Without Reference to Time

We are interested in living well. We look-over new ways. New seems good. We sometimes seem uncertain of the distinction between new and good. We sometime come near to equating the new with the good. It seems the new car is better than the old car, the new TV better than the old one. We general believe that new things are better than old things. We sometimes go a step further and believe that new ideas are better than old ideas. We seem to believe that ideas which appeared earlier are inferior to those which cam more recently.

We know that things and ideas are not the same. We may not be clear about the difference between them, even though we may feel their natures differ. With little thought we know that a TV set tends to ware-out from use, whereas democracy stops functioning from lack of use. We may know that the TV is in the living room, but have difficulty locating democracy. Democracy is an idea that moves and lives in as mind. When the ideas central to democracy are not stirring and moving in mind, democracy diminishes. An idea acting in the mind of man does not ware-out as does a TV. That idea may stay good so long as it is active.

An idea may be good no matter what its age.