Sunday, June 07, 2009

[halls of power] something rotten at the head


Both sides of the pond and probably downunder as well:

... the complicated political maneuvers of these thin-skinned politicians induces a tedium in those of us who are forced to watch their petty chess games ...

Sigh. Yes, Dymphna's right.

Like Ann Elk, I have a theory, which is probably your theory too. It does seem that the moment anyone, even someone idealistic gets up to Capitol Hill or Westminster, there's a totally corrupting force in place. I don't believe all those pollies would have cheated on the taxpayers with their expenses in 'real life'. Everyone pushes it and maximizes to an extent but not to this extent. There really is a culture in place which induces a person to lose reason.

Perhaps you're with this view up to this point but you'll doubtless think the next bit OTT, as is my wont.

I really believe that there is a malignant force at the top, possibly connected with the great houses and families, which themselves, in their connections, go back millennia. The old evil on the plains of Babylon did not go away, why should it? It just went out of sight except when it popped up from time to time - usury, the Templars, the Scottish Rite, Hitler, many manifestations. The Fed.

I say this because I was tangentially connected to it for a while, as a blog post long ago mentioned and though it was seductive, it was also repellent. I'll never forget that time and there was a very real mood of 'we are little gods' in our own right. Some might say I've never lost that arrogance but I'm trying to.

6 comments:

  1. What I've noticed in the 'justice' system is that the closer one gets to the seat of justice, the less justice there is to be found there.

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  2. The answer is hidden in your propostition. That "even" someone idealistic loses his reason in that culture shows us that idealism within this environment is a compatible fuel for that fire. We are looking at the politicians when we should be looking at ourselves.

    The American Founders saw clearly that the only way to control the power of government was not to grant it in the first place. "It's a Republic, if you can keep it."

    The malignant force is not at the top, it is everywhere within us. Socialism is instinctive, the result of collectivism and altruism in our evolution through small groups and tribes. What is also natural in that environmnet is uniformity and the need for a strong leader.

    Civilization requires the renuncuation of instinct, and builds an extended order through the accumulation of custom and tradition, however imperfect. So it is that in civilization socialism becomes anti-social. Yet instinct never has to be sold, only provoked, and civilization can only be aquired and reinforced. That is why we are losing.

    The intellectuals you often describe are artfully dressed primitives, and yet we ask permission to debate with them when they only respect what we have not provided: savagery. This is why they appease Islam.

    When we are powerless to change something we can only change ourselves. To fight, or to endure, that is the question. Tocqueville saw that the evil that we suffer patiently seems insupportable as soon as we conceive of the idea of escape from it.

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  3. This is a powerful argument, Xlbrl and I'm with you on it but there is also an externalized, sentient rot in the head. The American Founders saw correctly and yet look at how the corrupt govern both from the wings [NAAC] and in the oval office over there.

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  4. There is so much rot at the head because there is a rot at the heart now. Bad actors did not affect us so greatly when government was limited, and now there are more bad actors as well being drawn to this malestom. Why would anyone else subject himself to it?

    The only way opinions and ideas can be renewed, hearts enlarged, and human minds developed is through the reciprocal influence of men upon each other--
    Tocqueville, Democracy in America

    Tocqueville wrote that he saw this nowhere but in America, and to a lesser extent, in England.

    We gave it up because it was pried away by ideologies who knew exactly what they were doing, and are relentless. But good people are relentless only in love, not in hate. It's not a good matchup.

    You do great work. I'm backing up my truck and loading your best furniture. Sorry. I know you'll get more.

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  5. The points you make here are true and have to be fitted into the perspective somewhere.

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