This is a repeat from about one year ago - with a minor addition about the Obama presidency. The collapse of the world's financial systems, and the methods being used to revive them, are clear lessons in how Power Elites control the wealth of the world and screw the masses. Follow the news, read the facts as much as they are made available, and understand how the world works.
Power Elites, that is, those who control power, can be and often are viewed and misconstrued as the engines rather than the drivers. They are thought to be identical to those forces in societies that enhance them and empower them, such as the forces of religions, political entities, entrenched educational and indoctrination systems, armies, and other forces that enable Power Elites to retain, control, and grow their power. Those elected or dictatorial entities are the front offices and office-holders of Power Elites.
As an example, an armed force has tremendous power and is controlled by a political entity that has tremendous power that in turn is controlled by Power Elites. Building and maintaining an armed force require the expenditure of huge sums of money. Those expenditures, especially in times of war, are the troughs at which Power Elites feed and grow ever more powerful.
It is not unusual that the party in power in any society is often believed to be the Power Elite. The expression, “The power behind the throne,” grew out of awareness that the throne was the apparent but not the real power in the kingdom. Power Elites quietly control the powers that operate the machinery ostensibly held and wielded by all of the individuals and establishments in a society. Power of the magnitude described here is not the engine of societies. The engine with all its bells and whistles and moving parts is the visible motor element of any society. Power is the unseen force directing and controlling the engineers who in turn control the engine that moves the train.
The placement of George W. Bush in the presidency as their puppet was accomplished by the Elites’ legal and sometimes illegal control of the electoral process in the United States and their influence on a majority of the justices of the United States Supreme Court who created a one-time exception to electoral laws to achieve Bush’s election. Enrichment of Elites through government actions and inactions by placing friendly heads of departments and agencies began immediately. The government opened its doors to lobbyists, major contributors to the Republican Party, and upper echelon management of large corporations and influential leaders and a huge variety of emissaries of the Power Elites from financial, manufacturing, religious, educational, and business institutions.
The financial house of cards built in the United States that led to the world economic crash of 2008 had as its foundation Power Elite control of government enforcement agencies through the president and vice-president. The Securities and Exchange Commission investigations for securities fraud dropped from 69 in 2,000 to 9 in 2,007 and investigations that led to Justice Department prosecutions dropped from 437 cases in 2,000 to 133 in the first eleven months of 2008.
No president, no dictator, no king or queen, controls the power they wield. They sit on their thrones at the pleasure of the Power Elites. They are exposed and vulnerable to disenfranchisement, removal by force of revolution, and assassination.
Power Elites are impervious to assassination. Power Elites are neither crowned or elected. Power Elites are combinations of agreeing forces. They are embedded in interlocking directorates. In modern times at the upper levels of power, they appear as CEOs , CFOs, trustees of huge trusts, holders of shares in monopolies and multi-national corporations or other international conglomerates and organizations that are set up to manipulate each and every political, financial, military, and other entity that could maximize their power. Today, we see the transmogrification of the power structure through globalization. Power Elites have the wealth to play the shifting geography game. China, India, Iran, Brazil, and Russia, among other nations, are where the game is being played in the early second millennium. And the game goes on no matter who wins or loses or who gets jailed or killed.
Power seeks aggrandizement as part of its nature while it attempts or appears to attempt to retain the status quo of the society in which it is functioning. Power Elites do not wish to appear disruptive nor call attention to their existence. Power is at one and the same time revolutionary and extremely conservative. No ethics or morality is involved. Ethics and morality are humanistic concepts and humanism is the antithesis of power. Power must expand itself in whatever shape or form and by whatever means are available to it to accomplish its goal to grow or be beaten back by other powers. In this ongoing struggle between Power Elites and their front offices, humanity is used and abused. After their idealistic establishment, power structures within communist and socialist states, by allowing power to determine human existence, elevated the mechanics of power to prevail over more humane, beneficial social systems that promised, “To each according to his needs and from each according to his capabilities.” Those systems declared that ownership of wealth, natural resources and the means of production, would be communal.
The methods used to accomplish this magic elucidate one of the more fascinating examples of charlatanism. George Orwell’s, “1984,” explains the magic. Communist societies established on the ideological foundation of classless sharing and equality of the masses quickly degenerated and metamorphosed into stratified dictatorial nation-states with unassailable totalitarian Power Elites in control of all aspects of life and ready to do battle with other nation-states’ Power Elites. Capitalist powers rose up and worked assiduously to destroy the “Communist Menace” and “Godless Communism.” They succeeded in large measure because the idealism of socialism was undercut by the reality of a poverty-stricken non-socialistic life under dictatorships in closed two-class societies. Also, nothing replaced the dynamism and power of religion as a major tool for controlling the masses by the Power Elites and their front offices. The people were told by the dictatorships that there would be no pie in the sky when they died and no replacement was offered for that spiritual sustenance.
