P800:1, 71:0.1 The state is a useful evolution of civilization;
it represents society's net gain from the ravages and sufferings of war. Even
statecraft is merely the accumulated technique for adjusting the competitive
contest of force between the struggling tribes and nations.
P800:2, 71:0.2 The modern state is the institution which
survived in the long struggle for group power. Superior power eventually
prevailed, and it produced a creature of fact -- the state -- together with the
moral myth of the absolute obligation of the citizen to live and die for the
state. But the state is not of divine genesis; it was not even produced by
volitionally intelligent human action; it is purely an evolutionary institution
and was wholly automatic in origin.
P800:3, 71:1.1 The state is a territorial social regulative
organization, and the strongest, most efficient, and enduring state is composed
of a single nation whose people have a common language, mores, and institutions.
P800:4, 71:1.2 The early states were small and were all the
result of conquest. They did not originate in voluntary associations. Many were
founded by conquering nomads, who would swoop down on peaceful herders or
settled agriculturists to overpower and enslave them. Such states, resulting
from conquest, were, perforce, stratified; classes were inevitable, and class
struggles have ever been selective.
P800:5, 71:1.3 The northern tribes of the American red men never attained real statehood. They never progressed beyond a loose confederation of tribes, a very primitive form of state. Their nearest approach was the Iroquois federation, but this group of six nations never quite functioned as a state and failed to survive because of the absence of the essentials to modern national life.
P800:14, 71:1.12 The red men eventually would have evolved a state had they not prematurely encountered the more advanced civilization of the white man.
P801:11, 71:1.15 The embryonic state was made possible by the
decline of the blood bond in favor of the territorial, and such tribal
federations were usually firmly cemented by conquest. While a sovereignty that
transcends all minor struggles and group differences is the characteristic of
the true state, still, many classes and castes persist in the later state
organizations as remnants of the clans and tribes of former days. The later and
larger territorial states had a long and bitter struggle with these smaller
consanguineous clan groups, the tribal government proving a valuable transition
from family to state authority. During later times many clans grew out of trades
and other industrial associations.
P801:12, 71:1.16 Failure of state integration results in
retrogression to pre-state conditions of governmental techniques, such as the
feudalism of the European Middle Ages. During these dark ages the territorial
state collapsed, and there was a reversion to the small castle groups, the
reappearance of the clan and tribal stages of development.
P802:1, 71:2.2
Public opinion, common opinion, has always delayed society; nevertheless, it is
valuable, for, while retarding social evolution, it does preserve civilization.
Education of public opinion is the only safe and true method of accelerating
civilization; force is only a temporary expedient, and cultural growth will
increasingly accelerate as bullets give way to ballots. Public opinion, the
mores, is the basic and elemental energy in social evolution and state
development, but to be of state value it must be nonviolent in expression.
P802:2, 71:2.3
The measure of the advance of society is directly determined by the degree to
which public opinion can control personal behavior and state regulation through
nonviolent expression. The really civilized government had arrived when public
opinion was clothed with the powers of personal franchise. Popular elections may
not always decide things rightly, but they represent the right way even to do a
wrong thing. Evolution does not at once produce superlative perfection but
rather comparative and advancing practical adjustment.
P802:3, 71:2.4 There are ten steps, or stages, to the evolution of a practical and efficient form of representative government, and these are:
P802:4, 71:2.5 1. Freedom of the person. Slavery, serfdom, and all forms of human bondage must disappear.
P802:5, 71:2.6 2. Freedom of the mind. Unless a free people are educated -- taught to think intelligently and plan wisely -- freedom usually does more harm than good.
P802:6, 71:2.7 3. The reign of law. Liberty can be enjoyed only when the will and whims of human rulers are replaced by legislative enactments in accordance with accepted fundamental law.
P802:7, 71:2.8 4. Freedom of speech. Representative government is unthinkable without freedom of all forms of expression for human aspirations and opinions.
P802:8, 71:2.9 5. Security of property. No government can long endure if it fails to provide for the right to enjoy personal property in some form. Man craves the right to use, control, bestow, sell, lease, and bequeath his personal property.
P802:9, 71:2.10 6. The right of petition. Representative government assumes the right of citizens to be heard. The privilege of petition is inherent in free citizenship.
P802:10, 71:2.11 7. The right to rule. It is not enough to be heard; the power of petition must progress to the actual management of the government.
P802:11, 71:2.12 8. Universal suffrage. Representative government presupposes an intelligent, efficient, and universal electorate. The character of such a government will ever be determined by the character and caliber of those who compose it. As civilization progresses, suffrage, while remaining universal for both sexes, will be effectively modified, regrouped, and otherwise differentiated.
P802:12, 71:2.13 9. Control of public servants. No civil government will be serviceable and effective unless the citizenry possess and use wise techniques of guiding and controlling officeholders and public servants.
P802:13, 71:2.14 10. Intelligent and trained representation. The survival of democracy is dependent on successful representative government; and that is conditioned upon the practice of electing to public offices only those individuals who are technically trained, intellectually competent, socially loyal, and morally fit. Only by such provisions can government of the people, by the people, and for the people be preserved.
