For nearly ten years now, I’ve been curiously watching politics here in the US. Mostly trying to understand why it seems like one side or the other is going to break out in civil war chants or not, due to all the partisanship going on. That aside, and I’ve noticed something else over the last decade or so; Politics is no longer a passion of the people. It is now a full-blown career path. I mean to say; it’s just not about people anymore. It’s about connections, money, payroll and retirement. It’s now a science on how to win, how to manipulate market awareness, control propaganda… it’s pretty sad.
And of course, the people who haven’t realized this and actually put forth a passionate effort are mostly seen as a threat to job security by their peers. Look at every embarrassing ”caught on tape” scandal now. There’s an entire staff of people paid specifically to tell the perpetrator what to say, when to say it, when to release certain information, who to accept an interview with, how to buy time before x, y and z events. It’s an institution built around supporting an institution. A profession to bend truth in order to maintain profitability.
And as usually, one of the biggest institutions to fault for this is the public. People assuming they are helpless or otherwise contributing to the problem by accepting the behavior. Complacent primates looking for a silverback to be riled up by. There’s a lot I could fault about the Roman empire but one thing they had was the belief in the furthering of civilization and our ultimate statement of “Screw You Mother Nature”… thumbs. Instead, we like to pay tax money to people who will humor us using knuckles and the least amount tools possible to complete any given task.
The worst part of all of it is I have to keep paying them to do it by law. If that’s not job security, I don’t know what is.
Hmm, I wonder. Was it ever about the people? Or was it simply the bill of goods sold as justification for offices and actions? Oh, I know, there were a few souls who really meant it and wanted it to be so, but they were (and still are) outnumbered, what, something like 200 to 1? I used to believe that the institution of the initiation of violence (what I posit is the definition of the state) was an acceptable and necessary means to a noble end. Now I feel differently, that I swallowed propaganda.
And I agree, it -is- all about connections, money, payroll and retirement. I think it always was. And yes, you will continue to support it else it be turned on -you-. It’s the best game in town, and we can see the sorts that have been attracted and swarmed to it.
(And by the way, did the Roman Empire come up with all those innovations or were they taken from the civilizations and peoples they invaded and then threw in with the lions? I would hate to see credit given where credit isn’t due.)