Authority
Since our government, with justification, has placed a significant percentage of the population under house arrest, and is in process of destroying the economy, it seems an appropriate time to think about the nature of political authority.
The sources of political authority are force, fear, charisma, pandering and reciprocity. When human beings first began to congregate in groups, the leader was a warrior and/or priest. The warrior leader promised to protect the group from other tribes, maybe offering some pillage in the process, and responded to any dissent with lethal force. The priest leader claimed connection to the supernatural and promised to teach methods for gaining favor of the gods and escaping their wrath. Charisma was an added benefit for leaders. That gained a leader greater adherence and the willingness of the followers to sacrifice more to achieve the leader’s goals. Symbolism and propaganda were developed early on to enhance the power of leaders.
Democracy (consent of the governed) added pandering and reciprocity. Leaders promised goodies in return for votes. In many cases, certain classes were promised specific favors to the detriment of other classes.
The political spectrum is usually depicted in a linear fashion from left to right. In terms of authority, it is useful to look at the spectrum in terms of the level of control the government is trying to exert on the daily lives of citizens: anarchy, liberal (in the classic definition of the term), fiscal conservative, social conservative, welfare state, progressive, socialist, fascist, communist. The spectrum is from no control to totalitarian control.
Our constitution was all about protecting the citizens from the state. The scope of action for the state was very limited (national defense, a judiciary, tariffs). That has evolved into government as a service to provide goodies to the citizens by taking money from some people and giving it to others. In many cases, money is taken from citizen A and given back to Citizen A after an allowance for administrative overhead. Enough gorilla dust is thrown at the process to convince Citizen A that the government is doing him/her a favor.
In a rational world, leaders would obtain the consent of the governed by realistic reciprocity. Some (hopefully) talented people would be granted the perks of power in return for providing an array of services and protections that apply to the entire citizenry and are provided in a cost effective manner. Tax levels would be set to pay for the services provided. Realistic promises would be made and failure to perform would result in dismissal from office.
Unfortunately, our current political climate is dominated by charisma and pandering. We do not assess candidates based on competence and the feasibility of their claims; we decide who we like, who is most telegenic or “authentic”. The array of government “services” grows inexorably to bury us in debt. Connected individuals and entities work the system to their advantage. The service we get is mediocre at best. The proposed solution is always higher taxes.
In the current situation, it is appropriate to follow the guidelines for confinement, but it is also time to question the competence of the leaders giving the orders. The CDC failed massively on testing protocol. We had no realistic plan in place to deal with a pandemic despite ample warning of the possibility of its occurrence. Our health care infrastructure is far too reliant on China. Useless rules and bureaucratic inertia slowed our response. We simultaneously had too much and too little government. These are things to think about as you assess your voting choices in future.
