Brands plucked from the fire

Dumb, Dumber, Dumberer in Washington

Being children of the 18th-century Enlightenment, Americans think the Tree of Liberty will take root anywhere it's given half a chance. We assume that the desire for individual freedom is a natural, universal, cross-cultural human trait. It's the most basic of the "truths we find to be self-evident."  We find representative democracy to be a rational conclusion, based on a foundation of rational argument.

But what if that hinges on a fundamental misconception? What if, in fact, human nature is a skim of rationality, useful for calculation, but floating on an ancient, deep, tidal sea of irrational drives and emotional reactions? In that case, what should we expect most human societies to be like?

Byron