I often tell people that I was a poly sci major in college. so it is not like i truly forgot. but i did forget all that i loved about the topic, and why i did well with it. I know that the quality of my education was low, and I did not come out with my political science degree in hand feeling in any way like an expert, but I did enjoy what I did learn.

but then i walked away. and then the Schlurg delved into a lot of the same issues of nation-states and law, and its role in societies, and questions of where law comes from -- but from a more philosophical view, and I didn't feel anywhere near the same passion for the issues that he did, and I kind of shut my mind to it all, and avoided any similar discussions or readings like the plague (because i thought they ruined my marriage, b/c the Schlurg was so invisible to me and mine for the sake of his studies).

Now that I'm in Comparative Law, we're starting off with a lot of political theory literature and scholarship, and i am just LOVING it. The class was introduced as a way to look at how the relationship between a market economy co-exists with democracy, and how we can take the valuable pieces and help a developing (or ravished) country to establish the same.

But I have a hard time reading with the eye toward the international. i find myself scrutinized the underlying idea (that a market economy is a good thing; that competition is the root of an empowered populace), and thinking also about how the ideals set forth in these writings are so far from the truth in the United States. i am looking for what went wrong HERE, and wondering how these things can be fixed while still calling ourselves a capitalist system.

I haven't re-educated myself enough to have any kind of answers or theories, but I find myself devouring the assignments, and ordering books from the library to supplement my understanding of the concepts. For example, one issue I'm tracing to a source cited in the article: - It was stated that a dispersment of power is required for true freedom to flourish, that the more power is concentrated within a single group, the less true freedom of choice, and freedom from coercion, those without the power have. How can you allow for companies and industries to grow and grow and grow -- which a true free market should allow -- at yet avoid a concentration of power? we have not, i do not think.

So uh, yeah. This is kind of fun. It's a good quarter for this to come up, because I do have the time to do supplemental reading, and really pour myself into the paper I'm writing for this class. I'm looking forward to it.

posted by Zuska @ 6:02 PM

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