The great unravelling

Submitted by Lindsay
Melbourne Australia!

Destiny: A tyrant’s authority for crime and a fool’s excuse for failure. - Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s dictionary

(7/2017) The twenty first century has seen a faster and greater change in world conditions than ever before. Many things have altered beyond comprehension including politics, climate, wealth, and ideologies. Individual terrorism is perhaps the most feared development across the globe, melting ice caps and aberrant weather the most profound, the decimation of the middle class and the rise of the super rich the most difficult to bear, the vehement rise of fundamentalism the most distressing.

Yet they all pale into insignificance compared to the bewildering mess of modern democracy. Government by the polis – the people – was an Athenian invention and ideal that was never fully put into practice because it defined ‘The People’ as those able to help the state with loyalty, largess or learning. You and I, unless we could wheedle our way into one of those categories, took what we were given and went on our way or left. But it proved to be successful in repelling invaders and spreading influence far and wide, so the new idea was given credit. For a while. Old systems take a long time to change, with this democracy thing emerging about the 15th century in Europe as regal rule became too oppressive and stupid; it was not until the dawn of the twentieth century that it emerged as we know it today.

Sorry, I mean as we knew it, for it has gone downhill during the past sixty years or so, especially in your country. Real democracy depended on reaching the best outcomes for the great majority of the population, whether or not they got to vote. That meant the legislators had to be circumspect in their greed, to be seen to limit their influence, and to have future needs and goals of the polis in their sights. But that proved to be idealistic, and when it was eventually seen as puerile, snouts began to grew longer as the troughs became deeper.

Well, the polis are not that stupid, and when the swamp recently began to stink they rebelled, electing the one person who promised – and indeed seemed to be – above those swindlers. Talk about a con! That was actually putting the fox into the henhouse, and as wily foxes go, he’s up there with the best. With an equally cunning fox master he has spun his way to incomprehensibility, putting critics on crutches and the opposition on opioids. In lesser circles the surge to reduce democratic freedoms has grown, with the ability for one enfranchised voter to cast their vote erased by petty rules and decrees, intimidation, the popular media being a press of pressure.

The elite hate democracy. They were born with the right to rule, and will subvert the democratic process by any and all means. They will also see to it that their future takes precedence over all others, and to this end will wage wars, replace elected rulers, install puppets, control commerce, build fortresses, become predominate in communications, stack the judiciary, obscure reality, lie, cheat, and form cabals. They hold out the prize of power and position to small-minded people with some authority if they are prepared to use undemocratic means to achieve their ends. This makes their attacks on democracy another virus that is very hard to defeat.

The rope that bound us together as freedom loving citizens in egalitarian societies as been unravelling under such assaults, and is down to about one fragile strand. President Trump is not the cause of this, just a promoter and symptom – but a viral one. Not only if he uber-selfish, his disdain for honesty, probity and decency are so repelling to anyone with a half-open eye or ear toward fairness, that it’s hard to keep the bile down.

The consequences, however, are far more profound and wide ranging than most of the media and the government seem to realise. They stretch the fabric of civilisation as we know it to breaking point, because justice has been abrogated to thuggery.

The elite also ignore the fact that America is no longer the only power in the world. That might does not intimidate any more, that the old rules are broken, and that the external enemies of democracy are slavering overt he spoils. Russia is getting ready to reform the USSR and return to their brand of totalitarianism, reigniting European tensions, while China, the giant bear of the east, has already paved the way for it to become the supreme controller of the world’s commerce, laws and future. They have infiltrated governments here, in Papua-New Guinea, much of Africa, The Philippines, and probably in many other places. Their T Rex breath is everywhere, especially in South America. They certainly helped put Donald in the White house, because keeping America divided and weak, isolationist and preoccupied with domestic traumas allows them unfettered access to the future. They are about to construct the new Silk Road, a super high speed rail link to Europe so that their all-powerful commerce will undermine its freedom and equality while their communist leadership sets the rules.

This European conglomerate of peoples, the final bastion of democracy has, by the use of grass roots democracy, repelled the tyrants at their gate - Le Pen in France, the EU in Britain for example – and have raised a flag of sanity and decency for the rest of the western world to rally around. For America, and to some extent for us, the sane voice ‘of the people for the people’ needs to be restored. Not for the elites and their bewildered, deluded and desperate supporters, but for a future free from tyranny and despotism. Democracy is actually quite fragile, and keeping it alive and robust is perhaps the biggest challenge you face today.

Never imagine that China is benevolent. Never underestimate their presence and influence in your land. Don’t let your excuse be that it was destiny. The future is in your hands.