I’ve probably told you this multiple times, but I’ll say it again. Democracy is the best form of government, not because it somehow allows you to choose the best leaders, but because it allows you to get rid of bad leaders. In many ways, benevolent dictatorship is the ideal; but benevolent dictators die, and their crazy son takes over.

As Churchill said:

Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those others that have been tried from time to time.

“All those others” — communism, dictatorship, anarchism — require benevolence on the part of those with power. The only mechanism they admit for the removal of despots is revolution, which usually comes after a long period of oppression, and brings with it bloodshed.

Democracy has this in common with Christianity: it recognises the limits of human benevolence. Democracy is prepared — in a way that other systems of governance are not — for the inevitable: human leaders will screw up. When it is working correctly, it never allows the power of those in government to become stable or assured. The system reserves the right to revoke all power. More than that, it revokes it on a regular basis. You could call it institutionalised revolution.

Cap’n D

My driving test was cancelled this morning because of the weather. They had to send someone out to check the roads before they could allow all those learner drivers out there (never mind the fact that 90% of them had driven there). Rather than send someone before the testing started – say at 8:30 – or any of the other possibly logistical solutions, they cancelled all the 9:15 tests. I should get another date soon, and the guy who informed me said I should ask for exactly the kind of appointment I want (on a Saturday, for instance) because they’re already inconvenienced me enough. I am now in a grump. I have asked C to bring me home all the bad things he can find – crisps, chocolate, ice-cream, etc – and since his work place is a virtual treasure trove of the fattening, I expect he’ll find a lot.

At any given point in the last week or so, one of these songs has been stuck in my head. I have decided to inflict them on you.

Tg – maybe I used too many monkeys

Havity is the force that draws money to money. You need money to make money: that’s havity!

It’s been rather a long time since I last posted. I’ve been neglecting you, vast audience. Let’s see if I can get back into the swing of things by telling you some of the things I’ve been pondering recently.

Will we be able to learn in heaven?

Is it the fallen nature of ourselves and the world that leaves room for learning? Will our knowledge of God be perfect in heaven? Will our knowledge of each other and ourselves?

Atheism in Star Trek

C bought me a bunch of Star Trek The Next Generation for Christmas, and I watched them all in quick succession. It’s a truly great series (though the early episode have some dodgy spots). One thing I noticed this time around, though, is the clear but implicit assumption that there is no God. It’s curious, because I remember being surprised by the implicit theism in the original series, the first time I watched it. It’s rarely explicit, but I would say fairly undeniable, that the crew of the Enterprise are supposed to be part of a civilisation that has “grown out of” the concept of God. They admire developing races they meet who have put away their silly superstitions about gods, they unmask supposed gods and devils that are in fact just advanced aliens. It’s all very interesting, and I wonder how much of an effect it had on my fellow nerds and I when we first watched the series. Here was a group of admirable, intelligent, moral people who had “had no need for God”; who could explain, through science, things that other less advanced beings might take to be signs of a higher power.

The Nature of Democracy

“Government of the people, by the rascals, for the rich” as someone said? Democracy is not what we think it is, and what we think it is is not what everyone thinks it is. I really need to read up on the structures and history of democracy. Any recommendations?

Work

Time to go do the work I should have been doing all morning. I know that if I worked hard for the next three months I could get my PhD finished before my funding runs out, but I can’t seem to get the head down and get it done. Still, we can but try.

Tg