Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Politics Is Only About Power

The level of morality in politics depends on how moral a leader is. And of course, the leader should be strong enough to live by his personal ethics and strength of character. Rarely a leader has both. Sad.

Politics amongst countries is no different than relations between individuals. Animals. Out to feed on weaknesses of others. Take World War One and World War Two for instance.

Some countries hunt in packs. Like present day Britain, Germany and France. As they are too weak individually.

Some countries are strong enough to stand alone. Like the USA and China today. But even the US is beginning to fear the growing beast called China. So it is trying to form a pack with India and South east Asian countries.

Democracy is a subtle form of dictatorship.  Lull the masses into believing that they have a say on how the country is run. It is illusory. People in a dictatorship and people in a democracy are hardly in a different position.

The news media is one of the tools of a 'dictator' in a democracy to make people believe in the illusion that they count. The dictator might be the Prime Minister, President,the law-makers, the judges. Collectively.

In a democracy the dictator is not a person. But a collective. If the media is independent and powerful, it becomes part of the ruling collective. If not, it remains a tool by the collective to 'manage' the people.

Hence the eternal fight for independence and freedom of the press. The ruling collective which includes a powerful media is more stable and "legitimate".

Similarly an independent judiciary. A powerful judiciary becomes part of the collective that wields power, makes it stronger and 'palatable' to the masses.

The masses in the feudal times. The masses in a modern democracy. The only difference is that the more able, vocal and ambitious, amongst the masses, have a chance to move into the ruling collective. By becoming judges, lawyers, members of the Senate, editors of newspapers. Otherwise they would turn 'rebels'. Against the ruling collective. It happened in Russia in 1917. The ruler was overthrown. A new system made by the 'rebels' was put in place.


  Russian troops firing on demonstrators with machine guns, corner of Nevsky Prospect and Sadovaya Street, St. Petersburg, June 4, 1917 ( Image by Karl Karlovich Bulla)

Britain and France were smarter. They turned democratic and socialistic. A double whammy. There remained no possibility of a rebel remaining dissatisfied.

Democracy is smarter than dictatorship. The ruling elite absorbs the ambitious and able into its fold thus obviating any possibility of a revolt/revolution.

A dictatorship survives by making a fool of the masses. By convincing them that the ruler has a divine right to rule (Kings and rule by the Church in olden times). Or that the ruler knows what is best for the masses and the country. Hitlerite Germany. Present day North Korea is a combination of both.

Democracy was born because dictators found that it was not possible to bullshit the masses into letting him rule. That power had to be shared amongst many. The judiciary. The elected legislators. An independent media.

The masses are lulled into compliance even in a democracy. For a common person on the street, in reality, the king of yore is no different than a Senator, a judge or an editor of a big newspaper.

Editors and reporters who get too close to elected representatives lose their membership of the ruling collective. They become subservient to it.

Each member of the ruling collective in a democracy is out to lessen the power of other 'members'. This is because lesser the power is shared, the more one gets of it. It is all a game of seeking power. Hence the President tries to run down the legislators. The legislators try to rein in the President. The judiciary tries to check both. The President and the legislators try to weaken the press. The press tries to pick at the weaknesses of the President and legislators.

Basically it is about power. Politics is nothing but naked pursuit of power.

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