Posted: Apr 17, 2016 4:29 am
tuco wrote:There is no satisfactory answer to the 'ought to' question.
Such question implies existence of goal and means to fulfil such goal. In case of politics, relating to citizens literally, I have doubts about existence of both. Observing that for action there is reaction and how stuff interacts in global world, it seems pragmatic to relate to citizens. In a universe where only single entity exists, there is no interaction, no consequences, no relation, and no politics.
What I find interesting is how diverse groups and individuals can relate to citizens according to own abilities with relation to collective needs.
Devotion to a particular political program just helps to fill a gap left by the absent god. People who haven't dropped their belief in gods show that god is not nearly enough, often by being even more interested in politics than atheists are. You can see the feedback loop developing, the way fanaticism breeds fanaticism, and it helps to explain why a few atheists here and there have their panic attacks about politics.