2004-04-17 - 1:38 p.m.

A little lightbulb just went off in my head.

To run a government, basically to be responsible for the organization and function of a vast body of people and resources, requires common sense. It requires logic. (I was pondering on the idea of the 'first mathematician' trying to convince people that if you just read all the steps she wrote down on her piece of parchment, and understood them all, that you would HAVE to arrive at the same conclusion as her. She had mathematically proved something, made an inescapable fact of it truth. And this got me thinking to "the logical thing to do" spoken by La Guardia (sp?) in his speech about reforming the government's actions to represent the will of the people. What he said was "The logical thing to do, under our form of government, is to abolish laws cannot be enforced, and which the people do not want enforced". That got me thinking, which lead to this entry.

To run a government requires logic. That's good, because something being logical means it makes sense. You see examples of a logical principle in your every day life. It's not hard to find or something you really need to search for.

Then I got thinking on how religions aren't logical. Religions are about believing in a god or gods or the need for some greater force at work in the universe. Some people insist there is a greater force at work, a force that makes us alive - as if the beauty of our existence, of our multiplying, unfolding possibilities - could be a playback of a grand universal recording, experienced vicariously at the whim of a superbeing.

Religions are props. Fall-back plans for when there is no better explanation. When you get a tough question you can't answer, it's easy to act like you really know all about what's going on. You can feel really good and secure if you know that all the tough questions are already answered, all the really tough work is already done. You don't need to worry about the big picture, daddy will take care of everything, you just live in your sphere and worship your better(s).

Religions spurn logic. They defy it in the first place by asserting wild events as established fact, then going on to discuss these fantastic ideas as simple known quantities that needn't be questioned at all, even when they are applied directly to your life in order to shape your activities and mold who you are.

What happens when a religious government gets in charge then? Government not using logic? That's kind of scary.

What about when religious people decide to arm themselves and form a band of warriors for justice? When they steadily pump money into their arsenal, meeting regularly and planning how to make their assault on the unsuspecting enemy, appearing at their door when they least expect it, nailing them when their guard is down: "would you like some magazines?". Or maybe a tract. Onward Christian soldier.

Religious ideas are a force all to themselves. They tide through populations like a tsunami swells through an ocean's basin. The myriad people who make them up flow with the social forces involved in the group, tossed chaotically, caught in the current. Their whole mantra is just to go along, not question, stick together, so they are tightly cohesive, but their overall direction is questionable. Where is it coming from, if not their leaders? But their flesh leaders, I mean. Humans are notoriously weak and corrupt.

When a huge tide of people follow a few leaders unquestioningly, and pour money and power into those leader's hands, and offer assurances that they will stand behind that leader's actions no matter what, that really scares me.

Governments need logic and common sense. What happens when the leaders of a country spurn logic daily? What happens when their very base of personal security is that some fantastical superbeing is their prime protector, and that their own actions are insignificant in the big picture?

I'm thinking living in a really remote area on a subsistance basis is a really good idea right about now. Get a little bit of wind power in there with the solar panels, and some free run chickens that don't have to have their beaks removed or crazy antibiotic or hormone injections given to them.

I'll still have an internet connection, though. The changes the internet is bringing are my only biggest hope for a bright future. Let's all communicate on the issues, please :)

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