Lord Acton, best known for his comments on the corrupting influence of power, also wrote that "Every institution tends to fail by an excess of its own basic principle." A sobering thought. Why is this? How do we see it? Can anything be done? And what are the lessons for us, here and now?
Look at our own democratic institutions. We have a Congress that has been designed to be free and open to anyone of proper age and US citizenship, and able to garner a majority of votes in their particular district. That has gradually been subverted into a Congress where seats are exceptionally safe for incumbents, and the ability to raise the huge amounts of money needed to challenge an incumbent has largely become a barrier to all but the wealthiest of independents. Democracy thus becomes twisted into an instrument for the purchase of access, and thereby, influence.
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Those who have sought to reduce the influence of that money have run into a surprising obstacle - the interpretation by the courts of the US Constitution to equate money with free speech. How has this state of affairs come about? Federal court judges are appointed by the President, and confirmed by the Senate. With the increasingly partisan atmosphere in Washington, the Federal bench is seen not only as a place to reward the faithful, but as a place to post like-minded partisans who are presumed to be safely in hand should a critical question come before them. With such subversion of the supposedly impartial rule of law for ends of interest, the very future of our intended open form of government falls into question. And it has come about through the means intended to produce the very openness now imperiled by the perversion of those means.
Churches are another place where like-mindedness is rewarded, and thus not only encouraged, but reinforced. Meant originally as a place where those who felt much the same about their place in life and the universe could gather in safety to share those feelings and worship as they chose, most religious institutions are now focused instead on reinforcing their own particular view not only within their walls, but at the expense of those who differ in their worldviews. Thus, we are treated to the spectacles of political Christianism here in the US and abroad, the imposition or attempted imposition of Sharia in Muslim societies, and the bloody and violent strife that occurs where differing faiths touch borders. As an aside, perhaps the only fundamentalists I do not a priori distrust are Buddhists - for, the more they adhere to the fundamental bases of their faith, the quieter and more detached they seem to become!
Even many well-meant nonprofits, both here and overseas, have morphed from structures meant to address a particular ill or problem into something quite different - an organization that draws its lifeblood from the very existence of the trouble it was set in place to resolve.
Down this road can lie utter cynicism.
How to forestall such a fate? Can we ever rely on the things of our own making to do what they are intended to, and no more, or no different?
We are imperfect humans. We can not "self-proof" our creations. Or as someone once put it, "Every time I think I've fool-proofed something, a better class of fool comes along!" The way to protect these well-founded institutions is constant vigilance and ruthless self-awareness. Sadly, it is a quality we as a species do not seem to possess in abundance. Yet try we must. I do not care to live in a world where the alternative is the presumed normal state of affairs.