Dictators typically have been in charge right down through history,
however, regardless of the ostensible form that any government has
taken. Dictators have ranged from ruthless individuals (Idi Amin comes
to mind) to committees of the elite, such as those found in most communist
countries, and benevolent institutions (Popes, for example). Dictators
have ruled over mobs (Attila), fascism (Hitler), communism (Stalin),
theocracies (pick your Pope or Ayatollah) and democracies (Zimbabwe's
Mugabi comes to mind).
My idea of a dictatorship is, "You do it this way, and I couldn't
care less what you think." That is, to dictate, pure and simple.
I know that mine is a simplistic approach to things. Call it a weakness.
It probably did not escape your attention that much of what is going
in America today resembles a dictatorship, given my definition. But
a democracy, nonetheless. After all, the majority got to choose its
dictator.
Similarly, I view most everything else, other than pure anarchy (every
person for him or her self), as involving some sort of participation
by the people governed (democracies and Republics being prime examples,
with Britain's parliamentary approach, as practiced today, being a
variation on the Republic theme).
And, no, it is not contradictory to see participatory governments
as being dictatorial - how do you think Hitler, Mugabe and countless
others assumed power in the first place? Say what you will, it seems
that most people quite simply want to be told what to do at every
turn, with their choicemaking reserved for the more personal things
in life - mate, car, pizza, beer, football team, etc.
The
illusion of choice, as between Republican and Democrat candidates
in America today suffices, just so long as there are 47 brands of
beer in the supermarket aisles. After all, most Americans don't even
bother to vote any more (perhaps in recognition of the lack of choice).
So, we have democracies that act like dictatorships and dictatorships
that can produce greater personal freedom than any democracy around.
Does it really matter what form government takes? I suspect that it
doesn't.
Many will disagree with my take on things, of course, but that is
nothing new.
The Circle of Strife. I see a pattern repeating itself all through
the fabric of society, down through history. I call it the "Circle
of Strife." And it happens everywhere, it seems, regardless of
the form of government. Simply put, the Circle of Strife says: freedom
fosters tyranny and tyranny breeds freedom.
Regardless of a country's form of government, its citizenry is subject
to absolute tyranny or near-absolute freedom, or something in between.
And there is a cycling between the two extremes, seemingly independent
of the form of government extant at any given time.
Only in a truly free country, as America quite nearly once was, can
tyranny be given the space to gain a foothold and grow. Grow until,
like the noxious weed that it emulates, every bit of freedom is crowded
out of existence. However, then the seeds of freedom left behind (memories,
be they actual or hard wired via some sort of DNA encoding) begin
to sprout. And grow. And flourish. And finally vanquish the tyranny
that went before. Until freedom reigns supreme all over again, creating
space for tyranny once again to gain a foothold. And so it goes.
We create our own opposition, in other words.
And revolution does not necessarily mark a shifting of the pendulum
back along the course just traced. The Russian revolution last century
was merely a stopover from the relative freedom under Russia's monarchy
to the nightmare tyranny of the communists that very nearly destroyed
that nation. Trading the devil you know for the one you don't is not
always a good idea.
Men want to be led, for they always choose leaders, even though that
choice sometimes simply is to allow someone else to assume control.
Men want to be led benignly, in their best interests. That can happen
irrespective of the form a government might take.
In fact, an argument can be made that democracy is one of the worst
forms of government, since it always results in a form of mob rule.
Two wolves and a lamb voting about what's for dinner, as they say.
There always will be a sizable minority in a democracy that gets
tyrannized by the majority, an everpresent fear of America's founding
fathers, which is why they established a constitutional republic,
instead. They knew about mob psychology; how a large group of people
sheds its morality and mindlessly thinks only of its primal desires.
Lynch mobs are the classic example. Welfare and open borders are two
of the results of mob rule, the inevitable result when two out of
a group of three find they can peacefully take the third's wealth
by merely voting it to themselves.
America has become a democracy. The republican (not to be confused
with Republican, a political party that espouses socialism) safeguards
have been abandoned through time, casualties of Supreme Court lawmaking,
congressional sellout and Executive Order.
Today, you vote for whichever dictator you want, then his government
leads by following the polls, the results of which are engineered
by the controlled media in the first place. A form of democracy. A
guided democracy. A dictatorship, if you will.
Make
no mistake about the existence of an American dictatorship, with the
reins of power held by those who stand in the shadows, orchestrating
the mob to flow in predetermined paths, much as Hitler used his awesome
powers of elocution to hold his mobs in thrall.
And ever-increasing tyranny, as evidenced by the machinations of
John Ashcroft's Ministry of Homeland Oppression...er, Department of
Homeland Defense...the (anti-)Patriot Act and Bush the Second's neverending
war against Israel's enemies and the denial of the West its oil. And
the fact that America has a higher percentage of its population behind
bars than any other country in the world. And the formation of a federal
police force by the commandeering of each state's National Guard,
together with the arming of virtually every federal employee with
a uniform. And the ongoing disarming of private citizens. And the
implementation of thought crimes. And the nascent Gestapo now forming
up under the guise of the "Human Rights Task Force." And...and...and.....
How
long before the pendulum reaches its maximum travel toward tyranny
in America and begins to retrace its steps? How long before all true
freedom is snuffed from existence, leaving only its seeds to germinate
in the dark? Must it be that, like William Wallace, we demand "Freedom"
with our final breath?
Mark my words: True freedom will return to America - or whatever
it becomes following the upcoming unpleasantries. What form the government
then takes probably doesn't particularly matter, but a constitutional
republic did work once. It's just a matter of time. It's all a part
of the Circle of Strife.
New America. An idea whose time has come.
-ed
Copyright © Edgar J. Steele, 2002
