Democracy in America. Put me down for the entire mind-wipe!
Who cares what he/she thinks?
“Hence it is chiefly in war that nations desire, and frequently need, to increase the powers of the central government. All men of military genius are fond of centralization, which increases their strength; and all men of centralizing genius are fond of war, which compels nations to combine all their powers in the hands of the government. Thus, the democratic tendency which leads men unceasingly to multiply the privileges of the state, and to circumscribe the rights of private persons, is much more rapid and constant amongst those democratic nations which are exposed by their position to great and frequent wars, than amongst all others.”
“I have shown how the dread of disturbance and the love of well-being insensibly lead democratic nations to increase the functions of central government, as the only power which appears to be intrinsically sufficiently strong, enlightened, and secure to protect them from anarchy. I would now add, that all the particular circumstances which tend to make the state of a democratic community agitated and precarious, enhance this general propensity, and lead private persons more and more to sacrifice their rights to their tranquility.”
“Our contemporaries are constantly excited by two conflicting passions; they want to be led, and they wish to remain free: as they cannot destroy either the one or the other of these contrary propensities, they strive to satisfy them both at once. They devise the sole, tutelary, and all-powerful form of government but elected by the people.
Every man allows himself to be put in leading-strings because he sees that it is not a person or a class of persons but the people at large, who hold the end of his chain.”
Alexis de Tocqueville
Assuming in principle, that it’s one day feasible to erase memories with drugs or other technological intervention, does an individual have the right to erase his or her own recollection of the past? The recent past only? The distant past only? An entire mind-wipe?
For me, the ideal for a workable social contract in a free society protects not only the "us" of a like-minded community, but also the otherwise self-contained "bad guys" who may be off in a corner cussing and throwing sand in their own sand box. A true democratic state (or if we can ever hope, a globe), has got to make better room for the "unsavory," the "distasteful," the "immoral," etc. So long as the perceived enemy is only swearing blue and kicking sand in his own eyes, in his own space and not casting shadows, there’s little at issue. Other than allowing the aspersions of his neighbors gossiping at his "offensive" behavior, "filthy" language, maybe even his "smelly" cigars, we should have no say whatsoever in what he does with his own life. The bandwagon of the self-righteous always seems to have room for one more person’s morality forced on another. It’s not enough to be seeped in postmodernity, I’d like to live in post-morality —— where we could each civilly despise each other, and agree that that’s ok. In my opinion, any paternalism that gets our government involved in trying to oversee the lives of its private citizens is a serious overreach of power.
Wrye Sententia