The Republic and Political Scientists

By trade, I am labeled a "political scientist." I am currently teaching a course labeled "public policy." In one book I am using, as is typical of political scientists, the author can write about "politics" without once mentioning what politics is actually about - guaranteeing the rule, the power of the people. So it has been since Aristotle wrote a long, long time ago in his book, The Politics. Unlike Aristotle, political scientists these days argue that politics is all about or should be about "solving problems," problems like "health care," like "Afghanistan," like "the Middle East," like "terror," like "drugs," etc., etc., etc. Of course, this approach serves the interests of the Oligarchy, the Establishment, because it distracts the people from their own dis-empowerment. Moreover, it also reinforces the Oligarchy's power by representing "politics" as "policy-making," which should be done by "the experts." And then, when the problems are not solved - as they cannot be because they are not "problems" at all - the myth of the futility of politics and politicians is reinforced. And, slowly, the republic dies. Even now this is happening with the help of a black man as President. Ironic given that blacks should, more than others, know that politics is not futile, that politics is the key to guaranteeing that "government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth."