Political Philosophy

Political philosophy is the study and interpretation of existing governing bodies and norms which dictate society.  In other words, looking at a form of government and answering questions such as 'is this government needed?' 'To whom does this government apply?' 'Who is benefitting from the way this government operates?' etc. By picking apart questions such as these, we are able to gain a more wholesome understanding of why not only our government is set up the way that it is, but how it works today.  I think it is our duty as citizens under one government to understand the way that our political sphere functions, so that we know our rights and responsibilities, and how to carry them out in the event that they are being oppressed. If we do not understand why our government functions the way that it does, or know how to change the things we dislike about it, then we are blindly throwing our faith into something that is an anomaly to us, and accepting whatever decisions it bestow upon us. By reading the works of political philosophers, we understand the thought process which was followed by hundreds to get to the point we as a society have arrived at today. This is important because it allows us to not only understand how our governing bodies function, but why they have developed in a certain way. Perhaps we may look at a given system such as communism and think, 'gee, that sounds fair. We should use that here.' But when looking back over history at countries that have used communism, we see how they ended up and can view all of the flaws in the system. Suddenly the person who was thinking it was a better system understands why Americas government doesn't strictly follow one social system. Politics, according to wikipedia,  is defined as 'a term that is applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments.' As we better understand how the government is structured and how it functions, we are better able to make decisions on how to shape and mold it to fit the needs of the world today.