Here's a two-part song about communication ethics. Note: this isn't modern day interpretations of liberalism and republicanism. Hopefully my song explains further. LYRICS: I wanna tell you about liberalism. It's all about economic and personal freedom. John Locke was influenced by this. He was an empiricist meaning knowledge comes from one's own experience. He was opposed to authoritarianism. He didn't like the monarchy slash paternalism. Call him crazy, but he preferred reason, didn't blindly accept the opinions of the authorities. But there was another guy named John Stuart Mill. He believed the government should only police the public realm. He talked about the public versus the individual. Things like religion were individual and you kept it to yourself. Our third president, Thomas Jefferson, was a great liberal philosopher and an anti-federalist. He thought that government could not create liberty but it could sure as hell violate it. He had no tolerance for large national debt in a letter to Madison he wrote extensively about that. And you can argue that such small government beliefs led to the modern day Republican Party. That's a consequence that I see, at least. If I was to sum liberalism up I'd say it's all about the individual - that's what the emphasis is on. But that's not the only way to think. I'm gonna tell you about another belief. Republicanism. Republicanism. The public good over the individual. The public good over the individual. An obligation to participate. We all have duties inside our communities' gates. Republicans want strong middle classes. They don't want rich assholes. A modern day example of this is mandatory military service. Organ donation. Even immigration. But critics have some huge hesitations. If all we care about is the general will, the individual is dead. Something to be concerned with. That's something to be concerned with. If all we care about is the general will, then the individual is dead. Something to be concerned with. That's something to be concerned with. The public good over the individual - how far should we go? Are you somewhere in the middle? Are you somewhere in the middle? It's Republicanism, baby... Some liberals believe bad characters are formed by bad communities. But you gotta ask yourself. But you gotta ask yourself: without a concern for the masses, do we become obsessed with small, stupid stories and become dumbasses? Virtue and morality, security, leisure time, citizenship, and duty, focusing on the community - these are Republican themes. If all we care about is the general will, then the individual is dead. Something to be concerned with. Something to be concerned with. If all we care about is the general will, then the individual is dead. Something to be concerned with. Something to be concerned with. The public good over the individual - how far should we go? The public good over the individual - how far should we go? Are you somewhere in the middle? Are you somewhere in the middle?

• published: 13 May 2011
• views: 1221