Power Elites operate outside of moral and humanitarian imperatives. Power Elites have only the one goal of maximizing their power by any means and at whatever cost to mankind and nature. If the outcome is beneficial to the masses, so be it. If the outcome is disastrous to the masses, so be it. Elites attempt to operate with, and control the forces that, move men and mountains without regard to good or evil, however good and evil are defined by those who claim to know what is good and what is evil. Oligarchic and fascistic states are the ideal settings for Power Elites to function optimally. I use “fascism” to mean rigid autocratic governmental economic regimentation and suppression of political opposition. But Power Elites can and do function well at the opposite extreme of human political constructs, in near anarchic national or cultural configurations of any size. They are often the only regimented controlling force in such chaotic political and economic situations. (A prime example of this exercise of power is Robert Mugabe’s control of Zimbabwe.) The racist element of fascism is unimportant to Power Elites except as a tool to fulfill their destinies. The people and their surrogates who function in Power Elite frameworks are the strongest, the brightest, the most opportunistic, the most ruthless and the least humane of their contemporaries in every milieu. That is not to say they do not necessarily love their countries, their families and their dogs.
The perfect analogy for Power Elites, their position in the world and their modus operandi, is the game of chess. The pieces on the board are either black or white. They know who they are for and who they are against. And they never change color. They also do not set the rules nor can they change the rules of the game. They neither gain power nor lose power. And the pieces are always available for the next game.
The pawns are the masses, the peons, the foot-soldiers. There are hosts of them and they are expendable and have the least value. They go into battle and are sacrificed most readily.
The rooks or castles as they are also known are the builders and managers of the world, They are straightforward, can-do, engineering and science types. They are strong and their point valuation in the game is higher than the other functionaries on the back line.
The knights are the military. They are capable of moving short and long as well as long and short and to the sides. They are ponderous but when called into action, yield often unexpected results. Not only must they be fed but their horses must also be fed, a most expensive proposition.
Then we have religion’s bishops. How appropriate that they move at an angle to the truth of a straight up and down board. While you are concentrating on getting to where you are going in a straightforward manner, they attack you obliquely, unsupported by the reality of life.
The queen, in all her regal majesty, is able to move in sweeping manner up and down the board and able to go with the rooks and with or against the bishops. The queen is the most powerful player on the board because of her mobility, intuition and strong will.
Finally, the figurehead is the king, about whom the whole game rises and falls. When he falls, the game itself falls. He himself is weak but his power is immense because he is the apparent Power Elite. He is like the president of the United States or the Queen or King of England.
But how about the Power Elites? Where are they? They are not on the board. They are not either black or white – and they can change color at will and even become colorless. They are not displayed for all to see. They are hidden from the pawns, the rooks, the knights and bishops, from the queen and from the king himself. They are manipulators but are not themselves manipulated except by competing Power Elites.
“Manipulated” according to Webster is, “to manage or utilize skillfully – to control or play upon by artful, unfair, or insidious means, especially to one’s own advantage.” Power Elites move the pieces on the board of the world, unseen, planning and plotting, strategizing and devising traps into which may fall opposing manipulators and their minions. And when they move their pieces about the battlefields, the how, when, where and why of life and death are in their hands. In this game please note, the manipulators only take; they never give. And win or lose, another game is set up and the manipulators continue according to their rules of the game. And those rules are hidden from the pieces on the chess board except for when the king is dethroned.
Now we will see the impact of Power Elites on the Obama presidency. How will they control him and his appointments and appointees to assure their continued control of the wealth of the United States.
Look carefully.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
RESPECT - A FOUNDATION OF PEACE
WITHOUT CONQUEST, PEACE WITHOUT RESPECT IS UNATTAINABLE.
I wish to explore one of the foundations of life on earth, “Respect.” I write here of man’s relation to man although, man’s respect for nature and the world will ensure a harmonious life for himself with the earth, its foliage and its creatures that provides sustenance for his body and his sense of beauty.
Webster’s: Respect: to consider worthy of high regard, esteem, to refrain from interfering with. Though there are more meanings to the word, these three relationship definitions are the essence of this essay.
