Government and the Society It Serves: The Difference Between Waiting for Political Decisions and Making Them

By Jean Pasquali

The book deals with the relationship of the citizen with his (her) government. Concentrates on those aspects that are troublesome, as indicated by the citizens' opinions and complaints, and on those that are critical for the improvement and stability of society. These include: Family structure, education, productivity and innovation, designation of

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mentation Publications
• Release date: Apr 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9780990351139

Book preview

GOVERNMENT AND THE SOCIETY IT SERVES

The Difference between Waiting For Political Decisions And Making Them

Jean Pasquali

2014

MENTATION PUBLICATIONS

Arvada, Colorado

Published by Mentation Publications

http://www.MentationPublications.com

Copyright © 2014 by Jean Pasquali

All rights reserved. No part of this document can be reproduced by any means without the expressed written consent of the author

Cover design by Daniel Ramon Bisque

Published in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in Publication Data

ISBN-13: 978-0-9903511-0-8

Pasquali, Jean, 2014, Government and the society it serves: The difference between waiting for political decisions and making them: Arvada, Colorado, Mentation Publications, v2, 284 p.

CONTENTS

Dedication

Prologue

About the Author

About the Book

Introduction

The Need of a Government

Establishing a Government

A Voyage to Ancient Greece

The Constitution

Government Positions

Education

Summary

Opinions and Complaints

Opinions

Complaints

Critical Areas

Responsibility and Size of Government

Inequality

Mining Industry

Another Critical Area

Family Structure

Education

The Educational System

Investment in Education

The Duration of Change

Happiness

Productivity and Innovation

Introduction

Government and Private Sector

Negative Factors for Productivity

A Good Innovation

Designation of Magistrates

Position Types

National Assembly

General Assembly of a State Company

Executive Director of a Governorship

Political Parties

Introduction

Representation of Political Parties

Information of Each Political Party

Other Influential Organizations

The Military

Introduction

Military Instruction

The Size of the Armed Forces

The Use of Physical Force

The Constitution

Introduction

Spiritual Alliance

Principles

Organization of Powers

Executive Power

Legislative Power

The Judiciary

Supreme Court

Judges

Electoral power

Citizens’ Power

Constitutional Notes

National Assembly

Budgets

Federal or Central Bank

Honoring Contracts

Creation of New Ministries

Government and Opposition

Copy of the Constitution

The Citizen

Introduction

Preparation of Citizen

Citizens’ Functions

Organization of Citizens

Citizens’ Vigilance System

Effective Union of Citizens

Personal Security

Social Honesty Law

Leadership in a Democracy

Epilogue

References

Figure 1. Government’s styles seen at night

Table 1. Health care costs

Table 2. Educational costs

Table 3. Representation of political parties

Table 4. Fraction of citizens in political parties

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to common citizens of all countries, especially to those in dear need for a better future for themselves and their society.

This book may be useful:

1. If you are completely satisfied with your government, it will show how exceptional you are.

2. If your government needs repair, you will find ways to attempt it.

3. If you are not sure if your government, or any other one, needs some fixing, it will help you to check it out.

4. If you find Politics boring, it will help you make sure that is really the case.

5. If you need some help deciding which candidate best represents your interests, you may not get any help at all, but it may still be entertaining reading.

Guiding thoughts:

Experience, knowledge and ability of a nation are not concentrated in government; they are dispersed through society in general.

Free communication is essential to the existence of citizens’ power.

Two are capable to tie down a third

PROLOGUE

Men might as well be imprisoned, as excluded from the means of earning their bread.

John Stuart Mill

About the Author

Why should you read this book? It is mostly about you, human nature, and your needs for a better government. You will recognize yourself, your problems, your feelings and your reactions to past and present situations. You may find evidence that will make you feel satisfied with your government and, probably, also to wish for some changes.

The book is also about me. I found myself in a country with great economic and social problems, accompanied by a very high crime rate, that have transformed society into an environment that has lost most of the advantages for which it exists.

What is a citizen to do that may contribute to the solution of a problem that, at any one time, is orders of magnitude larger than the capacity of one individual? Mentation is what seems to be useful and safe.

I have always found helpful and entertaining to learn something about the authors of the books I was about to read, even when their biographic data did not seem to be relevant to their content. To fill that requisite for the reader, I was born in southern France in 1938 from Italian parents. The Second World War made enemies of France and Italy; although my parents remembered and told me only good things about their stay in France. We returned to Italy when I was 18-month old and starting to speak French. My father was called to military service and became a soldier in the health division of the Italian army.

