Issue142 [天下无G]第八次作业

jacanaUID: 2292520

TOPIC: ISSUE142 - "The well-being of a society is enhanced when many of its people question authority."
WORDS: 552          TIME: 0:45:00          DATE: 2007-2-14

Can people's questioning towards authority help the development of the society? Insofar as democratic has been emphasized more than ever, my contention is that, in the politics arena, challenge from the masses surely is a merit to the government.

To begin with, it is people's right to challenge the experts and government. As Thomas Jefferson claimed in the Declaration of Independence (and I paraphrase): People are endowed by the Creator with the right to secure their right. Governments are instituted for people and derived their just power from the consent of the governed. Therefore authorities have the responsibility to listen to their people, absorb their suggestion, and strive for their goodness. When their jobs are not satisfied with the people, the folk certainly can speak it aloud and force the authorities to improve the condition.

All the same, question from people seems unpleasant to government, it has much to be said in its favor. The well-being of society can be promoted by this process, as the government is willing to listen to the people. The US government once had set unfair laws to establish segregation among whites and blacks. As discontent rose, the famous bus boycott movement was carried out to show blacks' anger, which finally convinced the Supreme Court o abolish the laws. Though after the cost of blood and expire from the black, the US government was still a good listener. By their momentous action, the States could at last claim to be the leader of the 'free world' without inviting smirks of disdain and disbelief. If the authority at that time were too stubborn to accept the view from folks, it is possible that today's America would not even exist.   

Conceding that people's questioning does play a key role in improving the society, I nevertheless doubt that by people's discontent along can change anything. The power is in the authorities' hands. Whether a nation can go forwards, it depends the leader on that if they have enough confidence and nerve to absorb people's opinion, and making relevant reform in the next. Though painful to most leaders, it is a must to correctly making use of the power, and becoming a good leader and the same time. Authorities should aware the power of people's suggestion and question, which can threaten their own powers. As on old Chinese saying goes (and I paraphrase): Although water can hold the boat, it can also turn it over. It is exactly the relationship between authorities and the masses. As an illustration, when China is in Qing Dynasty in 1850s, the Qing government refused to take a bounteous source of people's advice that China should learn from the Western. It turns out that the dynasty was eventually overthrown by its people who established a republic China instead. It is a warning for the government who overemphasize their own perception: if they do not want listen to their people, the people probably do want a new government.

To sum up, the relationship between people's question towards authority and the well-being of society is a complex one. However, due to analysis and reasons mentioned above, we can safely draw to the conclusion that people's question is essential for the government, and if the authority is too self-conceited to listen, they will put themselves in a dangerous place.