Hegel's Philosophy of Government and History (1822)
[Problem -- Reaction -- Solution]
Two things may then occur:
· First, the people may either, by a supreme internal effort, dash into fragments this law, which still claims authority, or it may more quietly and slowly effect changes on the yet operative law; which is, however, no longer true morality, but which the mind has already passed beyond.
· Secondly, a people's intelligence and strength may not suffice for this, and it may hold to the lower law; or it may happen that another nation has reached its higher constitution, thereby rising in the scale, and the first gives up its nationality and becomes subject to the other nation.
Therefore, it is of essential importance to know what the true constitution is; for what is in opposition to it has no stability, no truth, and passes away. It has a temporary existence but cannot hold its ground; it has been accepted but cannot secure permanent acceptance; that it must be cast aside, lies in the very nature of the constitution. [Hegel adds: "This insight can be reached through Philosophy alone."]
Revolutions take place in a state without the slightest violence, when the insight becomes universal; institutions, somehow or other, crumble and disappear, as each man agrees to give up his rights.
A government must recognize that the time for this has come; however, should it, to the contrary, knowing not the truth, cling to temporary institutions, taking what — though recognized — is inessential, as a bulwark guarding it from the essential (and the essential is what is contained in the Idea), that government will fall, along with its institutions, before the force of mind.
The breaking up of its government breaks up the nation itself; a new government arises, — or it may be that the government and the inessential retain the upper hand." (end quote)
G. W. F. Hegel (Germany, 1820s)
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In this year, 2020, immersed in the current crisis, there exists the perfect inflection point for our government to go through a "Hegelian" type, internal, philosophical, political, constitutional inventory: Problem - Reaction - Solution. Which way will it go? Are these questions rational or logical? How does the Hegelian paradigm work?
Deep concerns surfaced when I read Hegel and a few others, wondering about survival: will the intelligence and strength of our citizens be sufficient to seek and find their true course, will it become subject to another nation, or could it fall apart in order to make way for a new set of "essential institutions" which rise up and become a new kind of American government?
We all have a lot of time to think about these essential questions right now...
Massive change occurs naturally during holistic, governmental crisis, on the scale we're experiencing in the first half of 2020. Like an earthquake, the global pandemic and economic crisis opened a fracture in the earth and the ground shakes with panic.
This is a philosophical discussion, not just economic speculation, and I'm not making any predictions. The fire is fed by fear, anxiety, and it's ignited by the various media sources fanning the flames. Our culture is not as resilient as the generation forced to fight WWII, and this uncertain interim period lacks the same moral debate of war, because of the mysterious, nebulous, viral enemy. I'm not an economist, nor an epidemiologist, and I realize that this is a complicated scenario; however this is not the rambling of a doomsayer.
Some in the US government are considering huge legislative changes, accompanying large infusions of cash into a broken economy. Chaos in a democracy always allows change-agents, and politicians the opportunity to shoehorn, or tack-on significant deviations from societal norms, while tinkering with the macro-economic challenges of an emergency. We've heard a lot of this already from Democratic candidates for President during the 2019-2020 election cycle.
Congress is negotiating a gigantic fiscal stimulus package on Sunday, March 22, 2020, with sprawling legislation and billions of dollars of support; but what will be embedded inside the bill, and will this be the only one?
If the crisis extends 18-months or more, with total economic meltdown, it reaches into a zone in which capitalism is not designed to work. If government changes course, to a more liberal, socialist, strongly-regulated environment or direction, there are numerous areas where simple changes in the federal laws would bring about generational shifts.
If I were writing on a whiteboard, these would be the areas that come to mind:
- streamlined voting procedures (online and motor-voter laws)
- lessened immigration controls
- tightened gun-control
- internet free speech limited by federal agency
- universal basic income (cash for all)
- expanded welfare state to combat income inequality
- free, or pass/fail online university degrees
- government controlled healthcare (single-payor)
- elimination of electoral college
- criminal justice and "Bail" reform
- green "New Deal" legislation
- significant carbon taxes on fossil fuels
- restriction on oil & gas exploration & production in US
- legalization of many kinds of controlled substances
- de-militarization of federal government
- revised federal sentencing guidelines
- activist federal judiciary (changes in Article III)
- foreign policy/shifting alliances
- increased corporate responsibility via federal taxation
- 21st Century Bill of Rights very different than current one
These are just a few areas (not in any order) where a new government, elected for 2021, enacting numerous changes during a continued societal and economic crisis, spurred on by pandemic and economic collapse, could take advantage of an inflection point or a fork-in-the-road for the American Republic, forcing it to go in a very different direction.
I'm sure there are areas I've not mentioned, or cannot
conceive; I'm not a federal expert, and merely an amateur philosopher. Also,
this is not all-or-nothing, binary thinking; just a few of the zig-zags listed
above could radically change specific sectors. Nevertheless, I'm reminded that
the word "decision" comes from the Latin word dēcīdere literally,
to cut-off; which tells me that these important decisions can have far-reaching
consequences.
In a formal discussion of Hegel's "dialectal" pattern, one might argue even, that current problems facing the US government, give it a unique opportunity to exploit calamity, in order to offer solutions planned long before the current environment, wherein the people react by asking for government help, while giving up certain rights previously held? [Problem - Reaction - Solution - all a part of the plan?]
On the other hand, if Trump is re-elected, and the health contagion were to passover, these essential, "revolutionary" changes would likely not rise up and dominate. The government would stay on the course, probably, as it was from 2017-2020 in Trump's first term. Deep thoughts, as I contemplate which way it will go and what legislative changes could mean?
Predictably, a second term for the 45th President would surely tamp down these potential changes for another decade; retaining the same values that give current institutions the upper hand. The subsequent seven-months will tell how the next generation will run its government; it is a moment of truth which caused me to want to write, and hopefully discuss. At this unique time in history, Hegel came along to prompt the paradigm. Thanks George. ##
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©MarkPillsbury (opinions)
