[Paleopsych] Good vs. evil

[Lynn D. Johnson, Ph.D.]

Christian, I am inspired by your hope but dubious of your grasp of human 
evil. You know very well there are sections of Rio where no one can go 
without extreme risk. There are no cops there, so the good people suffer 
at the hands of the evil. World history seems to tell me that without 
cops the worst people dominate. Thus, the world needs a cop.
    An international "cop?" But the U.N. has failed over and over, from 
failure to prevent genocide to corruption in the oil for food scandals. 
So how can we hope for something that has never happened?
    Democracy, we learn from history, is achieved mostly through force 
and warfare. The U. S. democratic republic arose from conflict and is 
one of the oldest in the world. England has a democracy that was born of 
armed nobility confronting a king. Germany, Japan, Iraq -- all examples 
of democracy arising from armed conflict. The Orange Revolution in 
Ukraine wouldn't have been possible without Reagan's insistance that we 
could afford a military buildup and the Soviets could not. Lebanon 
wouldn't have hope without the example of Iraq. Libya is restrained by 
force of the American cop on the corner. And, as the joke goes, Bush has 
announced how he will withdraw from Iraq: "We'll just go through Iran."
    And why must democracy be purchased at the price of our blood? 
Psychopaths respond only to firm, quick resistance to their lawless 
behavior. Thoughout history, the psychopaths have risen to the top 
(consider the French revolution; consider the sad history of Argentina, 
my beloved tragic second home). But in the American revolution, the 
careful and the accountable became the leaders and have inspired the 
world ever since.
    Other than that, I have no strong feelings.
Chau, amigo
Lynn  

Christian Rauh wrote:

>There must be a global democratic political structure with executive
>legislative and judicial powers. That's how we'll "spread democracy".
>People should arbitrate their problems through that system.
>
>This structure should be lean, representative, participatory and strong.
>I would suggest looking at nordic countries for starting models.
>
>Christian
>
>G. Reinhart-Waller wrote:
>  
>
>>Me too.
>>
>>Do we use the United Nations?  That hasn't worked in the past....is
>>there a new resurrection?
>>
>>Gerry
>>
>>Christian Rauh wrote:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>No world cop.
>>>
>>>Christian
>>>
>>>G. Reinhart-Waller wrote:
>>> 
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>>>This is of interest.  If US is not world cop, then who would you like it
>>>>to be?  The Russians, Chinese, one of the South American
>>>>dictatorships....moving forward takes a country willing to gamble at
>>>>playing the role of policeman in maintaining peace.  That is US.....not
>>>>because it is better at it but because no one else wants the role.
>>>>
>>>>The only allies we have in Iraq are the Iraqi people who are interested
>>>>in Democracy.  That's good enough for me.
>>>>Gerry
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Steve Hovland wrote:
>>>>
>>>>   
>>>>
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>>>When the US can no longer afford the pretense
>>>>>of being the world cop, we may move more toward
>>>>>group security.
>>>>>
>>>>>As far as help in Iraq, we have fewer and fewer
>>>>>allies.  Most of the world is horrified by what we
>>>>>are doing, no matter how we try to pretty it up
>>>>>with blather about democracy.
>>>>>
>>>>>Steve Hovland
>>>>>www.stevehovland.net
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>     
>>>>>
>>>>>          
>>>>>
>>>>_______________________________________________
>>>>paleopsych mailing list
>>>>paleopsych at paleopsych.org
>>>>http://lists.paleopsych.org/mailman/listinfo/paleopsych
>>>>   
>>>>
>>>>        
>>>>
>>> 
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>paleopsych mailing list
>>paleopsych at paleopsych.org
>>http://lists.paleopsych.org/mailman/listinfo/paleopsych
>>    
>>
>
>  
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/paleopsych/attachments/20050315/0ab85423/attachment.html>