The Imposition Of Law As Free Will — страница 2

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Extension Government has been purported as the will of the people. It is believed that the will of the people is manifest in governmental actions. Too many individuals feel as if they can actually affect governmental policy and themselves regulate governmental actions. People have been led to believe that they are the government. People somehow feel that, because of the vote, they can actually control the decisions of their government. The people have been manipulated into believing that they are the government and that they make the choices that determine the fate of their nation. Yet, realistically, what power can one man hold over 270 million? What is one voice among such a multitude? The common person, only seen by the government as a drop in the ocean, can do nothing and can

affect nothing with the vote. Through the vote, an enlightened human being, so like a single drop in the ocean, can do nothing to hold back the tidal waves of ignorance. Too often can one see that the will of the majority, as well as the will of the minority, is never carried out by the government. Even when the ignorant multitudes push for change the government still refuses to follow up on the people’s demands. Those in power have little to fear from the weak including those voices that are heard need fear nothing from those who cannot speak. This is the political state of America, indeed of all nations; the people are not the source of governmental power, rather, they are the subjects of it. The citizens of this nation have somehow been led to believe that they are not just

ordinary citizens; they are the politicians who pass the laws, the judges who sentence the “guilty,” and the police who beat down the minority. ?Rawls reminds us that the civil disobedient suffers inconvenience, expense, taunts, threats, real danger, and eventually punishment. His willingness, in the typical case, to suffer these consequences helps to demonstrate that his purpose is to protest an injustice or a wrong- not to achieve an immediate gain for himself.? This is the illusion of extension that all people hold. Somehow the American government has been able to fool its people into believing that, out of the pits of ignorance, they can extend their wills to affect the government and the nation; that, somehow, their feeble minds can direct the destiny of this country.

The powerless have been led to feel powerful, and because of this they have not been inclined to seek the influence and power that their government has stolen from them. The vote is little more than a political technique of maintaining governmental stability. The purpose of the vote is, not only to lead people to believe that they are the government, but to cause people to feel as if they, because they have used the vote to elect certain officials into office, are themselves responsible for what the government has done. If people are displeased with governmental actions the existence of the vote leads them to seek to modify the governmental leadership rather than the government itself. The blame is shifted from the imperfect and corrupt structure of the government and placed upon

those who lead it. The vote restricts perception of ideals that go beyond the rigid governmental structure. People therefore wish to pursue governmental modification in lieu of social revolution. The people, who often wish for change in an unchanging structure, are led to superficially modify the governmental leadership rather than end the social ills that devastate their lives. Voting creates the illusion of choice; it leads those who have no freedom to feel as if they are free. The vote is nothing more than a decision fabricated by the government. It is a decision that, when made, yields no result. It makes people feel as if they are controlling the government rather than being controlled by the government. Making this illusory decision is nothing more than an acceptance of the

governmental structure and the status quo. To vote is to accept the evils that plague society. Free will and self-government, the Dominance of Choice and the Social Condition. What is it that determines a person’s actions? Are the actions of an individual determined by the dictates of law and government or, rather, is an individual compelled to act in certain ways for other reasons? Can a person’s actions truly be controlled by the constraints set forth by the law? What is it that influences a person’s actions? Can law, a vast and confusing set of governmental dictates, truly hold more influence over a person’s actions than can their own moral ideologies? Can an individual, who must make decisions on a daily basis, constantly turn to law for behavioral guidance?