Human Goodness

SO! After having conversations with peeps around campus, I've begun to notice a trend among them, that I believe could be applied to the American (and probably human) population as a whole. When it comes to political philosophy, specifically modern, there are a ton of different groups that are bickering back and forth. One of the first is Hobbes, who said that in nature human life would be a constant war of everything against everything, and that because of this, we naturally want to form communities that provide a certain level of security in exchange for certain freedoms. Then there is Locke, who said that while there would be struggles among humans in nature, that it wouldn't be anywhere near as bad as what Hobbes described.

When it comes to the world of today, there aren't many Hobbsian thinkers, philosophers generally go along with Locke's theory. My question to all of you is this. Do you really think that the more peaceful existence for humans is the more likely path? Or do you think that once it gets to the point where we need to fight and kill for survival, all of our higher levels of thinking (Morality, Ethics) will go out the window?

I bring this up, because as I've been watching the republican debates, and really just been getting more interested in national politics as a whole, it seems to me that there are far too many people out there who believe that everyone else is as naturally good as them. This is generally seen whenever people complain about too much government interference. Why doesn't wall street need big brother breathing down their neck? Because brokers will act responsibly on their own. Why does trickle down economics work? Because "job creators" will pass the money they make, down to their employees by giving them raises, better benefits etc.

Now, when you look at other aspects of the republican platform (no gun laws, no abortions, abstinence only sex ed) it becomes fairly obvious that people DON'T believe everyone else is as good as themselves. So why is it that people blindly swallow some inflammatory ideas (Obama is a socialist, also a muslim who hates all religion) but can't seem to apply that information to the rich? Why is it that we as a nation, truly want to believe that money makes people better (in a moral sense), when there is all the evidence in the world to suggest that the more money you have, the more opportunities you have to break the law, and the bigger the chances of you getting away with breaking the law?

Now, just in case we have a guest reader on the blog, or if one of you are conservative. While I definitely do not agree with most things the Republican party has to say, that is simply because I do not trust humans to do the right thing. Integrity is in short supply these days. At heart, I'm an anarchist, but I know deep down, that we can't live in peace with one another, without the threat of force should we break the law. At heart I believe the world would be better if there was less government control, but only if people could learn to live in peace with one another. So please don't take this as an attack against you. That is not what I am striving for. I just really want to know why it is you feel the way you do about the rich (job creators, whatever you want to call them)