Political genetics

Submitted by Lindsay
Melbourne Australia!

A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees. - Blake, ‘Proverbs of Hell’

(1/2020) If you imagine that politics is a dead, non-living entity, think again. It is a dynamic, evolving structure that has quite a few similarities to the human form. From a prehistoric Neanderthal view of society to a multifaceted complex of ideas and practices, it has attempted to guide and exploit the societies that gave rise to them.

As societies became more complex, so did government, until today they are the most convoluted, the most labyrinthine organization on earth.

After centuries of rule by elites, democracy re-emerged from the original Greek system (when the senate could ‘smell the people’, citizens bring the only ‘people’ considered), and their desires could be balanced by the perceived needs of the senate itself. Once absorbed by Rome, this became conquest, the growth of territory and power over other countries who had unknown riches to take. Not just booty, but new slaves, new citizens who would enhance the renown of the generals, the senate, and later the Caesars.

No nation is remembered unless there was a powerful leader who made his mark on history, not always by conquest, but sometimes by the magnificence of his kingdom – think Egypt or the Aztecs. Still, the idea of power through conquest became the aim of every king, and as the means of doing so became more sophisticated, empires grew.

The first one of modern times was the Spanish and their conquest of parts of South America, done for spoils and the installation of Christianity, but a hundred years later the British did it for both trade and power. This was so successful that other European countries followed suit, (although the Austro-Hungarian empire under the Hapsburgs remained Eurocentric, with devastating results), with Belgium taking the Congo, the Germans south-West Africa, the French and Dutch parts of South East Asia, Italy bits of North Africa.

The British also did it with another aim that was embraced by no other nation, that of introducing their values and culture into the occupied lands; they were not ‘conquered’, as in war, but transformed into Little Englands that would be loyal subjects to the King, willingly fight in his wars, become highly educated when possible, and carry the foreigners flag with pride. It evolved into the British Empire, the greatest collection the world had ever seen and will ever see. They were also the first to realize that war was a no-win business, as shown by their reluctance to get involved in either the first or second world war.

While the Hapsburgs and Germany saw in 1910 that war as the only way to get territory, the British saw that commerce was the goal. They were good at it, as they had had many years trading with nations all over the world, peacefully whenever possible. They did have armies, they did protect their interests with their use – the Boer war, for instance – but for all their so-called superiority in Christian values they were incredibly successful and callous.

America has never believed that war was waged to gain territory, not when it could be purchased for next to nothing from desperate or unsuspecting nations. They saw that incursions could be used to get what buying could not, (they were never called war because there was only one protagonist), unless it could be achieved by trickery. Simply ensure someone who would be a nice puppet could be installed in the targeted country. You developed very sophisticated methods of doing this, but could not see it was going to produce so much revolt that vengeance would be taken in the most terrible ways. The terror of 9/11 was born.

But the goal of America was always to get what it wanted. ‘It’, of course, being the rich powerful. Not the hoi poloi, not the poor or disadvantaged, no one ever wants to help them. (Not much, anyway.) This worked so well that they lost sight of the fact that they were not the only winners on earth. And they lost sight of the fact that trade is the only way o succeed.

For a nation that is the epitome of capitalism it has retained a shortsighted view. SHORT? It was and still is sheer blindness. The blindness of hyper-capitalism supported by the totally ridiculous notion that an economy built on armaments was the only way to go. That is was, and is, so far out of date that it would remain a hangman’s noose around future success.

Now, let me introduce the nation that knew trade was the foundation, superstructure and boiler room of prosperity. China. Who were kick-started by – yes, the entrepreneurs and citizens your country who fell over themselves to buy cheap and sell dear. Who didn’t care about local industry or workers, as the dog-eat-dog rule applied. Me first, you nowhere, using hyper-capitalism as a model.

China knew long ago that war was a negative answer, one they had never pursued, but who also knew the value of threat, intimidation, the three pea trick and the fortune cookie. Their political system is beside the point – capitalism is broken, dictatorship transformed to its own avatar, and they have already conquered without firing a shot.

Here’s the two main branches of the family tree: an emasculated democracy with enormous imbalance in wealth and society, a mostly free press and an incredible ability to accomplish the impossible. That not long ago had a commitment to creating a world that was a close mirror image of its own, but has now closed the shutters.

Compared to a country that has sucked the power and ideas of capitalism from the other branch in order to achieve its re-awakened dreams of making the world into a mirror image of itself. But with repression and intolerance gripping the leaders, the straitjacket of a previous model, Mao’s communism, it’s future is actually quite poor.

The real strength of any country can be measured by is how much it values its people. Europe, the British and its former colonies mostly do, but whether America does is debatable. Citizens are useful, but too many of you have become emasculated slaves, not able or caring enough to join the protests. Hong Kong, on the other hand, shows that resistance can make dictators sit up and reconsider

Don’t expect 2020 vision in 2020, but I’ll trade the ability to attend protest rallies over the threat of imprisonment any day. Make the most of it while you can.