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2005-01-20 - 4:27 p.m. (Almost) new beginnings Three of the four review days of January�s hell month have been survived. Last package at is Kinko�s. One more day next week. Thank God, I don�t have to lead day four and can take a supporting role. Even better, thanks to Inauguration day and the fact I�m taking my flex day for the first time in three (?) months, I have a four day weekend to try to remember how to live when not stapled to my work. But, because I love irony, I will leave you with this thought for (Re)Inauguration Day. � the diversity of men�s pursuits and activities means that men proceed to their intended objectives in different ways. Therefore man needs someone to direct him towards his end. Now every man is naturally endowed with the light of reason to direction his actions towards his end. If men were intended to live alone as do many animals, there would be no need for anyone to direct him �, since every man would be his own king under God, the highest king, and the light of reason given to him from on high would enable him to act on his own. But man is by nature a political and social animal*. [�skipping some bits about the animal kingdom examples expanding on this thought, cause even I find politics following the insect world a little dull �] When things are ordered to some end, one can proceed in the right and the wrong way. So the government of a group can be carried out in the right way or the wrong way. [� skipping the tangent about what�s right for free men being different from what�s right for slaves, oh the morals of a different era �] If a government is under one man who seeks his own benefit and not the good of those subject to him, the ruler is called a tyrant. This derived from �tyro�, the Greek word for �strength,� because he uses force to oppress the people instead of justice to rule. But if an unjust government is exercised not by one but by more than one, if they are few it is called an oligarchy which means �rule by the few.� In this case a few rich men oppress the people. Such a government differs only in number from a tyranny. An unjust government exercised by the many is called a democracy, that is, �rule by the people,� which occurs when the common people use the force of numbers to oppress the rich. In this case, the whole people acts like a tyrant. - St. Thomas Aquinas De Regimine Principum (The Governance of Rulers), 1265-1267 If you look up the entire essay, St. Thomas and his syllogisms leads you to the conclusion that a king is the best idea, which makes sense when you take your proof examples from either naturalism (early Greek body of knowledge) or the bible (all good Kings and bad Romans). And St. Thomas accomplished all this without fireworks, nine inaugural balls or the need to block hundreds of DC streets using military personnel and police from the breadth of the country to staff it. I�m just sayin� America can do this with less fuss. Under duress, we�ve once managed it on a plane with a bible and a judge. *Oh, a last, a footnote probably no one cares about. That oft used quote �Man is a political animal� really has a broader meaning. �Political animal� (zoon politikon) is translated by St. Thomas following William of Moerbeke�s translation, recognizing that in Greek thought the word political had a broader meaning than in medieval times, and included society and social life as a whole. � � Scribble to Theo previous - next �