Inspired by Thucydides.
Excerpt from a lecture I gave last week:
Recently, I have seen a lot of posts about what the government should or shouldn’t be doing. The question I want to consider today is what is the role of government? Being in Thucydides’ The Peloponnesian War, I figure it is a good place to start this conversation. Sparta saw the role of government is to protects the city’s way of life. They had a culture that they wanted to protect, and war was the only way they saw to protect it. Athens is interesting to consider. Athens, while wanting to protect itself, also worked to advance themselves. This led to the conflict. Sparta accused Athens of being imperialistic, forcing itself onto neighboring city-states for Athens’ own gain.
From our time in Plato, who is slightly after Thucydides, it was the common understanding that government’s role was for protection from enemies without and within. Government’s job is to protects it citizens from foreign and domestic threats. It was all in a pursuit of justice.
Hundreds of thousands of people died because of the ideologies of these two city-states. Are either of them right? Are either of them wrong? We have 2500ish years of history to judge them by. Yet I don’t think the answer is cut and dry or easy to make. The mere fact that so many people died, it would be really easy to say that both or one of them is wrong for fighting. They both should have sought a peaceful resolution. War is always wrong. Too many innocent lives lost strictly for money and power. Sparta could have let Athens take over. They wouldn’t have been that bad of rulers. Athens didn’t need to be so greedy. It really could have gone either way.
This idea works well on many levels. Keep the peace no matter what. The question is always going to come up though: what about rulers like Hitler, Stalin, or Mussolini? Interesting that history has 3 of the worst rulers for their own people at the same time. What would the world have looked like it everyone just sought for peace? Fewer people would have died. Once these leaders died themselves, more than likely, the predecessor would do a better job. I mean, it is hard to do worse than any of them. The world would probably be united by now. Doesn’t sound all that bad. The world would have only lost between 1 and 192 countries.
As Americans, we really don’t like this idea. Americans don’t roll over. We stand firm. Rulers are finite though. Bad things from bad men can only happen for so long. We only have a lifetime anyways. This is where the Stoic philosophy is helpful. We are responsible for our response to what is happening to us. We are not responsible for what other people do.
The flip side of this is if they are both right. Is it good for governments to stand up for their people? One of the first roles of government is the protection of its people from themselves and those outside of it. This is why the families united together for the first place. So let’s say that it is good to protect themselves from those who would hurt you. Sparta and Athens are both then right. Life is worth losing over the protection of your loved ones and your way of life. The strong are right. Might then equals right. They are both promoting their way of life. Cultures are in conflict, so there must be a fight. The one that is strongest is going to win out in the end. The victor gets to write the histories.
As crass as this sounds, this is how history has worked. This is how every government today functions no matter how it talks in the media. Everyone is looking out primarily for themselves as a country or its bureaucrats. Otherwise, there will be no country for long. Without the guarding of one’s culture, that culture is sure to die out or be conquered. We can talk about ideal situations all day long, but this is reality.
Today, this reality is called into question. The US was wrong for conquering the natives. Slavery was wrong, and reparations are due. You know what, the way the US handled the natives was wrong. They cheated a people out of their land. They should have been more honest in their conquering of the people. Fight or don’t. If you make a deal, stick with it. Slavery is the worst thing that a people did to themselves. The vast majority of slaves were sold by Africans. The way that they were treated after the fact is wrong. People are burning in hell for their treatment of their fellow man. I don’t know a single slave currently (though I know it still happens in remote parts of the world). If I knew of it in America, I would fight to free them. Just as I can’t do anything about how my native ancestors were treated, I can’t do anything about how slaves were treated. All one can do now is to help them move on in life. As an individual, I am uniquely gifted with the ability to help my fellow man. If I know of a problem, and I can do something about it. I would say that I am morally obligated to do something about it. I do not have a moral obligation to help those that I don’t know. Because I don’t know them. This is the reasoning behind government helping people. I know that there are problems in the world, and someone should take care of them, but not me. The government should. Looking through history, this has never been the role of government. Government can’t help someone they don’t know. Because they won’t know how to help them. This is where community comes in. Government should seek to make a strong people and allow them to help themselves. Make everyone prosperous and get out of the way. This is what Athens was trying to do. They were seeking to make themselves better to then share with those around them. Sparta didn’t want that kind of help though. They wanted to build strong people, not weak boy-lovers, as 300 says.
So, how is a Christian supposed to respond to this? We are told to live at peace with every man as far as it depends on you. I think it is actually the key. Funny how God takes care of things for us here. Living at peace with someone does not make you a doormat. It rather makes you differentiated. I know who I am. You know who you are. We can live with each other. Depending on how different or similar that we are will dictate how close we are in our lives. I can live with friends and family who share what I believe, and I can live with radicalized Muslims. One I am going to invite to my kid’s birthday party, the other I want to stay on their side of the fence. I can be at peace with both of them though.
The problems arise when someone thinks that they can force their ideologies upon me when they have no authority to do so. Athens and Sparta had no authority over each other, so when one’s ideologies felt threatened, they put up walls, metaphorical and physical. The walls were not respected, so war happened. Violence, as untidy and terrible as it is, is a necessary part of political life. Matthew 5:5, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (ESV). Meekness is strength under control. One must be capable of great violence while having it under control. They are the ones who are to rule.
Once we have the kingdom, we should seek to help all those that we know about. We should seek to bless the world. this is what I want you to take away from Thucydides, to know the political roles of government and how you are to respond as a citizen. If you aren’t in leadership, encourage the leaders that are around you. Be a voice for what is right. Be the one who will speak up in the town square.