I actually just read an article today on the BBC about government views akin to those Burke describes: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7657473.stm.
The article talks about how Americans have essentially been raised to believe that government is inherently bad. We no longer have any trust in the system, and a lot of Americans are for rolling back government involvement in both the public and private sectors. This is exactly what Burke is talking about when he describes people dismissing the state as a mere contract to be ignored at will. The main problem Burke sees with society, and that is so often reflected in our modern times, is the complete lack of respect for the law and tradition. We need society to protect us from the rebellion and illogical nature of anarchy.
Admittedly, Burke goes perhaps a bit too far in describing the government as a natural body laid down by God to improve man's nature. But his point is true enough that we have created the state to protect us from ourselves, to improve from the point at which we started. People seem to have forgotten that we went through a lot of effort to develop the relatively democratized states of the modern world and that to reduce the government would merely be a step in reverse.
2 comments:
so I have to agree with you with the being lost for some of the piece but I too did get the same idea. He makes it sound like by changing or updating a law you are disrespecting your grandmother wich is a little to far out there. He talkes about the government being an unspoken agreement between the dead and not born yet. I like the article good way to bring this into a modern light!
I completely agree with both of you. I was really lost on the reading but I think I got the major idea out of it. I do have some criticisms though, isn't being a part of a liberal society the ability to disagree and disrepect the law? To be able to criticize it ans fight for the injustices that you see? I understand that there is a point at which disrespecting and disobeying the law can connect but it is not always the case.
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