Page 211 - Masters

master

Problems in politics are not
exclusively technical problems,
or problems inherent to power
per se. And because we have
ideals pertaining to what we
want our public life to be like
that there is politics. However,
these ideals have meaning
because they can be found
within the vaster context of
the life of individuals, and they
must respond to the recondite
movements and transformations
that all individuals are privy
to. Thus political ideas rapidly
become ideologies whenever
they are removed from this
broader context. Revolutionary
Marxist movements played out
this very parable, they channelled
ferment and expectations that
were extraneous to politics of the
period into the public arena; but
then they immunised these ideals
from transformation and critique
alike. Liberal democracies have
shown a greater propensity to
welcome change and to pass
this on for political deliberation.
But will these same democracies
be able to comply with the
transformations of the meaning
of individual lives? Or don’t
they also risk fixing an image of
society to the detriment of the
plurality of visions and mdels of
life and living?

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masters of today