Universal Panacea

BushCheney prescribes democracy for all that ills the world. Democracy will make us SAFE! and has been a mantra for much of his crusade in the middle east, even if it was a secondary or tertiary reason and even if it doesn’t quite work out as promised. In fact, it hasn’t worked at all. I have something better. Unlike BushCheney, mine is real, simple and actually works: freedom of information, access for ALL about ALL matters. Give the people accurate and complete information, they will make good choices when democratic opportunities arise. So many decisions and ideas are the product of ignorance and fear that changing the dynamic, allowing people to actually know about the events, people and institutions that affect their lives will lessen conflict and promote cooperation to the benefit of all.

Information is power, which makes it dangerous and valuable. That’s why throughout history governments and, more recently, corporations have always tried to control information. In war, keeping secrets protects the strategy. At other times, limiting information offers advantage and creates opportunities for control. If people are free to inquire and understand, they will act wisely, with complete respect for all others. That’s why information is dangerous; people may not act in ways that serve me or my group. If I limit and control their information, they will willingly follow me even at their own expense. I will have an advantage. That’s what it’s all about now, about who controls what we know and understand.

Like BushCheney, I claim a universal truth for my idea: Freedom of information will always lead to The Good. All will be happy and secure when all can act on knowledge and not from fear. Unlike BushCheney, I recognize that achieving my ideal is far from immediate and that, like any action, it will create a new reality that may bring new challenges. But the IDEA is so right. It merges both poles of my political conscience, combining the individual freedom of my conservative youth with the empowered citizen of my liberal consciousness: Free Individuals, choosing their lives.

In the scheme of things, fully informed people would be more able to meet their needs for survival and beyond. They would more readily build their lives and societies to achieve the higher as well as basic human needs. Informed, knowledgeable people could do this because they would know what they are doing, not driven to act from fear. For me, no idea is more appealing.

Getting to full information for all is no mean task. Major barriers include government, corporations, churches political parties and myriad interest groups, all claiming to have the truth, all providing only information that serves their own interests. Education and literacy, essential for acquiring, understanding and evaluating information, are limited for many, rendering them less able to exercise their freedom. Poverty also circumscribes freedom; the struggle for survival leaves little energy for other pursuits. All these things render full information for all unlikely any time soon.

Unlikely, yes but not impossible. Definitely important. Simple, even. Full information can be achieved in steps, big ones where possible but in small ones, too. The goal will always push for more access, more distribution and more education so that all can use information wisely. BushCheney’s universal panacea, democracy, is far more cumbersome. It requires institutions, organizations, cooperation and coordination, not to mention information. Democracy is a matter of tradition and culture, not always amenable to constructive influence from outsiders. Democracy has a way of producing uneven results, an Iranian-influenced Iraq, a Hamas-controlled Palestine, for example.

Information is much simpler. Like water, information spreads wherever it is allowed. By eliminating all restrictions on information, on what people can access, read and think, we provide the basic tool of free individuals who know how to think and choose. We don’t need to create constitutions and restructure governments, we simply need to remove the barriers to the free flow of information and peoples’ ability to use that information. They will invent institutions to support their freedom and security. Other nations, including America, have done the same.

Ronald Reagan famously challenged Mikhail Gorbachev to “Tear down that wall.” Gorbachev’s reforms did, indeed, destroy longstanding barriers. At the dawn of the 21st century another wall keeps the world in bondage: ignorance and fear. It’s not a new wall but the world has new tools to tear this wall down.

Free information for free individuals. That’s my Universal Panacea (tm). I’ll match it against BushCheney’s any day.


postscript

This was inspired by an article about the internet’s ability to challenge the control of information in China. The article presents both the opportunity for free information and the challenges posed by controlling authorities. It was part of a series about information in China. Links to the other articles are in the story. I thought it was particularly interesting that the fired editor was able to circulate information quickly under the censors’ radar long enough to achieve widespread circulation. A similar event occurred in Maryland where a student’s emailed questions about the value of a Peace Studies elective generated a massive discussion. In both cases the internet opened systems that where otherwise closed so that people could know and discuss. That’s a good step.