Democracy is founded on vision to galvanize a people into responsibility. Without a vision, the people perish. Some of that vision is born out of myth.
A myth is something which is accepted to be true. The notion that all men are selfish and rational and that history is progressive is a myth.
An ideology leads people with its theories, based on myth, demands energy and action orientation, whereas philosophy limits itself to explaining. Thus, ideology is an action programme:
1.Something is wrong,
2.an explanation why things are wrong,
3.prescription of a cure ranging from revolutionaries to reformers,
4.organized movement to bring about the cure [substantial reform effort into a political party, or addressing each of them for a broader effect].
I will add another:
5. evaluate effectiveness and make changes in ideology according to what has been learned.
Three stages to an ideology:
1.origin of history – myth
2.theory of the historical process – how we got here
3.favorable termination of the process
Left: extreme, radical, red.
Centre: moderate, liberals.
Right: extreme, reactionary/radical, minimal, blue.
Sometimes we are born into a strict environment that dictates how to think and what to do. Before democracy was born, there was very little room for movement within society. The above model of left, centre and right are still commonly used to describe Candian politics to this day.
Even before the French Revolution, history gave us another democratic model, that of the Ancient Greek City-State.
Modern democracy is still very knew. We fail to realize that we all need to be part of the process to make our society a better place to live and not to slide backwards into a type of selfish anarchy. Do not forget that not so long ago, only people who owned property could vote. Before that, the working class could not obtain the vote. Least we forget, women couldn’t vote either. All these advances are sobotaged with apathy and a belief that we do not have any power.
We get what we envision. What we envision directs our path.
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