Democracy and Moral Influence - Of Ants and Men

Ants do not know of danger, or fear. We humans are blessed (or is it cursed?) with knowledge beyond limit that ants do not have. But knowledge creates responsibility, accenting our duty to others, while failure opens the door to guilt and the fear which raises barriers, leading to dislike, to hatred, to cruelty.

We are far from emulating the ants in any of our human, fear-traumatised environments. How then can we hope for successful global government and harmony in the world?

There’s no doubt that fear destroys empathy, resulting in various arrangements for self defence – politically, socially, from family to friends to factions to parties to nations, to empires – and personally, in diverse religions.
Yet it is true that in all of these defensive arrangements, relationships fall over, basically through selfishness. The laws and rules of dogmatic religion, designed to keep selfishness in order all tend to failure, as avoidance of conflict becomes a selfish end in itself.
Now faith, whatever its basis, is the opposite, and is a hopeful product of experiences created by received love (whatever its origin), giving empathy and inspiration. (By far the greatest inspiration of all is the cross of Jesus which calls us to a faith in the love of God and to a death of self).
Love begets love, breaking down barriers with positive thinking and solutions to problems. Individually, the reach of love varies enormously, according to individual inspiration and faith. For most it is the family. For a few, with a deep faith, it is the world, with many in between. We can each be part of the problem or part of the solution, as we are inspired, or not.
Politically, all democracies are bedevilled by the structures of political power which defeat democracy’s moral influence, killing its empathetic equality of power and political opportunity for all citizens. Power structures create fears of disadvantage and loss in an adversarial system which, instead of empathy, creates hostility.
A healthy start was made with elections by the secret ballot, in 1856, which has enabled the appointment of governments with greater fairness and much reduced violence, but selfishness and fear still stand in the way of honest, popular government, with the unethical influences or factions, parties and other powerful minorities.
Only the extension of the controlling influence of the ballot into all government decision-making can ease the fears that divide and antagonise. If we can win the democratic battle at the state and national levels there can be hope for the world. The question is: Can we, will we?