People are more important than politics

It would seem in an age after the Enlightenment, most human beings, specifically society’s leaders, would understand the responsibilities, duties and restraints necessary in wielding political power.

From legislatures to dictators, all political power is derived from people and has to be used for the people accordingly. After all, the Greek roots of politics means “of, for or relating to citizens.”  

A few hundred years ago, it was revolutionary to consider government for the people and by the people a good thing; today, it’s supposed to be a given. But sometimes politicians forget this inherent relationship and make politics bigger than people when really it should always be the people who are more important than the politics.

Unfortunately, sometimes political scientists and uppity political nerds like myself get caught up in ideological fantasies and lose sight of the practical and real-life application of politics.

We envision a society nearly free of all fallacies and try to apply these ideas to reality. And as much as I would like the world to be perfect, it is common knowledge that there is no way it can be.

The reality is that people make up a diverse tapestry that can never be captured with one ideology. Academic efforts to theorize a perfect political order fail to capture perfection. Thus, instead of utopias blossoming from academic insight, we have seen the creation of monstrous dystopias (North Korea), the application of inhumane policy (genocide in Darfur) and the subjugation of people (freedoms in China).

Ideologies are important inspirations for political decisions but cannot be the sole reasoning behind decision making. It is important to realize that the fallacies of the free market cannot be fixed from a purely capitalist idealism, or else the United States wouldn’t have such a wide inequality gap, a poor environmental record or a history of economic crashes.

It is important to realize when applying communism in the former Soviet Union to realize its purpose was to create a classless, equal society, when in fact it did just the opposite, suppressing political freedoms. In these situations, politics can sometimes overshadow the people it is actually meant to serve. It is during these situations that the darkest times in history have occurred.

When arguing on ideological grounds, it’s important to realize the disconnect between reality and ideology. Reality cannot be perfect like ideology aims to be. What truly matters is the outcome of politics in reality and how people are affected. People are the means and the ends in politics and must be respected as such.

People must remain more important than political games. Let me put it simply. People should never die because of politics.

As an example of this, the revolution occurring in Libya is facing a violent crackdown from Moammar Gadhafi. The personality cult that is the government of Libya has suppressed the human rights of its citizens for more than 40 years.

The people have decided to take the momentum of the Jasmine Revolution to end the atrocities. Unfortunately, more than 6,000 revolutionaries have been killed by Gadhafi. In the end, what practical good will come from murdering innocent citizens for expressing their opinions? A simple political victory for Gadhafi is obviously a poor use of politics.

Observers of decision makers must realize the primary motivation for policy cannot be their own or a higher ideology they prescribe to but the welfare of the people they are making decisions for.

The primary goal of politics is not to front an idea or apply a political theory but to make the best reality for all people. People should never be political sacrifices. Instead, politics must be the sacrificial grounds for the people.


E-mail: mdshowal@indiana.edu