Why are so many men and women driven to seek and to exercise political power? If you were to judge their motivations on the basis of promises they make, you might conclude that they desire to promote the well-being of our society, or of all mankind; or to end injustice and promote the rights and interests of the poor and down-trodden; to protect children; to defend the country from foreign aggressors; to generate economic prosperity; or to advance other noble ends that serve the public interest. Our willingness to accept such benevolent objectives as the explanation for a few wanting coercive power over the many, is a reflection of our gullibility...
Whether they are channeling the gods, translating nature’s secrets into scientific truths, envisioning the inexorable march of historic forces, or identifying causal connections so as to be able to plan for economic well-being, clever minds have conceived increasingly sophisticated ways of playing upon the fears and uncertainties of their neighbors in order to gain power over them. Such schemes depend upon keeping the subservient in a constant state of fear of the adverse consequences that will likely follow from their disobedience: there may be food shortages as the supply of game animals dwindles; the “Nine Bows” may sneak into our village at night and destroy our buildings; or deadly earthquakes, drouths, or great storms may occur if we do not live in accordance with the dictates of the gods.
While the details of the political power-game change, the underlying logic of the system remains basically intact. The tribal shaman with his collection of trinkets and magic smoke would fully understand the modern government bureaucrat’s use of licenses, rules, and other gimmicks to accomplish his ends. The more primitive shake-down shaman, with his alleged pipeline to the gods, has been replaced by the academically-trained PhD-“expert” with his computer projections, each psychic racketeer claiming the capacity to predict outcomes in a world that is forever chaotic and uncertain...
Maintaining power over others requires a sufficient flexibility that allows political practitioners to respond to changed conditions. Urban renewal programs of the 1960s – through which the power hungry were able to tear down old inner-city housing – came under criticism by the 1970s. Suddenly the cause of conservancy, premised on the preservation of old buildings, became more important, and many of those who had promoted urban renewal became advocates of this new program for controlling cities. To this crowd, it didn’t matter whether old structures were to be destroyed or maintained: what was central to the elitists’ purposes was that they – not property owners – were to have the final decision in the matter.
One sees the same resiliency among so-called environmentalists: the threat of global cooling that drove the elitists in the 1970s, quickly morphed into the problem of global warming in the following decade. When it became evident that the earth had undergone numerous fluctuations in global temperatures over millennia, the imagined threat was transformed into climate change. But whether the planet is getting cooler, warmer, or just changing really doesn’t matter: the elitists will insist upon resolving the “problem” by controlling the lives and activities of all human beings. If it were ever suggested that the climate was in a condition of equilibrium, these elitists would come up with a “stimulus” program to have the state “get the planet going again.” We will be told that, for the sake of our children and grandchildren, we must submit to the authority of the environmentalists to manage the details of our lives, lest earth suffer the same lifeless fate as Mars!
As long as the lies are propagated and reinforced by persons respected by members of the general public – and such esteemed voices are always to be found within the halls of dominant institutions – any correspondence to truth is rarely questioned. As the falsehoods and exaggerations spread, so do the adverse consequences metastasize, bringing more disorder to which the power-elitists respond with more distortions and contradictions.
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