In my previous report from here in the sixth republic I mentioned the advantages we have in having additional data unknown to any of the previous republics. We have another advantage as well. The first republic was informed by the thinkers and philosophers available to them, from antiquity up to Hobbes, Rousseau, and Locke. In the centuries since, more work has been done, and in the sixth republic we are also informed by many later thinkers, including Camus, the Simones (Weil and de Beauvoir), Arendt, Marx, and more.
I have referred to the scum, and contrasted them to the real world people of the sixth republic. The term is my own; a more politic term comes from de Beauvoir: sub-men. These comprise the population that relocated to the southern rim of what was the fourth republic. We do attend to them and their activities, as even de Beauvoir recognized that they were dangerous: “In lynchings, in pogroms, in all the great bloody movements organized by the fanaticism of seriousness and passion, movements where there is no risk, those who do the actual dirty work are recruited from among the sub-men.”
It is awareness of multiple dimensions of thought, and various approaches to ethics and societies that formed (and continues to form) the commitment of sixth republic citizens to the work of embodying conscious choice and mindful awareness personally, in order that the emergent systems of a society that we decide we prefer can be maintained.
Because our society exists in an age of intercommunication, another characteristic of the sixth republic that would seem alien to anyone from the predecessor republics — and still seems alien to some in the world today. That is the republic’s virtual characteristic. One is not a citizen of the sixth republic because of physical location, although that can be the case. Citizenship can be entirely separated from location, as long as there is active participation.
It is participation that most characterizes the sixth republic, and every aspect of our founding framework emphasizes that. Citizenship is a choice, not just once but continually. With the choice comes both benefits and responsibilities. I will elaborate on those in my next report. the symiliptic link is not always possible, so I cannot say when my next report can arrive.
