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7.1 Political ProcessesVersion 1.2 January 2019 (Previous Version) These are the questions we ask in the introduction (Section 0.1.6 – paragraph 35): Why bother to have any interest in politics – isn't it all lies? Can ordinary people have any effect? Should we support one political party over another? Is there any real difference between them? Will we all be ruined if the opposition party comes to power, as the government predicts? Are our political leaders deceiving just us or themselves as well? How can politicians stuff things up so much if they are really trying not to, unless they are selfish or corrupt? Should we all hate the Americans, the Chinese, the Russians, the Jews, the Muslims, the capitalists, the communists, the oligarchs, the bunch next door or the others? This Chapter focuses on how political processes occur. The history of the development of democracy is presented in Part 3 (History). Here we will sometimes summarize key aspects of that history, only to provide the context for the value choices we make, and not revisit history in detail. This Chapter discusses various political theories, such as those of Plato, Aristotle, K’ung-fu-tsu, Hobbs, Hume, Rousseau, Marx, Rawls and Amartya Sen, that are philosophical rather than empirical. These were not covered in Part 1 (Philosophy) which focused on the development of core values, which are essentially personal. Choosing the most appropriate political theory is not an empirical science, though we refer to science and history to explore their practical effects. But politics, to ordinary people, is more than political theory. Why, despite all the failures of our politicians, ranging from selfishness and corruption to sheer stupidity, persist with political action? We need to learn how the best societies make their best decision, and how we can improved the quality of decision making, not just in local, nation and global politics, but also in economics and business, other non-government organizations and education. We must take into account the reality of individuals’ varied and limited intellectual and emotional capacities and work out ways to minimize their adverse effects. We need to understand what politics is often polarized into left and right, progressive and conservative, open and closed. Is there any “objective” way to resolve differences? How can we justify our own political objectives and practices? We plan to look at how democracy can bring the best outcomes under the following headings:
After going through these topics, our current conclusions, as stated in the overview, are as follows: Politics attempts to resolve differences by talking and compromise rather than fighting; our political goals and methods must be based on our personal values, so opposition to all oppression and inappropriate discrimination is fundamental; science and history help us to work out what is most skilful to achieve our aims. more Statement 35 The following pages explain how we justify these conclusions.
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