Common Peloponnesian Sense

Since we have started this class, I have been very interested in how knowledge has been acquired and manipulated in order for one to grow in power.  It would seem like he who knows the most holds the power, hence our allegiance to and dependence on God.  But what else do we know about power? As the  Latter-Day Saint Prophet Joseph Smith wrote in the 121st Section of the Doctrine and Covenants in 1839:

"We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion." (Doctrine and Covenant 121:39)


I did a little research to see how this principle is true in the case of Ancient Greece, the supposed birthplace of democracy.  Using analyses of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War, I will demonstrate how through the manipulation of social conventions, mainly language and religion, the overarching political and social structures collapse.

As I began my research of this topic, I remembered some of the authors from which my American Heritage course extracted its concepts.  I specifically remember reading Founding Father Tom Paine's famous pro-independence pamphlet Common Sense (1776).  In there, he states:

"Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness;
the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections,
the latter negatively by restraining our vices.
The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions."

Society, also know as the polis, according to Tom Paine, is based on the unification of the wants of the people reflected through several conventions, including religion, language, cultural identity, etc.; while government seeks to put controls on said conventions and wants.  Do we often feel like our conventions are being controlled? Have you ever heard of the argument between church and state? What about a debate for a nationally approved and enforced language?  In Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War, several histories are written to portray the epic downfall of the ancient Greek democratic order, destroyed by anarchy in response to the manipulations of power. One analysis of this topic states:

"Even while conventions are artificially constructed out of the need for collective-preservation, its principles are of paramount importance for functionality against the constant tension caused by primary human nature and the lust for power." (http://professornerdster.com/2009/10/15/contemporary-analysis-of-thucydides-history-of-the-peloponnesian-war/)

These conventions, however artificial they may seem, keep a society together.  We have studied as a class the effects of oral language on the transmission of knowledge.  Oral language and other similar conventions are aggregative, conservative, agonistic, and empathetic.  When these social conventions are manipulated, say by law, they become the sources for the anarchy of the society and the downfall of government.  We control these conventions.  These conventions define us.  

How can we best preserve our current social conventions? How does the government seek to control these today?