Values and Political Structures
Driving Forces: Values and Political Structures
For the world to advance, humankind must learn that survival is more than a primal instinct. With few exceptions humans form and establish tribal collections bonded together through common geography, common culture, common needs and common aspirations. True, there may be aspects of community interests that not all members of the population accept or support, but to prosper a community recognizes that structure, order, authority and common pursuits are necessary societal achievements.
Common culture and common interests are products of community values. As populations develop internally values expand and increase. Broader values engage larger numbers of the overall population while increased values raises expectations for the population’s behavior - and achievement.
Communities are also shaped by environment, experience and genetic variances. Nomadic communities living within the constraints of the desert are certainly different from those inhabiting the coastal ranges abundant with fresh water and food sources. The political structure within communities varies as well, although leadership has common characteristics forged towards maintaining order, authority, control and the population’s survival. The stronger members of the population lead. At one end of the spectrum, oligarchies are headed by either a small group of individuals acting as council or by a family whose responsibility it is to lead the remainder. At the opposite end of the spectrum, democracy depends upon the wisdom of the community at large to elect its leadership.
The quality of leadership and the contributions individuals make to the advancement of a community lies solely within those who serve. We’ve learned all too well within our own democracy, too many elected representatives have greater interests in protecting their positions and being reelected than they have in accepting the difficult obligations and responsibilities leadership requires.
To strengthen Nevada’s communities, we must continuously work to broaden and increase our values so that everyone within the population benefits – not just a few. Our values should focus on improving our quality-of-life and living in concert with the natural constraints the Mojave Desert and the Great Basin regions contain. We should work for building a more diverse economy demanding highly educated community populations, and we should uncover and identify leadership capable of shepherding this state through all of the necessary changes that will make Nevada’s future sustainable in every regard.
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