Blacknad asks:
"Who decided that was bad?"

Good question. And there are a number of possible choices.

1. A supreme being ... the one you are angling for.
2. A dictator or emporer who "is" the law
3. A hereditary heir who "is" the law
4. A legislative body chosen by the people
5. The people themselves by consensus
6. Each of us as individuals.

Each has its pluses and each its negatives.

#1 fails because of the simple fact that the supreme being seems to demand either #2 or #3 to tell us what it meant as it is too incompetent to communicate directly.

Which takes us to #2 or #3 all of which, over time, have proven beyond reasonable dispute Lord Acton's saying: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

#4 Is what is currently present in most Western nations and seems to work reasonably well.

#5 Worked in ancient Greece but unless technology intercedes seems unworkable with large modern populations.

#6 Has the blessing that in any given situation at least one person will always be happy ... and the curse that that one person may be the only one.

So having reviewed the possibilities we are left with #4 or #5 as the best we've seen before but we must also acknowledge that they only work well when those elected/selected and those electing them are well educated and have been taught a moral and ethical compass by which to evaluate their actions.

Of course the religious nuts all want to claim ownership of that compass and the right to spin it but that really just takes us back to #2 or #3 so to answer your question Blacknad ... I suggest, in fact I urge you and others, to read the writings of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Washington especially with respect to Cincinnatus and just about anything Thomas Jefferson ever wrote.

Here are a few quotes to help you on your way.

"Government is not reason. Government is not eloquence. It is force. And, like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."
~ George Washington

"As Mankind becomes more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community are
equally entitled to the protections of civil government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations of justice and liberality."
~ George Washington

Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by a difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought to be deprecated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that we should never again see the religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society.
~ George Washington, letter to Edward Newenham, October 20, 1792

I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.
~ George Washington

The foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing is a vice so mean and low that every person of sense and character detests and despises it.
~ George Washington

Do not bite at the bait of pleasure, till you know there is no hook beneath it.
~ Thomas Jefferson

Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.
~ Thomas Jefferson

Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor.
~ Thomas Jefferson

Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.
~ Thomas Jefferson

Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.
~ Thomas Jefferson
... one of my personal favorites

I am mortified to be told that, in the United States of America, the sale of a book can become a subject of inquiry, and of criminal inquiry too.
~ Thomas Jefferson
.. which of course won't stop George Bush

I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature.
~ Thomas Jefferson
(just for you Blacknad)

I have recently been examining all the known superstitions of the world, and do not find in our particular superstition (Christianity) one redeeming feature. They are all alike founded on fables and mythology.
~ Thomas Jefferson
.. there's one for Christian Conservatives to choke on

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it.
~ Thomas Jefferson

In every country and every age, the priest had been hostile to Liberty.
~ Thomas Jefferson

In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.
~ Thomas Jefferson

It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God.
~ Thomas Jefferson

Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.
~ Thomas Jefferson

And there are hundreds if not thousands more where these came from.


DA Morgan