From Government to Politics: Liberation and Redistribution of Time

Liberation is just liberation from necessity and implies government; freedom is the possibility of redistributing our time and is the result of politics.

The reading of Hannah Arendt, particularly The Human Condition, brought to me a completely new understanding of “politics” and “freedom” and, what is even more important now, the need to distinguish between “government” and “politics”: “government” being related mostly to necessity and “politics” mostly to freedom.

The relationship between government and politics lies in the fact that without the first –i.e. without controlling, managing and putting limits to necessity- a political sphere cannot emerge or be conserved. The term “government” is used here in its broadest and most primary sense: the activity of ruling. It can be referred to the “government of a city or a state” or to the “government of oneself”, and includes several other cases of rule and administration by one over a certain group such as the “government of a University” by its President or Rector or the “government of a family” by the head or heads of family –the use the Latin “patria potestas” to designate the bundle of prerogatives and responsibilities that parents have over their children expresses very clearly what I mean. Whenever we find someone who gives orders and someone who obeys there is “government”: it is a factual not a legal or political issue.

My point is that government in this broad sense is an inherent feature of the human species –and probably of most animal species- directly linked to the genetic drive towards survival. In this sense, government can be explained as mostly concerned with reproduction: originally, “reproduction of life” that has become historically “reproduction of any given system”. Since many social systems are somehow connected, in the last instance, with the basic aim of reproduction of life, this can be considered a main feature of government in general. Government is, therefore, necessary in order to put limits to necessity.

Another main feature of government is the monopoly of violence: the possibility to punish, chastise, correct or discipline is inherent to any governmental phenomenon. In the last instance, ruling over someone implies the right of life or death: slavery in the Ancient times is based on this assumption and capital punishment is the modern state’s expression of it. Finally, government implies a categorical distinction between those who govern and those who are governed.

As for politics, it is defined precisely by the opposite features: politics has to do with what is unnecessary and is incompatible with phylopsichia, i.e. an excessive love of Life, which in Ancient Greece was connected with cowardice. Politics is based on speech and discourse and excludes the use of violence, what explains the fact that Athenian citizens condemned to death were “persuaded” to commit suicide instead of being executed by the polis.  And, thirdly, politics takes place among equals, i.e.: is incompatible with the distinction between rulers and ruled ones.

The situation of our contemporary society from the viewpoint of government and necessity can be characterised very simply: more production and more consumption go hand in hand with more scarcity, more necessity and, therefore, more need of government. Social inequality adds to this. Paradoxically, humankind, considered from an evolutionist point of view, is a successful species since reproduction and growth seem guaranteed. My point is: what is our individual and collective destiny if growth and reproduction alone are our driving forces? Are we really teleological beings? We are trapped in an economy of consumption based on the permanent creation of new needs.

These observations about the market society take me back to my argument: government is strictly necessary in every society. However, there is a trade off between government and political freedom. Politics depends on our ability to keep government and the economy limited in scope. The challenge is to establish an economic system –i.e., a production/consumption system- which encompasses reproduction of Life and quality of life for all. The possibility of politics and of political freedom –but also of creativity, contemplation, gaiety, love,…- lies in our collective capacity to keep an effective economy that satisfies needs instead of expanding them artificially. Government, not state government but the thick network of government centers -private and public, communal or whatsoever- should be responsible of managing and keeping the economy within its scope and limits.