Francis Berger
  • Home
  • Blog
  • My Work
  • Contact

Alarm Bells: Democracy and The Rule of Law

5/7/2019

4 Comments

 
Over the past few years, I have noticed that very few things alarm the Western Establishment as much as the perceived weakening of their cherished democracies and the rule of law. Alarm bells over democracy and the rule of law tend to ring loudest in the Western Anglosphere and the dark citadels of the European Union, and criticism tends to be directed at countries unwilling to wholeheartedly embrace the liberal/leftist worldview the aforementioned bastions of freedom and progress promulgate.

On the surface, democracy is designed to be a system of rule by laws, not individuals. Democracy is supposed to use the rule of law to protect the rights of its citizens, maintain order, and limit governmental powers. In theory, all citizens within a democracy are equal under the law. Perhaps most importantly, no one may be discriminated against on the grounds of race, religion, ethnic group, or gender. It is a human-centered form of government with no space for the transcendent.

This form of governance is desirable and appealing to the average modern person, and why not? People in the West have surrendered their spiritual and moral compasses and have allowed themselves to be utterly steeped in a limited humanistic and materialistic worldview. They have allowed themselves to be conditioned to believe in the goodness of our current democracies and the rule of law to the same extent Pavlov conditioned his dogs to believe bell-ringing signified mealtime.

All of this even though lived experience informs people that, contrary to what the system claims to do, democracy and the rule of law actually assaults citizens’ rights, creates chaos, and increases governmental powers.

The time to re-examine our conditioned assumptions regarding the weakening of democracy and the rule of law has come. Rather than grow apprehensive, we should begin to view all alarm bells the Establishment ring as signals that something Good might actually be occurring.
4 Comments
William James Tychonievich link
5/9/2019 09:00:27

I think voting and rule of law are two different issues, and that only voting is bad. Neither Socrates nor Jesus would have been executed if rule of law rather than "the voice of the people" had prevailed.

Reply
Francis Berger
5/9/2019 12:23:57

@ Williatm - Good point. I have conflated the two in this post.

Nevertheless, in the West the rule of law appears to be worse of the two at the moment. It has been subverted and is actively being used to wage war against the citizens it is meant to protect/serve.

And then there's Brexit. The rule of law clearly is not interested in letting the voice of the people prevail there.

Reply
Karl
5/12/2019 09:35:30

"Over the past few years, I have noticed that very few things alarm the Western Establishment as much as the perceived weakening of their cherished democracies and the rule of law."

Why do you think so? I'm perceiving the opposite, i.e. that the Western Establishment is actively abolishing the rule of law and transforming the democracies into the kind of "democracy" practised in the German Democratic Republik, for example.

Reply
Francis Berger
5/12/2019 11:05:22

@ Karl - The key word in the statement you quoted is "perceived."

Of course the Western Establishment is abolishing the rule of law and, in turn, weakening democracy, but they cannot present it as such. Thus, they present anything opposing their totalitarian drive as "a weakening of democracy and the rule of law." That's my main point.

You are making the same argument I am making.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    RSS Feed

    Blog and Comments

    Blog posts tend to be spontaneous, unpolished, first draft entries ranging from the insightful and periodically profound to the poorly-argued and occasionally disparaging.
     

    Comments are moderated. Anonymous comments are never published (please use your name or a pseudonym). 

    Emails welcome:

    f er en c ber g er (at) h otm   ail (dot) co m
    Blogs/Sites I Read
    Bruce Charlton's Notions
    Meeting the Masters
    From The Narrow Desert
    Brief Outlines

    No Longer Reading

    ​Steeple Tea
    Berdyaev.com
    Junior Ganymede

    ​Fourth Gospel Blog
    The Orthosphere
    ​Synlogos 
    ✞ Aggregator
    Picture

    Archives

    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    June 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    April 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012

Proudly powered by Weebly