”, including usefulness to the clan. Maturity was valued not just for experience, but because it was believed the older persons possessed accurate knowledge of the purpose of the clan and life in general handed down from the “ancestors” who had lived prior.

Hunters who could protect the clan from wild animals and intruders were also given prominence, along with those with “uncanny” faculties like oracles who could interpret signs, builders and generally those in the settlement who contributed to the livelihood of all were those regarded as being responsible for the others. The overall understanding is that at this level of natural governance, those with authority were vested with such, as they were responsible to the clan, meaning they recognized their obligation to give service to those they “cared for” and did not see them as subjects of which they were entitled to a preferential lifestyle at the expense of the population. Though everyone played different roles the concept of class distinction was relatively irrelevant.

The hunter class evolved into the “guardian” or military unit of the community as elaborated by Plato in his “The Republic” while those with a capacity to exhibit clerical wisdom were recognized as the spiritual or medical unit, with the priesthood slowly evolving from the traditions of this group. Ultimately the main focus of activity of everyone else was on food cultivation, the farming and livestock units, with artisan units of course for the manufacturing of chairs, pots, tables, specialized duties, etc. This third “classification” of the clan, was reliant predominantly on the protection and guidance of the former two and the structure of society proceeded into the various other forms of government we see today from this basis.

The issue of strife and being conquered by a different clan would surely change the situation of blood lineage and the familiar lines upon which integration and daily custom were based. Fearing such an event as one’s child or spouse being kidnapped by raiders or enslavement, as well as havoc caused by wild animals, the military units were given high reverence with protection being perhaps the main concern of a clan, whether nomadic or settled. Healing having a direct relation to the activities of the military unit and the rest of the clan, gave prominence to the clerics, and more so, intelligence would rule over  brute force, giving the “clergy” its dominant position in the clan. For a time, the clerical unit of a majority of the clans of the earth ruled with the justification of the “unseen,” but with common sense at times rivaling the un-understood and often un-based machinations of the clerics, i.e. “the gods demand a sacrifice” it was but inevitable the clan would become disenchanted with taking direction from the unscientific eccentricism of some “seers” and justify a member from amongst themselves be selected to have the capacity to give executive instruction. 

The clerics then, already recognized as the interpreters of consciousness would then select this individual or form this governing body of elders, representatives of families in the clan, behind a single individual. This selection by the clerical unit seen as having “supernatural insight” is what gave credence to the formulation of the government form of monarchy and early senate. Though, presented rather broadly, it illustrates that the evolution of governance is natural and for the most part with the obvious exceptions that will apply, comes forth as a matter of mutual desire for RESPONSIBILITY to be equally distributed to avoid a situation where one unit or “class” or particular individual wields un-checked authority over another.

We must recognize that even in the clan stage of the monarchy a system of “checks and balances” was maintained by the clerical unit. And for very long, history records the priests, witchdoctors, shamans, seers, wisemen, prophets, etc. have wielded influence over those (the government) recognized by the people to have secular authority and with it influence over the population. The case is still the same today as the most esteemed leaders in the modern world, even of democratic nations, pay homage to the Pontifex Maximus of Rome, sustained in existence as the Pope. The authority upon which this clerical throne is vested goes back into time with the recognition by all of humanity that there is a chief individual on the planet who has authority justified by the “unseen,” as with the Pharaoh. Not much has changed on the planet except populations have increased and clans have evolved into large territorial communes called states or countries. 

The people living within these boundaries established to represent sovereignty still are naturally owed by the virtue of their contributions to the “national clan” of which they reside amongst or have been born into, the basic protection from harm both in and outside of the territory, from physical and all machinations of the unseen, be they biological, as in needing medical attention, against starvation, through properly organized agricultural production, creative expression, with support for artisan scholarship, technical innovation and exhibition, mental, as in ideological fortification with full proper education void of superstition, as is currently deficient in the world as a greater understanding of human consciousness is being sterilized due to the conservative attitudes of the clerics.

There is a crude self-righteousness which comes with having and being able to  employ certain aspects of generally “un-known” knowledge without maturity. 

Maintaining this distinction under the justification to avoid its profanation, the  clerics have become self-exalted and perhaps the most dangerous “unit” or “class” in the “global village” of humanity. With most people only concerned with their physical lives, it is apparent they have forgotten the greater role ideological or governance of the human consciousness plays in configuring their existence. To he and her of whom you trust to inform you, you hand over you reality, especially if you are not inquisitive to seek information of your environment for yourselves. It is acceptance of and willingness to exploit ignorance that led to the Salem Witch trials and various persecutions of learned individuals that have been perpetrated throughout history. 

 
Reasoning as such the vast majority of issues derailing humanity or a particular governed society ca only be resolved with proper education. If a government arose and mandated education of all individuals under state sponsorship to the age of 21 with compulsory specialization in the field an individual found themselves most proficient, with a detailed appreciation of the natural sciences in relation to the human existence as priority, development of human consciousness, would this be a crime? In a globalized world, where threats from neighboring nations are now are no longer as high as they used to be, developing nations would embark on implementing this blueprint to develop faster, while those developing would do the same to avoid further deterioration. With full and proper education into the understanding of a collective consciousness, each individual in society would reason themselves as part of humanity and not higher than the global clan because they feel their particular contribution is of more significance than another’s. The eye would be foolish to think and say without the hand the body is complete.

The issue deterring the proper implementation of governance is class distinction and not necessarily the government in place. Class is one of those ideologies that an individual creates of their own accord after they have made certain accomplishments and believe their distinctions set them “above” everyone else in a particular domain. Until this mentality is educated out of the human psyche, the issue of governance will continue to disintegrate into the farce we see paraded on televisions and recorded within history books. Monarchy failed because of class, Socialism failed because of class, Democracy is failing because of class, the same can be said of the world’s business institutions and religious organizations.

To be given the privilege or possess talent to offer leadership does not make one better than those he or she must lead.  Likewise those being lead must learn to stop the perpetual exaltation of bowing, brown-nosing, ass-kissing and groveling about the legs of those they see as having responsibility over them, while at the same time not expecting too much.  Time-and-time again the example has been given of a humble man or woman who leads a social change and once exalted by others loses his or herself in pride and becomes even worse than the preceding leadership with which he and others detested enough to remove. When this problem arises the problem is no longer the “establishment” or the “system” as so many love to argue believing themselves to be speaking in eloquence. The problem behind poor leadership in any society is the mentality of the “poor” leader and “poor” population who are sharing a unified understanding of their collective relationship and reliance on one another.

This union is established by deeper immutable laws than the average man and  woman can see without dedicated reflection unless it is pointed out to them. The entire Cosmic union is made of forces and laws all consciously executing their purpose without the slightest notion of superiority. The son that shines during the day, does not say it shines brighter than the moon at night, yet humanity as the beholder observes the light of the sun is reflected from the moon to the opposite side of the planet turned away from the sun with the rotation of the planet on its axis. Such is how each unit compliments the other, and until leaders will ingrain this understanding in their minds enough to fully remain responsible to those they must offer service to and the those giving the responsibility to be served are aware of the full role they must contribute to ensure service is rendered satisfactorily, the debate of God and Governance will be textbook Utopian philosophical discussion. At best it cannot be achieved in the immediate now, but gradually, with acknowledgement it can be, we will arrive as the collective consciousness turns towards its true aspiration.