Because Italy, after the war, was economically not a good place to be, my father immigrated to Venezuela, where foreigners were welcome and where work opportunities were plentiful. My mother and I soon followed; there were not brothers or sisters.

I enjoyed everything about Venezuela, all was new and the social environment friendly and relaxed. In a few months I had no doubts that I was where I belonged. I did well in school and felt attracted by activities that had to do with the outdoors like geology, mining, and exploration of any kind. In secondary school I was exposed to a lot of political discussions that had to be done under cover since the dictatorship of the times did not approve of them. I was well aware of them, but I did not take an active part. I felt that it was not a matter for people of my age; it could have been dangerous.

I started my university studies at the Faculty of Engineering of the Universidad Central de Venezuela with the support of my family and a scholarship from Shell Oil Company. The following year I was granted a full scholarship to study in the United States. At the Colorado School of Mines I graduated as a Geological Engineer in 1960. That year I married. I also went on for a M. Sc. in Geochemistry and graduated in 1962.

I returned to Venezuela in 1962 to work for Shell Oil as a field engineer in the Maracaibo Basin. Although I felt deeply grateful to Shell, the routine of the job and an uncomfortable technical, scientific, and human relations environment at the field camp prompted me to look for an academic position. I won the first place of a nation-wide opposition contest for the position of Instructor in General Chemistry at the Faculty of Sciences of the Universidad Central de Venezuela (UCV).

At that time the Venezuelan government launched a regional geologic exploration for the extensive area along the border with British Guyana. This exploration was related to the forthcoming independence of that colony and an old territorial border dispute. The Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons (MMH) asked UCV to give me a leave of absence because they needed an exploration geochemist for that project. At the moment I was the only Venezuelan geochemist. The leave of absence lasted a few years, until I returned part time to the teaching and research position.

During my period at the MMH I was granted a scholarship by that organization and earned a Ph. D. from the Colorado School of Mines in 1972. I also became a member of the National Commission of Nuclear Matters of Venezuela where I represented the MMH. Later, I held the position of Head of the Raw Materials Division of the executive branch of that Commission which was in charge of the national uranium exploration program.

When nuclear energy lost much of its appeal, I returned full time to the UCV where I taught several subjects in Geology, Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry, and did research mostly related to the regional geochemical prospecting of the Guyana Shield of southern Venezuela. These activities allowed me to have extensive contact with many people of very different positions within society. This in turn gave me the opportunity to store an ample cross section of opinions on several subjects, including government and politics; which I consider a treasure.

In 1995 I administratively retired from the UCV, but went on teaching and doing research mainly through the direction of undergraduate and graduate theses. In the same period I participated in a joint exploration venture with a US private company and did some consulting for the research unit of the national oil company PDVSA.

My feelings associated with the national situation indicated above can be summarized by a mixture of them. On one side, I perceived a decline of unity and brotherhood in a society whose members used to be friendly, would freely express their problems, and would not hesitate to ask for aid or to offer it if the need was detected; the seeding and cultivation of resentment and pugnacity between social groups; and a constant bombardment of insults and accusations by some people in power, done without presenting evidence or pressing formal charges. I was not prepared to feel so much sadness for such a long time.

On the other side, I feel a profound gratitude for all that society has offered and given me; also the spiritual need to contribute to the design of an alternative that would have the qualities needed by its citizens to achieve their ideals of life. This has implied research on the meaning of society, the function of government, and the structures that may promote good governments and preserve good societies.

In this journey, I convinced myself that most governments―please note that I passed from one situation of a country to many situations of many countries―can be substantially improved by similar adjustments in the power distribution within each society. If this tale should have some truth, it would be unfair to keep it to myself.

This book describes that journey and its results. It hopefully will aid the reader to analyze his or her own government and society, wherever they may be.

About the Book

My interest in this subject has its origin on the observation that politics is probably the theme humans have invested or are investing more time than any other, except for sleep and work. One could imagine that in all that time dedicated to politics, most if not all political problems would have been solved by now. It has not happened that way, not only have they not been solved, they are essentially the same, as they were described in detail by Aristotle, with the inclusion of their causes and possible solutions, about 2,300 years ago.

In all those years, especially in the last few centuries, an astounding number of scientific and technological advances have taken place and it is expected that they will keep coming at an increasing rate. Man has gained the control of energy in such a way that it has allowed the transformation of natural materials into a great variety of products without the dominant use of his muscular power or that of his domesticated assistants. The capacity for an effective and almost instantaneous communication among millions of people is one of those advances. With it comes the possibility to inform, discuss and reach agreements and decisions, which was previously only possible among a very limited number of people. In politics, that very small number of people has been made up or is being made up by those who governed or those who govern. It does not seem possible that, under the new conditions, important political changes in the structure of governments will not occur.

