Broadly speaking, there are only two types of political regimes today : (1) one-man or one-party dictatorships, and (2) electoral democracies. Dictatorships have no redeeming merits, regardless of what little temporary benefits they may have brought at the beginning of their reign. However, upon closer analysis, electoral democracies are not that much better. They are merely two sides of the same coin.
Despite holding elections every few years, “democracies” merely effect a musical-chair type of rotation between a couple of “ruling” parties and their politicians. The names may change, the rhetoric may be different, especially during election time, but once elected, the reality is not dissimilar to what was before. This is not something that people don’t know. They do, and this explains why very few elections manage to bring out more than half of the electorate. Most people are disillusioned. They know that whichever party is voted into power, it will in the end benefit the same crooks and swindlers, the same fools and clowns.
People, especially young people, thought that “this time would be different”, when they turned out in droves to root for Obama. We must give this man credit for his persuasive sweet-talking ability. But that seems to be the extent of his ability. Once ensconced in the White House, this man wasted little time re-instating the same set of stooges for Wall Street’s power-brokers and handlers into his inner sanctum.
This makes us ask whether the problem really lies with government, all forms of government, and not just which type of government. We may have inadvertently created a political Frankenstein in our misguided efforts to improve the human being and society, by means of public policies and social engineering.
Nobody in his right mind would expect the Mafia to work for the better good of society. So why could we have so naively believed that “voting” the Mafia into power, and subsequently “voting” to grant it ever greater power, would turn the Mafia into a benevolent association? For that is what government really is – an officially sanctioned Mafia.
Foolishly, we have fallen for the sweet talk of ambitious swindlers and crooks. We have offered up our freedom in return for empty promises to make our material well-being secure. We have given up something concrete and precious for a vague chimera. Have we never heard of these oft-repeated wise words: “Only two things are sure in life – death and taxes”? Security indeed!
We have allowed these sweet-talking crooks to play on our own laziness and greed, to play on our stupid belief that something could be had for nothing! There’s always a price to pay. In this case, slavery in return for social security! We have allowed a new ruling class, masquerading as “public servants”, to acquire almost unlimited power. And their power continues to grow every time a new “national crisis” is created.
It used to be said that “religion is the opiate of the people”. Today, it is the welfare mentality that is the people’s opium.
Government that purports to serve the people and improve their welfare is a very recent phenomenon, dating back only to the beginning of the last century.
Dictatorships and democracies alike purport to serve those they rule. But never in history have rulers served anyone other than themselves. This fact never changes – Power can only serve itself. This is the message that comes through loud and clear in that wonderful movie “Lord of the Rings”. How many of us were willing to listen?
Government is like the evils locked up inside Pandora’s Box. Once it has been released, no one can put it away again. But fortunately, there are laws over and above man’s laws. Man and everything he has created are only tolerated in this world up to a point. When man and his pursuits run amok, this tips the pendulum, and triggers events that will eventually put man back in his place. That’s the wisdom of the Tao, the I-Ching and the Fung-shui Luck Cycles.
