Post
by ZAROVE » Thu Oct 14, 2010 2:09 pm
I can easily Imagine our Society becoming Feudal, though it takes generations for such a transition. All I have to do is look at how Feudalism emerged in the First Place. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire (The East didn’t Fall till 1453) the people need to organise a mean to protect themselves, so the Local Land Holder accepted contractual agreements to provide protection in exchange of services. Over time this evolved into the functional Feudal System.
The only reason Sark was a Unique and tiny example is because Feudalism itself fell out of Favour in the 1300’s, and gradually the Fiefdoms ceased to be over the next 200-300 years. Sarks survival was amazing in that Feudalism should have been extinct in the Western World (But not Japan) by the Close of the 18th Century, but Sark Endured, even though Sark was part of the Crown Holdings of one of the First Ever Monarchies that centralised Power. Henry the 8th actually Centralised England. Its even Stranger when you consider that it was his Daughter and Successor, Elizabeth, who actually created the Sarkian Feudal System. It was a Strange time of partial resurgence, as Virginia was set up on some of the same concepts, though was never actually completely Feudal in nature.
Despite how many think of things, and I didn’t accuse you personally, Governments aren’t Technology. They are more like Fashions. People tend to think of Democracy as a Modern invention that came along to Replace the Monarchies of ld, and Monarchy is outdated. Feudalism would be even more outdated, and Democracy is the latest and greatest feature. Of course, this is wrong and Democracy as a Concept has actually been around just as long and was spoken of buy Ancient Philosophers like Plato and Aristotle.
Its just that the Ideal became Rather Popular in the 18th Century and gradually took over, and now it unthinkable for people to abandon Democracy. They associate it with Freedom and Prosperity, even though there is no evidence that its the only form of Government that allows this and plenty to show that it doesn’t always work.
But as time marches on, new ideas will come along to displace the old ideas, Society will begin to question its underlying assumptions, and things will break down due to economic and social factors, Governmental Philosophies will change, and we’ll wind up as we were of old. Plato said Governments move in Cycles, and Solomon said that what was is, and what will be has already come to pass. We live in a world in which what we do today was done by our ancestors long ago, and what was done by those long ago we see as foolish will be the wisdom of our Grandchildren.
As to Ancidnt Feudalism, I admit that the societies back then weren’t Perfect. However, no society is perfect. Ours isn’t perfect. Also, sometimes its just a mater of perception. We think of some things as Not only not immoral but perfectly acceptable and even expected that would have horrified our Grandparents. Men living with women without marriage is some such thing. In the past this would have been a Great Scandal, but today, its common. Abortion is a hotly debated topic in America and in the UK there are still those of us who are Pro Life, but for the most part the Powers that Be accept it as a Woman’s Fundamental Right over her Reproduction. Well, whose to say that 100 years form now Abortion won’t be seen in the same way we see Slavery? Speaking of Slavery, it wasn’t just within the last 200 years it was abolished, Christendom abolished Slavery in around the 400’s AD. It was then brought back into Fashion around the year 1000. It was then abolished again. Then brought back. Whose to say its gone for good? In a society that operates a Slave Trade, they may even claim it is moral. Just look at the History of the United States of America, who had legal Slavery for 90 or so years after Independence and becoming a Republic. America was also not the Last Republic to Abolish Slavery. America’s Governmental Form is basically the same today as it was then, so it’s not the form of Government that caused Slavery, and the same is true of Feudalism, as some Feudal Kingdoms rejected it.
People can argue for anything. All societies can be criticised form another societies perspective. All of them have problems. But these problems aren’t caused by the forms of Government by and large. One can imagine a Feudal Government that allows Abortion and Same Sex Marriage for example, just as one can easily point to a Democracy that doesn’t allow either of those things. Look at the Republic of Ireland.
Those matters are Cultural and Social and only marginally tied to the Governmental System that a society has.
I’d say the complaints you made, while Valid cultural Criticisms, are still the result of Culture and not Government. If the Feudal System had been abandoned in the Middle Ages, and a modern Democratic State, run on Socialist Ideals established, you still may wind up with Lawyers simply reading the Laws, and the one who read the Longest Law wins. Nothing in Democracy or Socialism prevents that, just as nothing in Feudalism demands it.
I think that its best to understand that no form of Government will solve all our social problems, the point is to create one that facilitates Social Harmony and Development and that promotes Morality, but we should never leave it at just that.
