Akbar’s Great Taboo…Dumb and Dumber

There are two questions that are just below the social consciousness that relate to the future of government and democracy.  First, we are very afraid to discuss in any detail how we ought to consider intelligence in relation to the rights of self-government in a democratic society.  In other words, in a country that is failing to meet the standards of education that allow for the kind of logical deduction necessary in a time dominated by scientific forces, are we able to conclude that the rule of majorities is favorable.  I am not convinced we have a viable alternative but I find the prohibition against such theorizing troubling, as it contradicts the presumption of intellectual freedom in deference to a dogma of democratic superiority.

For instance, it is quite possible, given our technological savvy to weigh each vote in accordance with educational achievement.  This would enrage the majority and I am not proposing that I am behind this idea.  I am merely pointing out that such options are available to us and there is currently no place within intellectual culture for parsing the benefits or consequences of such changes.  And this relates to the other question on everybody’s minds.  We are moving toward a unified world citizenry, and we are headed toward the absolute need for global governance, and it is mind-boggling to me that the philosophical discussions are not more common, as to how such a state ‘should’ operate.

I think there is possibly no better time to engage in the kind of philosophy that addresses the deepest notions of the human experience.  Personally, I am not too happy about the dominance of ‘majority rule’ and I would like to see a healthy discussion of alternatives.  We live in this paradoxical world where so much hinges upon educational achievement and we are so restrained from demanding consistency across class lines.