This book, that has been preceded by similar English and Spanish printed versions (Pasquali, 2014a; Pasquali, 2014b), in essence explores the ways in which many problems observed in traditional governments could be analyzed and solved through information, discussion and specific actions. This is done through the conformation of a virtual government, that is to say, by outlining a non-existing government that includes the reasoned opinions on what could be done for the good of many societies.

This virtual government is not Utopian. It does not attempt to set up an idealized society that requires the preparation of new humans to populate it, nor the destruction of the present organizations, so that new ones may be built, as is frequently predicated by revolutionaries. It is more like a planned, informed and discussed adjustment or repair of a current government, whichever it may be, according to the opinions of the country’s citizens, in an orderly process of improvement.

The book is intended for the commons, to which I belong. The commons, here, is a general term which includes all the people of each country as stakeholders with equal interest in all its political resources. Those that freely exchange opinions with friends, acquaintances, people that have not been previously met, at reunions, on fishing trips, at the barber shop or beauty salon, etc. where so many conversations end up with expressions such as: How is it that government does not see the problem or the solution, if it is so simple? Or is it that they do see the problem but do not care to resolve it for political reasons?

It is not my intention to convince anyone of anything. I just wish to express my opinions with the hope that they will be discussed, attacked, supported, replaced, improved on but, especially, be acted upon politically in such a way that it may give the reader and his society more satisfaction and well-being. It is a good idea to use new data and to consider new points of view, to challenge one’s opinions and the opinion of others; nothing but improvement can come of it.

Since the book does not deal with a government in particular but with the structures of government in general, these structures have similar functions but may take different names according to local use. To prevent repeating many names for the same office the name of one office will be followed by and equivalents, especially in the first chapters or when it is deemed useful to make an idea clear; the same is true to indicate the equivalence of gender by the use of he (she) or her (his).

The reader will find that some opinions are not relevant to his government so it may seem unnecessary to mention them. However, each opinion is based on the consideration of real-life situations of some government, but not every government. It also may well be that one opinion or suggestion is deemed pertinent and useful for a reader and his government and not so for another reader with the same government, because of their different experiences or inclinations.

The reader may also feel that in some chapters there is unnecessary detail. This may happen when it is considered that an important opinion, if agreed upon, would lead to a change in government structure or procedure. The specific procedure is then outlined or described in detail to illustrate one way to deal with it; certainly readers will think of alternatives.

It may also be useful to mention that the book does not consider a subject which may turn out to be an important matter to deal with. The book mentions productivity, innovation and competition among countries as factors that are important for the decrease of poverty and its effects on the well-being of people. What is not considered in the book is the possible influence of the suggested productivity on the global environment, since it will be accompanied by the increased use of natural resources, as has been presented by many authors (Hardin, 1968; Bollier and Helfrich, 2012; Deriu, 2012; Moriarty and Honnery, 2012; Trainer, 2012; Bartlett, 2004; and others).

It is my duty and my pleasure to acknowledge the input and encouragement by many people. Their opinions and critical comments were enlightening and influential. I would be at a loss to mention even a fraction of them.

I am particularly indebted and grateful to those that agreed to receive a first version of the text, or see me through the editing, they are: Daniel Bisque, Ramon Bisque, Rodolfo José Cárdenas, Brian Crisp, Donald Goddard and Héctor López. Their observations gave me perspective and humility. Yet, all errors, imperfections or lack of clarity are all mine.

The front cover of the book merits an explanation. The conical or round structure with palm-leaf roof was taken by the author at Arawaña, a small community of less than 100 people on the margin of the Caura River of southern Venezuela. It is the meeting place for the inhabitants of that community which live in rectangular houses; it also serves as housing for visitors and as the place where the musical instruments are kept. It is a symbol of democratic government, hospitality and culture.

INTRODUCTION

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.

Plato

Speaking about government is one the most entrenched human habits. It is a pastime that easily generates enthusiasm, entertainment, friends, enemies, adversaries, allies and the dissemination of information and opinions. Its frequency and intensity seems to grow with age and with the disapproval of the population with its government.

The result of these conversations is commonly to pass the time, where rarely people change their opinions or advance them to constructive action. This is unfortunate since quantitatively time and energies invested are large. I think that it would be possible that the ideas that have been generated could be examined and evaluated, especially in those cases where the government under consideration has demonstrated little ability to reach solutions to old or new problems.

My interest in