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On Election Day
The proper purpose of democracy is not to find the right answer (for that we should appoint experts) but to allow each individual to participate in their own government. It is a way of preserving freedom or self-rule (autonomy) as a community. The will of the people will often choose badly, just as people will often make bad choices in how they govern their own lives. But since this was a free choice, and our purpose was to preserve freedom, this is not a failure. Democracy does not fail when it chooses badly: it fails when people do not choose.
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Out of the Pit
Rousseau says we cannot complain that God does not drag us out of the pit because He has given us everything we need to not fall into it in the first place; but the philosopher has also been given everything they need to drag themselves out!
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Nature, Society, and Government
Society is necessary for human beings to overcome the difficulties of nature. Society ameliorates some of these difficulties but adds an entirely new set of difficulties. Government is necessary to overcome the difficulties of society. Government ameliorates some these difficulties but adds an entirely new set of difficulties. We are always adding to our difficulties with difficulties of our own making. This explains why it’s true to say that people run to society to escape the evils of nature, but run to nature to escape the evils of society. ‘We are everywhere in chains!’, says the pessimist.
An experiment with philosophy as a way of life
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