I would like to take the time spent on this blog post to reflect on the war going on overseas about Russia wanting to take over Ukraine. First, my heart breaks for the Ukraine and I hope that this war ceases soon and the lasting impacts are minimal. The way Vladimir Putin is running Russia had me connect the dots to our discussions in class on what good government is. His rule is kind of the prime example of governments that are extremely dangerous. The dictatorship he has over Russia relates to Hobbes’ proposed form of government. He believed that once a leader was in power, they could never be overthrown by the people. This is almost like the current state of the government in Russia. People can not safely speak out against Putin, and he can not be overthrown or replaced unless he feels as if he wants to step down. Since Vladimir Putin is quite power-hungry, even stating the possibility of him stepping down feels silly. One of the reasons I think he feels the need to be number one and have ultimate power is because he can not be overthrown or challenged. With no one telling him that he is wrong or challenging his thoughts, his ego only gets bigger and he becomes more convinced that everything he does is the best. Unfortunately, this complete self-centeredness has caused him to create a war killing and destroying hundreds of innocent lives. To me, it seems as if he has ordered war just to make himself seem macho and like the alpha. Putin is trying to make a name for himself as one of the great leaders of Russia. He just wants to be remembered as someone who was so powerful. However, he is ruining people, economies, and an entire country along the way. Now, even if Vladimir Putin wanted to end the war, he can’t. That would make him look as if he had failed and his ego has become too big to cope with his citizens viewing him as a “looser”. The thing that scares me is the question of where do we go from here? It doesn’t seem like Russia will cease-fire anytime soon and if they eventually take control of Kyiv, will they try and keep going and take over other countries? I am nervous that nuclear weapons will eventually get involved and the dangers that come with that. Hopefully, the people of Ukraine will stay safe and keep defending their country.

For this blog post, I would like to dive a little deeper into the idea that people are selfish which has come up in discussion quite a bit in class. My personal belief is that it is impossible to be selfless, no matter how good of a person one is. The Oxford dictionary’s  definition of selfish is “(of a person, action, or motive) lacking consideration for others; concerned chiefly with one’s own personal profit or pleasure.” To start off, I think that the notion that selfishness equates to bad is not correct. In order to survive people must be at least a tad bit selfish. Also, even when people do something that appears selfless, they are doing it because they enjoy helping others. This joy that they get is still a personal gain, therefore, they are not fully selfless. The reason I don’t say that everyone is selfish is that selfishness is defined as lacking consideration for others. If someone does a mitzvah because it makes them feel good, is that being selfish? My short answer is no, but based on all the debates this topic has started, we all know it is more complicated than that. Even though the person might be doing the good deed so they can feel as if they are doing good, it is still not selfishness due to the fact that they are still caring for others. The concept of selfishness relating to being a bad person is quite odd. If one thinks about it, back when humans were created, they had to be selfish creatures, or else they would die or get killed or eaten or something else horrible. Now that we have evolved, it is much more complex than that. The idea of being selfish is also relative. If someone who had lots of resources and was quite wealthy never donated anything, they would be thought of as selfish. I would think of them as selfish. If someone who was homeless never donated anything and always made sure they were cared for before anyone else, this wouldn’t be considered selfish but merely an attempt to survive. The difference here is that one lacks care for others whereas the other cannot even care for themselves. But are they both selfish? I would like to state again that selfishness does not equal being a bad person, and this is a perfect example of just that. It would be greedy and immoral for a wealthy person to constantly put themselves first and act selfishly because they already have more than enough to survive. It would make perfect sense for the homeless person to put themselves first as the priority because they barely have enough to keep themselves alive. It wouldn’t make sense for them to give to others when they don’t have enough on their own. All this to say, it is human nature to be selfish, and ultimately, it is what keeps us alive.

I agree with Montesquieu that people are not born violent-seeking beings, but they can learn evil. When put with others, that’s when people get power-hungry, rulers become established, and then war can break out. Locke makes an excellent point in saying, “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.” In agreement with Locke, I think that if one starts to feel that they can never be overthrown, they risk turning into someone extremely evil. A scary example that is currently being presented is with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin who has taken on almost a dictatorship. How the Russian government is set up, Putin basically cannot be forced to leave his seat of power. If people even try and challenge him, he will try and provoke evil because when one is in power for so long, they can lose sight of reality. It is like the point Evie brought up about checks and balances. In order to be a good leader, one must be getting reality checked and hearing ideas that are not their own. 

Personally, I do not agree with Rousseau’s proposed form of government. I think that people are power-hungry and if there is no decided leader, many will try and climb and fight to be rulers, and disaster will occur. I believe that people would try and fight for resources in order to live, there would be an agreement that a leader should be instituted to help ration, and then violence and war would break out over those fighting for a spot as ruler. The real danger, however, is the desire for power. I believe that it is natural for humans to try and be “the alpha” and to find ways to prove their superiority. What’s dangerous is if everyone is freely doing this at once.