Reply To: The Federalism of Our Civil Society

[Anonymous]

#1348

There is no answer to this question, only a compromise, arbitrarily set. It is the ancient question on forms of government, going back to Plato.
If we take the federalist route, we gain creativity and flexibility at the expense of cohesion, decisiveness and effectiveness.
If we take the monarchist route, we gain the reverse.

But it may well be that our decision is made for us. We are already a group comprised of traditionalists and right-liberals; Christians and atheists. No one has any real ‘carrot or stick’ to enforce decision-making. No one has any real authority except what is permitted by the group. So an authoritarian structure is not going to work.

But I foresee this will lead to a ‘left slide’ in our group, and will cause divisiveness over time. That is why, before the inaugural meeting of our group, I was extremely desirous of determining the sole uniting cause for our group. In effect, the ’cause’ would become the authority. We went with traditional Christian values. This perhaps is more of feudalism than federalism. But it is my belief that the group needs to have some final defining authority behind it or within it, inside which the members can operate freely.