"Good News" - Political Issues

[BST]

Religion and Politics - 2 of the most divisive issues amongst us.

Well, let's see if we can turn the tables a bit.

I'm asking for folks to submit stories where the Political system was used, in the way intended by our forefathers, for the betterment of society.

These stories can be from any jurisdiction - national, state/provincial, county, or city/town/village.

Let's see what GOOD NEWS we can spread.

The prize - a warm heart. :)

BST

[Eric Paddon]

An appropriate topic for me to make my 1000th post in.

Having taught my students the other night about the general story of the framing of the US Constitution, I impress upon them how the story of our Constitution coming together represents the most fascinating story in Western Civilization of how the American experience transformed the world. Consider that before the United States existed, there were no republic forms of government anywhere in the world. This was because monarchy was considered to be the oldest, most natural form of government and this attitude was shaped by the obvious failures of Greek city-state republics and the Roman Republic. They worked when they governed over a small community but as they took on size, the demands required of them necessitated casting aside republicanism in favor of powerful leaders like Alexander The Great and Julius Caesar.

So when James Madison drew up the Constitution he in effect challenged 2000 years of thinking: He said that a republic CAN work for a large nation and that a system can be created to respect the rights of majority and minority in it, and that productive results can be accomplished. America could be a test case to the rest of the world by succeeding where no one else had done so before.

And 200 plus years later, we no longer think of monarchy as the most natural form of government, and the fact that America succeeded in bucking 2000 plus years of history is for me, the greatest reason why that is today the case. Society as a whole was thus bettered by the simple act of what the men in 1787 were willing to try, and because we have endured as a stable nation ever since, even through calamities such as the Civil War, we continue to be an example in that regard.

[Senmut]

Being of Scots descent, I include the following, since it was an action undertaken by the British Crown, and therefore political.
I think of the Anglican missionaries, sent out from England in the 18th and 19th Centuries, to places such as Africa. Now, before anyone decries the "evils of Colonialism and Imperialism", and yes, since the Church of England is the established state Church of that country it isw also a political entity by default, I wish to point out that once significant numbers had been converted, and sizeable Xtian communities established, one thing that diminished was intertribal warfare, and cannabalism. In many "primitive" parts of the world, such actions have continued since time immemorial, with tribes fighting for land, water, women, pride, or victims to either enslave, sacrifice, or eat. Much the same occurred in India, with the outlawing of sutee. or the burning alive of a man's widow on his funeral pyre. While no enterprise is perfect, the fact that millions gave up a life-style rooted in an endless cycle of slaughter, enslavement, and other horrors is a testament to the positive effects of what was as much a political as a religious act.