Politics: Societies version of plato's cave?

Hello again chaps, chapeeses, gentle persons, boys & girls and people of planet earth. So yours truly is still in the midst of cataloguing the older blogs. this one is a bit of a list on the political stuff I wrote back during the election year in the uk, and some comments on the election and action of the 45th president of the USA. Whatever you political persuasion and colour of allegiance, one thing that my study of the political process has taught me is that conversation and difficult one at that , are at the heart of progress. So we need to leave "offence" and "accusation" at the door and welcome in "discourse" and "deliberation" to reach our end goals of living together peacefully in disagreement. So here is a short list of links and topics: Uncharted waters Is a comment on the Scottish devolution question and the implications post Brexit. Allied to which are some comments on the political models and thoughts of the older philosophers. I think it was Socrates who suggested democracies get the leaders they deserve, a comment no doubt on the uneducated eventually electing their peers. (it does occur that the reverse of this would be elitism - perhaps?)

Theresa May rose to lead the conservative and in this article I examined a little bit of a parallel between her political rise and a business phenomenon known as the "Peter principle" Other wise competent managers sometimes get promoted out of their depth and when one contrasts the style of the two major party leaders this certainly give rise to some interesting observations.

After a slew of terror attacks in the uk I penned Cause and effect, the clarity of thought about the perils of a knee jerk blame culture and vilifying an entire faith for the extreme action of a few in the name a wider group who dont share their views. As we have moved through the time since this article we seem to be seeing more of this extremist rhetoric from an extremely un nerving source, namely the USA President. The USA is moving closer to a theocratic nation is not a full theocracy.

Funnily enough this correclates with the blog on The eventual hung parliament which you can find here. It would see that democracy and liberal history of tolerance was being sacrificed for short term political expediency. a type ofgovernemtn we had seen before, Namely in the chamberlain years. Now if that aint scary I dunno what is. On the subject of the 45th president, well what can I say he is rich view of political comment. although after a while I tired fo trying to keep up with his idiocy. A rock and a hard place deals with the special relationship. The blank page was a case in point when 45 unveiled his non muslim - muslim ban. I and many others just stared in amazement at the lack of awareness demonstrated by this guy in arguably the most powerful office in the world. Laughs and legalities had some humour and a bit of common sense to offer on the Brexit curfuffle.

Other comments of the general state of America around this time can be found in The trump card, A week is an long time (in politics) Peace in our time, Wisdom truth and knowledge and an apology on armistice day Perhaps it is fitting. that the last link in this long list of political comment is entitled Socrates, Confucius and Buddha A long comment on the propensity of people to assume false levels of knowledge about those who disagree with them and globalise those assumptions into something akin to a character which they then attempt to assassinate. Phew so thats it. Stubbornly optimistic itself still exists (obviously) and you can of course link to the whole thing here but it became so big and the tags so wide ranging that the whole thing does need a spring clean ... (now theres a project.) Having spent the evening re tracing my own philosophical, political and intellectual footprints it's become apparent just how much I did write. It's intriguing when you read your own words after a gap of some months or years and ask "do I still agree with me?" As Tim Minchin famously said, "Be hard on your opinions, beliefs and prejudices. Take them out onto the veranda and hit them with a cricket bat. Or alternatively write them all in a blog and read them years later. I heartily recommend it. Sarah@stubbornlyoptimistic.me