The Principles of Modern Governments
The underlying principle of what makes a modern government is the balancing of power.
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A necessary and often sufficient condition for a people to advance is having a modern government.
What makes a government a modern functioning government verse the archaean governments so pervasive across written history? What keeps a government from becoming a device for one human to oppress and subjugate others for their own benefit? The answer is simple . . . the holding of power in check, so no individual or group is able to wheedle power in an arbitrary and capricious manner to control the lives of individuals. Power is divided up between branches of the government, then a system of tensions, what is often called checks and balances, connects those branches so power is maintained in balance to one and another.
This principle is best demonstrated by a model of a tensegrity structure, a structure held together strictly by the tensions of strings acting against each other, there being no physically connections between any of the members. As seen in the figure, the three sticks have a network of strings connecting their ends to each other in such a manner that each stick is held in place by the tensions on another stick. You can clearly see this network on tension strings and how they are connect to hold the tensegrity structure together. If you were to look directly down from the top you would see there was no connections between the sticks, just open space.
Looking at the top end of the red stick, you see two strings going out to the top ends of the white and blue sticks that keep the red stick in place. Then there are another two strings going down to the bottom ends of the blue and white sticks, that pulls those two sticks upwards and holds them up. The same set of strings is on the end of each stick, the net result is a self standing, self supporting structure all because of these tensions.
This same dependence on tensions to make a government self standing is the guiding principle of modern governments. This was recognized by our founding fathers, who deliberately built a network of tensions, what they called a system of ˈchecks and balancesˈ that prevented individuals and groups from gleaning power to control others. This system of government, designed by committee, has proved remarkably resilient and an effective way to govern the American people, and in the process make remarkable strides envied by the world. Countless people look at our and other free western governments, and yearn to have a modern government of their own. For the most part, no one wants an archaean government . . . for only those wanting to use a government for their personal gain of control and dominance over others want an archaean government.
The above illustration shows this system of tensions in operation where the left panel shows a tensegrity structure, able to stand upright without any external support, simply by the tensions of all those strings. The small panel on the lower right shows a pair of scissors about to cut tension strings while the upper panel on the right shows the structure after cutting of just a couple of those strings . . . the structure instantly collapse into a heap of sticks and thread. With just the loss of some of the tension, the structure is no longer able to remain erect.
The three ˈsticksˈ of our government are the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches. The network of tensions is defined and created by our Constitution. In over two hundred years, this modern government has successfully weather a number of storms, bringing its people to the world we now know today. Problems that our forefathers could never have dreamed of let alone anticipated in designing a modern government have been successfully addressed by the system of government. Such is the remarkable achievement of men so long ago.
A fourth tension in actual governments is the Fourth Estate. The news media, both electronic and print, serves a very important function in keeping a modern government functional, in maintaining the tensions between the other three sticks in a modern government. The principle function for the Fourth Estate is to root out and expose corruption within the government, which in turn keeps those ‘strings’ of tension tight, thereby keeping the structure intact and erect. That’s why a political group bent on converting a modern government into an archaean government, with its oppression and abuse of their people, will first subjugate the free press. By controlling the Fourth Estate, they are then free to practice the acts of corruption needed to subjugate the population and its institutions. They are able to break those tension members between the branches of government, thereby allowing them to use the branches against each other to subjugate all the branches bringing the government under their control.
Totalitarian states always start with gaining control over the press, thus giving them the keys to gain power.
Now lets explore the failure of our Federal Government as a modern government, since it is so integral and the center to addressing the obsolete problem of Americans.
Federal Government Failure | Examples of Failures | Fourth Estate | Mass Media | Solution - the Four Amendments | Help with Funding