Sunday, August 23, 2009

Legum Servi Sumus Ut Liberi Esse Possimus-Cicero


Frustrated about the direction of the political status quo and its players made me think of something I read a long time ago by Cicero, " Legum servi sumus ut liberi esse possimus." This sentence translates into simple words which say-> "We are slaves of the laws in order that we may be able to be free."

The question is are we free because of these laws and if so 'how' free? These sets of laws that we have subjected ourselves to over and over in order to better society as a whole have a HUGE hole in them. There is a feature missing. Something in our modern Democracy and the doctrines it is based on is faulty. Question is why is it taking so long to make Democracy serve its constituents instead of having us 'serve' Democracy's appointed demigods?

Does being a slave to the laws set before us in order to protect society at large really free us? If it does why are we in servitude then to these laws and who is it we serve: ourselves or the leaders that have have passed them?

I sense that the ones being primarily served under these structures are the ones the laws benefit the most - the elite. It seems that if there is no benefit to the hierarchy certain laws would not be passed.

But what do I know ?