I am fond of them,
of the inferior beings of the abyss,
of those who are full of longing.
Richard Wagner
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
One of the major flaws of politics is that governments are run by the "haves" and never by the "have nots" as President Lyndon Johnson described them.
It is vitally important to the haves that they keep the have nots under control. This is done by economic means, and through carefully designed dissemination of information. That is why in a dictatorship the government will own the banks and the media There is freedom of the press only in so far as the facts are available to it. Meanwhile the have nots go on working through their desperate lives, rich in longings.
Times come, however, when the have nots line up behind a leader or a committee of leaders and topple the haves. The rebellion is usually violent and the haves are killed by having the heads chapped off (France), being lined up against a wall and shot (Russia and Rumania), being hung from lamp posts (Philadelphia) or other heinous acts of cruelty.
The clever haves who know what's coming will get out of town, hop on a plane to Brazil, Spain or Dubai, and live off of their numbered Swiss bank accounts, money "legally" siphoned off from the top The others will ignominiously meet their various fates.
Then, out of the abyss will come crawling the have nots, those whose lives have been wasted under the boots of some oppressive group of haves, ready to take revenge and rewrite the rules. It has happened in the US once before, and will happen again.
I can only hope it will be nonviolent and intelligently done. History doesn't give much hope of that.
The problem then is that the have nots then become the haves, after a while the Leviathan crawls up out of the sea and the whole cycle starts all over again.
I'm not a pessimist, nor a nihilist, and my rebellion has been of the personal, benign anti-social type, hardly noticeable from the outside. I believe in education. But I think education in my country is in a sorry shape. Students are taught to be very proficient in a number of technical things, but severely lacking in knowledge and awareness of history and civic affairs. I notice a profound ignorance in our political leaders, from our President on down, of how civilization operates. Congresspeople must stand up and speak about and vote on things that they know very little about. We have accepted "learning" to be what we have made it and no one challenges that concept.
Times change, people change, things change, changes change. It's an ever revolving world and I don't suppose it will ever be any different on this plane of existence. There will always be the have nots. But, advice to the haves, beware of them.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
5 comments:
WOW DB. As cyical as this entry appears to be, it is frighteningly accurate. This election is the angriest contest I've seen in my lifetime and it scares me to the point of being concerned about the civil unrest I see. We human beings do not seem capable of learning from past mistakes. How sad.
Hugs, Joyce
hmmm ... a interesting post. Not so sure about the haves/have not thingy. It is part of the eternal cycle of all things, what once was, now being no longer.
The meek inherit a headache. We all struggle through are painful lives, making of it what we, the individual will make of it, all the while having our existence shaped and molded by forces outside of our perception.
I don't think there is enough celebration of the shrinking middle and it is aggrevated as the world divides itself into the sharp extremes of have and have nots.
The elusive 'golden mean' of society should be put on some sort of social endangered species list!
I'm very disturbed by the level of anger I'm seeing lately. But I'm not surprised--people are hurting, and want to lash out. I hope that someone (not to mention any names, JSM! LOL) will calm their supporters down before any violence occurs.
Beth
I think you've aptly described the government process and those who serve in positions of influence. (Hugs) Indigo
That was a great entry. Very scare and thought provocing. Everyone is so concerned about their comings and goings that people dont see the whole picture. God Bless America!! We need all the blessings from God that we can get...hugs, Christine
Post a Comment