P803:1, 71:3.1 The political or administrative form of a
government is of little consequence provided it affords the essentials of civil
progress -- liberty, security, education, and social co-ordination. It is not
what a state is but what it does that determines the course of social evolution.
And after all, no state can transcend the moral values of its citizenry as
exemplified in their chosen leaders. Ignorance and selfishness will insure the
downfall of even the highest type of government.
P803:2, 71:3.2 Much as it is to be regretted, national egotism
has been essential to social survival. The chosen people doctrine has been a
prime factor in tribal welding and nation building right on down to modern
times. But no state can attain ideal levels of functioning until every form of
intolerance is mastered; it is everlastingly inimical to human progress. And
intolerance is best combated by the co-ordination of science, commerce, play,
and religion.
P803:3, 71:3.3 The ideal state functions under the impulse of three mighty and co-ordinated drives:
P803:7, 71:3.4
The laws of the ideal state are few in number, and they have passed out of the
negativistic taboo age into the era of the positive progress of individual
liberty consequent upon enhanced self-control. The exalted state not only
compels its citizens to work but also entices them into profitable and uplifting
utilization of the increasing leisure which results from toil liberation by the
advancing machine age. Leisure must produce as well as consume.
P803:8, 71:3.5
No society has progressed very far when it permits idleness or tolerates
poverty. But poverty and dependence can never be eliminated if the defective and
degenerate stocks are freely supported and permitted to reproduce without
restraint.
P803:9, 71:3.6
A moral society should aim to preserve the self-respect of its citizenry and
afford every normal individual adequate opportunity for self-realization. Such a
plan of social achievement would yield a cultural society of the highest order.
Social evolution should be encouraged by governmental supervision which
exercises a minimum of regulative control. That state is best which co-ordinates
most while governing least.
P803:10, 71:3.7
The ideals of statehood must be attained by evolution, by the slow growth of
civic consciousness, the recognition of the obligation and privilege of social
service. At first men assume the burdens of government as a duty, following the
end of the administration of political spoils-men, but later on they seek such
ministry as a privilege, as the greatest honor. The status of any level of
civilization is faithfully portrayed by the caliber of its citizens who
volunteer to accept the responsibilities of statehood.
P803:11, 71:3.8
In a real commonwealth the business of governing cities and provinces is
conducted by experts and is managed just as are all other forms of economic and
commercial associations of people.
P803:12, 71:3.9
In advanced states, political service is esteemed as the highest devotion of the
citizenry. The greatest ambition of the wisest and noblest of citizens is to
gain civil recognition, to be elected or appointed to some position of
governmental trust, and such governments confer their highest honors of
recognition for service upon their civil and social servants. Honors are next
bestowed in the order named upon philosophers, educators, scientists,
industrialists, and militarists. Parents are duly rewarded by the excellence of
their children, and purely religious leaders, being ambassadors of a spiritual
realm, receive their real rewards in another world.
P804:1, 71:4.1 Economics, society, and government must evolve if they are to remain. Static conditions on an evolutionary world are indicative of decay; only those institutions which move forward with the evolutionary stream persist.
P804:2, 71:4.2 The progressive program of an expanding civilization embraces:
P804:15, 71:4.3
And this progress in the arts of civilization leads directly to the realization
of the highest human and divine goals of mortal endeavor -- the social
achievement of the brotherhood of man.
P804:16, 71:4.4
The appearance of genuine brotherhood signifies that a social order has arrived
in which all men delight in bearing one another's burdens; they actually desire
to practice the golden rule. But such an ideal society cannot be realized when
either the weak or the wicked lie in wait to take unfair and unholy advantage of
those who are chiefly actuated by devotion to the service of truth, beauty, and
goodness. In such a situation only one course is practical: The "golden
rulers" may establish a progressive society in which they live according to
their ideals while maintaining an adequate defense against their benighted
fellows who might seek either to exploit their pacific predilections or to
destroy their advancing civilization.
P804:17, 71:4.5
Idealism can never survive on an evolving planet if the idealists in each
generation permit themselves to be exterminated by the baser orders of humanity.
And here is the great test of idealism: Can an advanced society maintain that
military preparedness which renders it secure from all attack by its war-loving
neighbors without yielding to the temptation to employ this military strength in
offensive operations against other peoples for purposes of selfish gain or
national aggrandizement? Only love, brotherhood, can prevent the strong from
oppressing the weak.
P805:1, 71:5.1 Competition is essential to social progress, but
competition, unregulated, breeds violence. In current society, competition is
slowly displacing war in that it determines the individual's place in industry,
as well as decreeing the survival of the industries themselves. (Murder and war
differ in their status before the mores, murder having been outlawed since the
early days of society, while war has never yet been outlawed by mankind as a
whole.)
P805:2, 71:5.2 The ideal state undertakes to regulate social
conduct only enough to take violence out of individual competition and to
prevent unfairness in personal initiative. Here is a great problem in statehood:
How can you guarantee peace and quiet in industry, pay the taxes to support
state power, and at the same time prevent taxation from handicapping industry
and keep the state from becoming parasitical or tyrannical?
