Three Basic forms of Government

[elected4ever]

Why is it that we are all over the parking lot when we discuss government? I think that is based on mans desire for stability, power and need for being social. The fact is that all three are opposed to one another.

We live in a constant state of fear that our environment will not be stable enough that our needs can be met. To furnish food, clothing and shelter are basic needs of all men. We need a stable environment for these three needs to be met.

Once the stable environment has been found there is the need to protect it against encroachment. We found that the more we can control the more stable the souses of provision became. The less we control the less stable our provisions became. So rose the need for the power to control our environment and to defend it against the encroachment of forces that endangered our resources. Our personal security became paramount to our survival as individuals. As our population grew. So did the threat to our resources and security.

The need for procreation demanded that we have contact with others. So rose the need to establish relationships that enhanced our security and ability to procreate. As our population grew so did the demand for our basic needs of food clothing and shelter so came the distancing and familiarity of individuals that went off to find new resources.

As communities grew the conflicts over resources grew. Borders were drawn and rules were made and governments were formed.

This is very basic and not intended to cover every thing. There is a lot of things left out. It is basically the same today.

The three basic forms of government are the same today as thay were then. 1 Communist. 2 Strongman 3. Law. All government is basically one of the three. I am talking foundationally. There are basic elements of each in every form of government.

1 Communist= communal, democracy, majority rule. This form of government makes decisions based on what the majority wonts at the expense of the minority. It does not matter if the minority is race, religious, ethnic or form of trade or what ever constitutes a minority. They are at the mercy of the majority and can be discriminated against legally. They have an administrator, a board of advisor's and a representative body. All laws can be change by edict to suit the majority at any time.

2. Strongman = King, dictator, Emperor. The strong man is above the law and is protected from its application by those that support him. He exercises authority over all under his rule.

3. Law.= republic. The law is supreme. The law dictates the powers of the government and the rights of governed.

Russia is a Democratic Republic meaning all law is subject to the will of the majority and the laws can be change by edict.

Saudi Arabia is a Strong man government being run by a king.

The United States is a Constitutional Republic (0r supposed to be)meaning that the basic law is prescribed by a constitution and may not be changed by the will of the majority or by government. A prescribed method is given by which the constitution may be changed. The constitution may not be changed by edict or any governmental action contrary to the prescribed method.

[PureX]

I agree with the different needs of government at different stages of social development. And it does explain why communism might be far more attractive to a society that is struggling for the basic necessities of survival where communism would not be at all attractive to a society that has more than enough of what it needs to simply survive.

But you may have missed the last stage: the disintegration of society. They all have fallen in the end, you know, as will our own. Why? What kind of government would typify this stage of the social cycle? How does the society itself bring about this final stage and invite this last form of government?

Do you think that we (the Unites States) are entering this final stage, yet?

[billwald]

Govt is best discussed in terms of social contract - the people get what they want or will tolerate. Our owners are getting smarter. In the bad old days the rich people looked rich. Now days GWB and Bill Gates look like "normal" people. In the bad old days there was a working class who hated the rich class. Now days the majority have been convinced that they are middle class and they can hate corporations, not rich people.

I think we are entering a stage where our owners are acting "parental." There is now a ruling class and a gurnt class but we grunts have been pacified with cheap beer, the sports channel, and govt schools. A person who graduates from college thinks he know something and is in charge of his life - an illusion.

[elected4ever]

I think that the society brakes down when the agreed too rules brake down. The law must be stable. The law begins to become unstable when the those who are responsible for the maintenance of the law brake the social contract. You could have Mickey mouse as president if the law is maintained. The U. S. government has for almost 100 years been on a course of changing the law for its own purposes at the expense of those who are party to the contract,ie the citizen.

Where the big mistake was made in the past was that government made dramatic changes suddenly. This government has not made dramatic changes suddenly but little by little. Hardly noticeable at times. When a major change was required to continue the furtherance of the consolidation of governmental power an opportunity had to present it self to justify the change. The Civil War, The First World War, the Depression, the Second World War, Korea, Viet Nam and most recently 9/11. Minor adjustments were made in between each event to fine tune the major change that had taken place. All underneath the public radar and all presented as good public policy.