The Phoenix Manifesto (Deluxe)

III. Respect the Established Authority

Romans 13:1 - "Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God."

In the news these days, all we see is the most previous act our president did. Whether it be good or bad, our country seems to be absorbed in politics. Most people enjoy to be involved in politics, for being involved in community events and news is a good thing to keep in touch with. There are also those people who ignore the current events, because they are so flooded with political events. Politics seems to either bring people closer together or tear them apart. We see this division in politics everyday between our own people. The Greek word for politics is "Politiká" meaning "affairs of the cities". Too many times we see politicians focusing on themselves and money more than the people of these "cities" they are being entrusted with. In political campaigns, we see people who make promises to the people to improve all these conditions, but when they take office, we see their priorities elsewhere. This expectation versus reality that we experience in politics is how people get so aggravated with politics. This causes them to have away with the thought that whoever is on office will fail to meet his/her promises, and will continue to drag the city/state/country down. Politicians are only human, and perhaps we should all keep an open mind to new political strategy and ways of change to further improve our society.

In today's society, we see younger people heavily involved in politics. This is not a problem, but it does present a new aspect to politics. With our youth involved, the politicians attempt to appease to the youth, being the future of America, or to the adults and people of age that fully understand what these political matters actually mean. Politicians are trusted with the responsibility to make sound decisions regarding their "city" all while meeting the expectations of the youth. The opinions of the youth may not matter to the politicians now, but they will when they are grown and making political decisions for themselves. With the youth more involved in politics than ever, it often gets dragged down to the standards and expectations of our youth. This normally would not be an issue, but when the political strategy also goes down to an adolescent level, it makes it look like our politicians are making decisions targeted toward the youth than for the people it actually affects. This is what has become known as "surface level politics".

This idea spawned when people who should not be involved in political affairs, get themselves involved in political affairs. It gets to the point where the common person is being involved in making political decisions. This is not a problem, for the people vote on who to elect in office and on things of the sort, so the people should be educated on these matters. The problem arises when hurt people make decisions based on how they feel. Often times, these decisions affect a body of people when only one solution for that person is necessary. Personal matters should not affect political decisions, especially when the solution we come up with, only helps the people that struggle with that specific problem. As soon as people see that everybody's wants are being met, people expect the same for them. When this does not happen, people feel as if their own people are turning against them. They feel like the government has a bias towards a specific group of people when, in reality, that is not the case. Then, the government gets dragged down to deal with everyday people problems, when they should be dealing with bigger "city" problems. The people are competent enough to deal with problems themselves, this is also why we have city mayors and other city officials. Now, we see people who should not be involved in politics, involved. They get themselves involves, because see they can get their way if they complain enough to the authorities about it. Because politics has been dragged down by people, it is no longer taken as serious as it once was, like during the times of 9/11, for example.

While politics is on the ground, many people take advantage of this and attempt to get their needs met while the people that politics are supposed to handle fall completely apart. This is why we see America currently in a state of confusion, division, and chaos. Politicians are not able to do their job, because people are bringing the federal government into their personal lives. The appropriate way to handle this would be to turn to the people necessary to handle community problems, while higher politicians deal with higher problems that deal with state and country. People count on the wrong people for the wrong problems. Our perspective on the authorities is misplaced, which is how we seem to drag it down to our personal level. We expect state governors to deal with individual community problems, when we have mayors that deal with these specific areas. Our governors should be dealing with state problems and ways to improve the state life and economy as a whole. If this involves dealing with individual communities, than we must do what is necessary. It is important to look to the right people to do their jobs correctly. Most of the time, our politicians are doing their jobs, but we see them as enemies because they are not meeting our individual needs. Maybe it isn't their job to deal with individual needs, but to deal with community or corporate needs. People should be expected to do their job to the best of their ability. If this includes ignoring individual problems to deal with problems on a larger scale, than it is necessary to put them aside. People have to learn to deal with their own problems themselves. A community is capable to deal with problems, they just can not seem to find the solution. Some communities have quarterly meetings, where the people of that community gather together and propose any problems and solutions that they may have. When communities are unable to do this, it adds a tension, because people have nowhere to turn for their problems except for the local authorities. Instead of painting the picture of a careless government, we should expect them to do their jobs, and respect them for continuing to do their jobs. Complaining about who is in office and what they do helps absolutely no one. It is best that we have our own political views, but complaining solves nothing. When the people fall apart, the blame goes to the authorities that watch over them. It is like when a babysitter is watching a child and the child gets hurt. Although the child may have hurt themselves because of their own stupidity, the blame falls on the babysitter. We can safely conclude that complaining about our government and tearing each other apart because of problems with simple solutions, is a pursuit of futility that only results in things worsening for the community. The government is to be respected and seen as the authoritative voice in America. Many people do not agree with what is going on, and they get no response. This is because responding to individual needs is not their job! Responding to the needs of their "city" is what they are being paid to do. The community should be trusted and able to deal with problems that they have amongst themselves.