To respect another person requires each of us to hold each other in high regard. The simplest way of assuring that relationship requirement is hold others in the same regard as we wish to be held. Just as we do not wish to be judged by our clothing, our speech, our ethnicity, our beauty, our posture, our knowledge or intelligence, or any other quality that is different from the person judging us, so too, we must not judge others. The simple fact of another’s existence demands respect, demands high regard. And, as in so many aspects of life, give and ye shall receive.
To esteem another brings emotion and judgment into the equation. We all start with our own very fundamental personal perceptions of life in general when we are called upon to judge another. More easily we can say that we like someone at first sight, or the opposite, we are put off or even repelled by another at first sight. But that is our individual response to an individual and says nothing about the quality of the other. The quality of the other remains inviolate just as our own quality remains inviolate regardless of anyone else’s opinion of us. Just as the wealthy person is put off by one of meager means, the poorer person is not diminished any more than the wealthy person by this perception. And of course, the opposite is true. Each, in fairness, mandates respect equally from the other.
To refrain from interfering with another covers a broad range of behavior by each individual. Generally, it is the more powerful that interferes with the less powerful. Each of us in any relationship generally knows who is the more powerful. The boss over the employees, the teacher over the students, the parents over the children, knows. However, the master over the slave is not a comparable relationship. That last relationship is an excellent measuring device when we evaluate whether we are interfering with another and therefore, not respectful of the other.
Respect of the parent for the child is the most transparent relationship that exists that shows whether respect at all exists in the powerful person. The parent always falls back on the excuse that he is doing what he or she believes to be best for the child. “Sit up” and “Stand straight” and “Speak respectfully” and “Use your napkin,” are intended to be educational statements by parents. Generally, however, they show an interference with the inferior’s, the child’s personhood. Respect of the parent for the child is a marvelous window into the awareness of those people into the meaning of “Respect.”
We all need respect. Sadly, we often repeat the ill-informed functional aspects of respect that we learned from our parents who demanded respect without giving it. And so I go back to the original definition; “Respect: to consider worthy of high regard, esteem, to refrain from interfering with.” If we can give and hold each other to that same standard of respect that we wish for ourselves, we will live in a happier world.
I wish to explore one of the foundations of life on earth, “Respect.” I write here of man’s relation to man although, man’s respect for nature and the world will ensure a harmonious life for himself with the earth, its foliage and its creatures that provides sustenance for his body and his sense of beauty.
Webster’s: Respect: to consider worthy of high regard, esteem, to refrain from interfering with. Though there are more meanings to the word, these three relationship definitions are the essence of this essay.
To respect another person requires each of us to hold each other in high regard. The simplest way of assuring that relationship requirement is hold others in the same regard as we wish to be held. Just as we do not wish to be judged by our clothing, our speech, our ethnicity, our beauty, our posture, our knowledge or intelligence, or any other quality that is different from the person judging us, so too, we must not judge others. The simple fact of another’s existence demands respect, demands high regard. And, as in so many aspects of life, give and ye shall receive.
To esteem another brings emotion and judgment into the equation. We all start with our own very fundamental personal perceptions of life in general when we are called upon to judge another. More easily we can say that we like someone at first sight, or the opposite, we are put off or even repelled by another at first sight. But that is our individual response to an individual and says nothing about the quality of the other. The quality of the other remains inviolate just as our own quality remains inviolate regardless of anyone else’s opinion of us. Just as the wealthy person is put off by one of meager means, the poorer person is not diminished any more than the wealthy person by this perception. And of course, the opposite is true. Each, in fairness, mandates respect equally from the other.
To refrain from interfering with another covers a broad range of behavior by each individual. Generally, it is the more powerful that interferes with the less powerful. Each of us in any relationship generally knows who is the more powerful. The boss over the employees, the teacher over the students, the parents over the children, knows. However, the master over the slave is not a comparable relationship. That last relationship is an excellent measuring device when we evaluate whether we are interfering with another and therefore, not respectful of the other.
Respect of the parent for the child is the most transparent relationship that exists that shows whether respect at all exists in the powerful person. The parent always falls back on the excuse that he is doing what he or she believes to be best for the child. “Sit up” and “Stand straight” and “Speak respectfully” and “Use your napkin,” are intended to be educational statements by parents. Generally, however, they show an interference with the inferior’s, the child’s personhood. Respect of the parent for the child is a marvelous window into the awareness of those people into the meaning of “Respect.”
We all need respect. Sadly, we often repeat the ill-informed functional aspects of respect that we learned from our parents who demanded respect without giving it. And so I go back to the original definition; “Respect: to consider worthy of high regard, esteem, to refrain from interfering with.” If we can give and hold each other to that same standard of respect that we wish for ourselves, we will live in a happier world.
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