The well-being of a society is enhanced when many of its people question authority.Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and s

Thomas Jefferson said that a periodic revolution every twenty years is neccesary for the health of a government. I agree with the above claim and Jefferson to an extent. A society needs to question those in authority because: it holds them accountable, it leads to the emergence of new practices and the development of a society. On the other hand extreme querying of those in authority may lead to instability and is detrimental to the well-being of the society.

Members of a society should question authority because it would prevent the emergence of a dictatorial and authoritarian government. For instance, citizens in the book 1984 by George Orwell may have had it better if they had questioned the actions of their leaders earlier and before they came to accept the propaganda by the government as true. African societies also offer another example why people should question authority. In African societies, people defer to elders and leaders to the detriment of their individual and collective well being. One reason why African leaders believe they are invincible and cannot be held accountable for their actions is because their citizens fail to question why the leaders do what they do.

In addition, members of a society should question authority because this would help weed norms and practices that are obsolete. There is a story about a monkey that stopped other monkeys from plucking bananas from a banana tree. One day, a monkey defied the elder monkey and plucked bananas. When the elder monkey was asked why he stopped monkeys that had previously tried, he said the first time he tried, the farmer poured water on him and that scared him off. If people do not question authority, there would be no progress. From the story of the monkey, we can deduce that other monkeys began to enjoy the bananas they were previously prevented from. Relatedly, questioning authority leads to progress and development. Scholars in the 16th century queried accepted norms that set some of them on a collison path against the Church. However, our society is better for it.

Nevertheless, there is a limit to the extent that authority must be questioned. This is because it is a slippery slope that may lead to chaos and instability. For instance, if members of a society always second-guess the actions of decision-makers, there would be no room for progress. For example, if a governor decides to improve the mass transit network in his state and various groups demand to know why the project should be done, improving the infrastructure of that State would be impeded and nothing would get done. Thus, questioning authority has to be done with caution so that it does not lead to a situation of inaction. Another example of the limits of questioning authority is seen when policies are about to be adopted and various stakeholders stall the process such that nothing is changed. This does not bode well for a society.

Going back to the Thomas Jefferson quote that suggests that people should always question authority, is a recipe for instability because the process of questioning authority may be hijacked by people who wish the society ill. Russia and her experience under communist rule are a classic example. Atimes, it is best that things remain the way they are and progress should come in incremental changes.

In conclusion, whilst members of a society should question authority so that the leaders are held accountable, it should be done with caution. Failure to balance the act of holding leaders accountable with caution may lead to instability in a society and the well being of that society is negatively affected.