Thursday, April 12, 2007
Are You Nervous?
I am not talking the run-of-the-mill nervousness. You know the type you get when you have to speak in front of people.
I am talking more in terms of that 'little-voice-in-that-back-of-your-brain-telling-you-there-is- a-problem' kind of nervousness. The kind of nervousness that is general nearly paranoid in its approach to how you look things around you.
Digression 1: My interest in politics began when I was 8 years old and there was a re-election of the sitting President. It was the first time I became aware of the bigger country out there.
Digression 2: I first remember learning about Rome, and I remember reading about the Roman empire and some of the things that lead to its down fall and collapse.
The things that have me paranoid is the direction that this country is headding in. For one thing this country has much in common with the Roman Republic.
Some of the things that were symptomatic of the deteriation of Roman Repulic. The Gladatorial games, the constant expansion of the republic. Both of these continued under the Empire and they added some lovely things like the use of people outside of the traditional military structure.
We have our own version of the gladitorial games to keep the masses under control. How many people watch an average NFL game. How many have an interest the new extreme fighting programs that are on TV it seems like 7 nights a week.
The US hasn't directly expanded in a number of years but the war in Iraq is definitely a war of that was, at least in retrospect, not a necessary war.
In Iraq we are using nearly as many military contractors as we are military personnel.
The Roman Republic became the Roman Empire when the 'executive branch' of the government made itself all powerful and singular in nature.
Why am I nervous? Because history shows that minorities tend to get 'put down' by the majority when the majority begins to feel threatened. Democracies can be subverted by a well planned attack if the people attempting the subversion have a well thought out plan and are willing to work over a period of time for the goal.
Look at Germany after the first World War. The National Socialist party had a plan, they executed it and they succeeded and took over the government. Look at Imperial Russia in the early part of the last century. The overthrow of the rule of Tzar Nicolas by the democratic forces lead directly to the rise of the Bolsheviks and the rise of the totalitarian socialist society that developed.
As I stated above in the first digression, I have been aware of the political situations in this country for closing in on 40 years (that should give you an idea what election was refered to above.)
As I state in the second digression, I made a very astute observation long before it was 'fasionable' to see that happening in this country.
The current administration is guilty of attempting to subert the Constitution and the political structure of this country. But they are not the first. The peril of our social structure and the centralization of power in a manner that wasn't the idea of the Framers of the Constitution, goes back to the second President.
Hopefully the public will realize that it is time for a change in the political nature of our society. Not to a less tolerant, more authoritarian political structure, but to a less authoritarian more equitable government that respects all citizens equaly.
Please think about the idea of the overall direction that this country is heading in, and let me know if you are nervous.
I am talking more in terms of that 'little-voice-in-that-back-of-your-brain-telling-you-there-is- a-problem' kind of nervousness. The kind of nervousness that is general nearly paranoid in its approach to how you look things around you.
Digression 1: My interest in politics began when I was 8 years old and there was a re-election of the sitting President. It was the first time I became aware of the bigger country out there.
Digression 2: I first remember learning about Rome, and I remember reading about the Roman empire and some of the things that lead to its down fall and collapse.
The things that have me paranoid is the direction that this country is headding in. For one thing this country has much in common with the Roman Republic.
Some of the things that were symptomatic of the deteriation of Roman Repulic. The Gladatorial games, the constant expansion of the republic. Both of these continued under the Empire and they added some lovely things like the use of people outside of the traditional military structure.
We have our own version of the gladitorial games to keep the masses under control. How many people watch an average NFL game. How many have an interest the new extreme fighting programs that are on TV it seems like 7 nights a week.
The US hasn't directly expanded in a number of years but the war in Iraq is definitely a war of that was, at least in retrospect, not a necessary war.
In Iraq we are using nearly as many military contractors as we are military personnel.
The Roman Republic became the Roman Empire when the 'executive branch' of the government made itself all powerful and singular in nature.
Why am I nervous? Because history shows that minorities tend to get 'put down' by the majority when the majority begins to feel threatened. Democracies can be subverted by a well planned attack if the people attempting the subversion have a well thought out plan and are willing to work over a period of time for the goal.
Look at Germany after the first World War. The National Socialist party had a plan, they executed it and they succeeded and took over the government. Look at Imperial Russia in the early part of the last century. The overthrow of the rule of Tzar Nicolas by the democratic forces lead directly to the rise of the Bolsheviks and the rise of the totalitarian socialist society that developed.
As I stated above in the first digression, I have been aware of the political situations in this country for closing in on 40 years (that should give you an idea what election was refered to above.)
As I state in the second digression, I made a very astute observation long before it was 'fasionable' to see that happening in this country.
The current administration is guilty of attempting to subert the Constitution and the political structure of this country. But they are not the first. The peril of our social structure and the centralization of power in a manner that wasn't the idea of the Framers of the Constitution, goes back to the second President.
Hopefully the public will realize that it is time for a change in the political nature of our society. Not to a less tolerant, more authoritarian political structure, but to a less authoritarian more equitable government that respects all citizens equaly.
Please think about the idea of the overall direction that this country is heading in, and let me know if you are nervous.
Labels: Peanut Gallary
// posted by Little Wolf @ Thursday, April 12, 2007 