P805:3, 71:5.3 Throughout the earlier ages of any world,
competition is essential to progressive civilization. As the evolution of man
progresses, co-operation becomes increasingly effective. In advanced
civilizations co-operation is more efficient than competition. Early man is
stimulated by competition. Early evolution is characterized by the survival of
the biologically fit, but later civilizations are the better promoted by
intelligent co-operation, understanding fraternity, and spiritual brotherhood.
P805:4, 71:5.4 True, competition in industry is exceedingly
wasteful and highly ineffective, but no attempt to eliminate this economic lost
motion should be countenanced if such adjustments entail even the slightest
abrogation of any of the basic liberties of the individual.
P805:5, 71:6.1 Present-day profit-motivated economics is doomed unless profit motives can be augmented by service motives. Ruthless competition based on narrow-minded self-interest is ultimately destructive of even those things which it seeks to maintain.
P805:6, 71:6.2 In economics, profit motivation is to service
motivation what fear is to love in religion. But the profit motive must not be
suddenly destroyed or removed; it keeps many otherwise slothful mortals hard at
work. It is not necessary, however, that this social energy arouser be forever
selfish in its objectives.
P805:7, 71:6.3 The profit motive of economic activities is
altogether base and wholly unworthy of an advanced order of society;
nevertheless, it is an indispensable factor throughout the earlier phases of
civilization. Profit motivation must not be taken away from men until they have
firmly possessed themselves of superior types of nonprofit motives for economic
striving and social serving -- the transcendent urges of superlative wisdom,
intriguing brotherhood, and excellence.
P806:1, 71:7.1 The enduring state is founded on culture,
dominated by ideals, and motivated by service. The purpose of education should
be acquirement of skill, pursuit of wisdom, realization of selfhood, and freedom
for the attainment of spiritual values.
P806:2, 71:7.2 In the ideal state, education continues
throughout life, and philosophy sometime becomes the chief pursuit of its
citizens. The citizens of such a commonwealth pursue wisdom as an enhancement of
insight into the significance of human relations, the meanings of reality, the
nobility of values, the goals of living, and the glories of cosmic destiny.
P806:3, 71:7.3 Earthlings should get a vision of a new and
higher cultural society. Education will jump to new levels of value with the
passing of the purely profit-motivated system of economics. Education has too
long been localistic, militaristic, ego exalting, and success seeking; it must
eventually become world-wide, idealistic, self-realizing, and cosmic grasping.
P806:4, 71:7.4 Education has passed from the control of the
clergy to that of lawyers and businessmen. Eventually it must be given over to
the philosophers and the scientists. Teachers must be free beings, real leaders,
to the end that philosophy, the search for wisdom, may become the chief
educational pursuit.
P806:5, 71:7.5 Education is the business of living; it must
continue throughout a lifetime so that mankind may gradually experience the
ascending levels of mortal wisdom, which are:
P806:14, 71:8.1 The only sacred feature of any human government
is the division of statehood into the three domains of executive, legislative,
and judicial functions. The universe is administered in accordance with such a
plan of segregation of functions and authority. Aside from this divine concept
of effective social regulation or civil government, it matters little what form
of state a people may elect to have provided the citizenry is ever progressing
toward the goal of augmented self-control and increased social service. The
intellectual keenness, economic wisdom, social cleverness, and moral stamina of
a people are all faithfully reflected in statehood.
P806:15, 71:8.2 The evolution of statehood entails progress from
level to level, as follows:
P806:16, 71:8.3 1. The creation of a threefold government of executive, legislative, and judicial branches.
P806:17, 71:8.4 2. The freedom of social, political, and religious activities.
P807:1, 71:8.5 3. The abolition of all forms of slavery and human bondage.
P807:2, 71:8.6 4. The ability of the citizenry to control the levying of taxes.
P807:3, 71:8.7 5. The establishment of universal education -- learning extended from the cradle to the grave.
P807:4, 71:8.8 6. The proper adjustment between local and national governments.
P807:5, 71:8.9 7. The fostering of science and the conquest of disease.
P807:6, 71:8.10 8. The due recognition of sex equality and the co-ordinated functioning of men and women in the home, school, and church, with specialized service of women in industry and government.
P807:7, 71:8.11 9. The elimination of toiling slavery by machine invention and the subsequent mastery of the machine age.
P807:8, 71:8.12 10. The conquest of dialects -- the triumph of a universal language.
P807:9, 71:8.13 11. The ending of war -- international adjudication of national and racial differences by continental courts of nations presided over by a supreme planetary tribunal automatically recruited from the periodically retiring heads of the continental courts. The continental courts are authoritative; the world court is advisory -- moral.
P807:10, 71:8.14 12. The world-wide vogue of the pursuit of wisdom -- the exaltation of philosophy. The evolution of religious equality and religious rationality.
P807:11, 71:8.15 These are the prerequisites of progressive government and the earmarks of ideal statehood. Earth is far from the realization of these exalted ideals, but the civilized races have made a beginning -- mankind is on the march toward higher evolutionary destinies.