THE WEAKEST LINK
Each of us is a link in the
chain of humanity. At times, it can seem a tug of war as
one is pulled in one direction or another by the other
links in the chain. A chain is only as strong as the
weakest link. When undo stress is put on the weakest
link, the chain breaks.
Why aren't all links equally strong? What causes one link
to be stronger than another? Is it the chain itself which
keeps some links from becoming strong? What purpose does
a chain provide? The chains we are likely to come in
contact with in our lives were all made by mankind. Is
the purpose of a chain to lock something up? Is a strong
chain better than a weaker chain?
In a "democratic" belief system where the
majority rules, any minority belief system which exists
within the society is without voice. Thus, the society as
a whole might seem cohesive, but this might not actually
be the case from the point of view of any minority
member.
If ones political system was subject to votes where
decisions were made only when there was unanimity, then
the overriding belief system would be subject to, and
only as strong as the most aberrant belief. What's more,
it would take too long to make decisions.
However, in a society where every person can vote, but
where the majority rules, society is not limited to the
weakest link, but to the common link. In other words, the
common belief rules. This common link may not be in a
position to have and/or understand all the information
necessary to make the best decision. In other words, some
of the links being left out of the chain may be the
strongest ones. What's worse is that a minority of
powerful, or wealthy, links who control the media can
"brainwash" the majority of common voters
through advertising propaganda in order to get them to
vote exactly as they please. Ironically, most politicians
today are millionaires, hardly representative of their
constituents.
When the common link rules, then the expert, most
educated, and most intelligent of the links are also
excluded for they too, are a minority. To solve this
problem, many countries have created a representational
democracy, or republic. Theoretically, voting the expert
links into office will allow them to be the real links in
the chain, making decisions for the "common
good". In such a system, the fringes, minorities,
and different links have never had a voice because they
are not the majority, nor have any among them been
elected as representatives of the common good. Why would
they? They don't speak for the majority!
Unrest and dissent amongst minority groups has created a
resurgence in the rise of another type of government,
another type of chain, an oligopoly. Basically, links are
mandated into the chain to represent members of the
neglected minority groups. For instance, in the Supreme
Court of America, a minority judge is usually replaced
"unofficially" with another minority judge. The
idea is that if representation reflects society at large,
all of society will believe in the system. The new system
assumes expert links can be found or created from all
minority groups, and theoretically it does exclude the
majority links that would be elected otherwise. This type
of "affirmative action" brings a form of
equality and equilibrium to a system that would otherwise
exclude minority groups.
All in all, God loves variety. Variety is natural. Look
at the various plants in nature. See how beautiful it is
when the entire system is at equilibrium. Although
individually different, the plants live in peace and
usually actually benefit from their differences. Just as
we can make alloys from mixing metals which are stronger
than any single metal individually, many cultures can
work together for the greater good and celebrate each
others freedom and individuality as long as it does not
compromise essentials. In order to achieve this, each
member of each culture must be able to maintain his or
her identity within that culture and each culture must
respect each other culture and the overall governing
system. In such a system, no one will care about which
link in the chain is the weakest because we will be able
to do away with chains altogether.
