One of the commentators on CNN more or less said this last night -- and I will only slightly reword and embellish what I heard said:
Democracy -- and America -- both have a remarkable capability for self-correction.
In biology and psychology, this 'self-corrective process' is usually referred to as 'homeostatic balance'; in philosophy, politics, business, law, sports, and war, I will sometimes use this biological and psychological terminology -- othertimes, and more often, I will expand from, and modify, Hegelian terminology in using such DGB Philosophy terms as: 'dialectic-democratics', 'democratic-dialectics' and 'homeostatic-balance-dialectics' (where the goal for both parties is to negotiate as best a 'win-win conflict resolution' as possible) as opposed to 'power-dialectics' or 'narcissistic dialectics' (where one person and/or organization is basically trying to run roughshod over -- and defeat or conquer -- another person's and/or organization's -- power and willpower .
Historically and philosophically, the democratic-dialectic mindset can be traced at least as far back in Western history as the Pre-Socratic philosophy of Heraclitus, and also to the city-state of Athens; whereas the power-dialectic or narcissistic-dialectic can be traced back to the philosophy expounded on by the second oldest Greek and Western philosopher -- Anaxamander -- as well as to the city-state of Sparta.
Indeed, the power-dialectic or narcissistic-dialectic mindset can be traced back even further to Greek Mythology, The Iliad and The Odyssey, as well as back to Persian-Greek wars, and Chinese wars, both before and after -- such infamous world conquerors as Alexander the Great, Ghengis Khan, Napoleon, and Hitler readily come to mind, indeed one can easily speculate back to the oldest and most uncivil of caveman mentalities -- 'Might is right' (as well as to the latest business fiasco on Wall Street, and before that, Michael Douglas' easily remembered quote from the movie, Wall Street -- 'Greed is good').
And let us not forget one of the worst moments in Bush's sorry legacy -- his 'unilateral stance' against the United Nations, and basically, by undermining the power of The United Nations, also undermining American foreign diplomacy with the rest of the world.
To conclude this little mini-essay here, it can easily be argued that one of the most powerful dialectic bi-polarities in the history of man is the bi-polar dialectic between civil, democratic-dialectics, and the much less civil -- power and narcissistic dialectics.
-- dgb, November 7th, 2008.
