"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." Preamble of the United States Constitution
"'And now you have forgotten these fine sentiments, and pay no respect to us, the laws, of whom you are the destroyer; and are doing what only a miserable slave would do, running away and turning your back upon the compacts and agreements which you made as a citizen.'" Socrates to Crito, explaining how fleeing would be received by the laws.
In the Crito, Socrates admitted that while he would like to leave the prison, there was something deep down inside his gut, his reason, telling him that he could not escape. Socrates and Crito struggled to determine a better reason in hopes to produce a better outcome, but it sadly was not in the cards as no good reason was found that trumped both of Socrates' firm beliefs: one should never intentionally do harm, and one should never break one's agreements.
What we see throughout the dialogue is Socrates who is unwavering in his own convictions and principles but still open to suggestions, and Crito, whose personal bias toward Socrates clouded his judgment and distracted him from his own beliefs (and if you don't accept or realize your own beliefs, how can you accept the suggestions of another?). Socrates hinted that they had previous discourse about the act of inflicting harm upon another, and while Crito claimed to have not changed his mind, flared emotions got the better of him and his ability to critically reason had diminished, at least temporarily. I think that the instance of bias distracting Crito from the very things he believed is incredibly relevant to the current atmosphere of politics in America at this time, to both political officials and the electorate that chose them. With the faulty and aggressive rhetoric being used by politicians (birther conspiracy, death panels, Commie-Muslim-Terrorist president) alongside the 24-hour news cycle of the mainstream media, it isn't difficult to accept that individual Americans can have their bias reinforced by a number of news sources and outlets. These people see journalists, news contributors, and political pundits with the same values and beliefs they have, happily discovering a sense of interconnectedness in regard to their beliefs. This allows for people to often find comfort and security in what they believe -- that the President is a racist, that all Republicans hate all Democrats, that Democrats are socialists and Republicans hate the poor -- even though some of these claims, maybe all, are exaggerations at the very least, and flat-out lies at the worst. So what are we left with? A Union falling far from perfection in which its people can't even have civil discourse, let alone agree, upon the meaning of its mission. In our case as American citizens, I see this mission as achieving the promises made in the Constitution by the founders of the country to the people of the United States.
