Popular Democracy A Vehicle For Tyranny

One reader of yesterday’s editorials, brought up a very important issue, of which our more enlightened ancestors were fully aware, and our own more modern generation doesn’t seem to grasp. The concept of “Tyranny” – as literally defined, philosophically alluded to, or even spiritually grasped – has absolutely nothing to do with the physical number, or percentile quantity, of the participants to such unethical, immoral, illegal, anti-social, and politically dis-enfranchising behaviors! While a “Dictator,” “Despot,” or “King,” may only be one individual; it requires a numerous number of [objectively] other Tyrants in order to achieve and [extensively] maintain his undeserved political power.

As our ancestors were so oft to say, “Birds of a feather, oft stay together” and nowhere is this saying more true than while living under a Tyranny…. Could Hitler, Lenin, or Mao have accomplished their tasks without the readily apparent aid of millions, throughout their own nations? Could Franco, Mussolini, or Peron have maintained their political hegemonies without a large percentage of their own populations walking behind them? Of course, not! Just as criminals will [often] team up in order to accomplish their objectives [even though they, may, personally hate one another]… Despotisms require Tyrants to combine their forces for [their-own] mutually beneficial purposes!

“Tyrannies” and “Tyrants” are terms that are contingent upon societal and individual behavior. In simpler relative terms, Tyrants are effectually “Terrorists…” who will utilize any means: at their disposal and perceptually deemed necessary, to get what they want! They will: ignore you, blackmail you, extort you, threaten you, beat you, or shoot you… and, if the bullets are getting low, they’ll chop off your head…. They will also: ignore the law, go around the law, break the law, or cooperatively convince you to change it; and all for a good reason, of course. They are the masters of societal manipulation through charisma, double-speak, and blatant propaganda!

As Hitler once said, “People will believe anything, as long as it is a big enough lie, and you repeat it often and loudly enough… the biggest lies, are the easiest ones to pull off.” That is a direct quotation; folks… and he meant every last word of it! This is a concept that, every politician understands well and many of them use it everyday. Promise everything, to everyone, whether you can actually do it, or not… and you’ll, very likely, win the upcoming election. After all, most people are ignorant, stupid, or mentally lazy… they prefer not to think too deep… and their long term memory is situationally short, selective, or unfocused. If it [ever] actually becomes time, to deal with the issues, then you pass one law and carefully [or selectively] define it as yet another.

Some classic examples from our own past history are: “To Uphold, Protect, and Preserve The Union [utilized to override the very same laws, which clearly defined it as one],” “Making Democracy More Democratic [to eliminate State representation in the Senate],” and - my personal favorite - “Empowering The People [used to override Individual Freedoms and Property Rights in favor of an artificially created and/or perpetuated societal majority].

What is “an artificially created and/or perpetuated societal majority, you ask?” It is one that is artificially constructed utilizing numerous unaffiliated, unrelated, and/or [even] opposing factions to pass a law; which only a true minority fully desires; but in exchange for certain political concessions [that may, or may not ever, physically come to pass], they’ll either actively support and/or minimally accept it, upon those grounds.

In instances, where this simple formula of uniting disparate factions won’t work, the next tactic is simply to take the opposite approach: “Divide and Conquer.” By dividing us all up into hundreds of divisive, argumentative, and competing sub groups, they can far more effectively manipulate the political electorate! Meanwhile, for the majority of Americans, it is “Heads they win and Tails we lose.”

You see, from the time those “Bullies” were born; they have been perfecting their stock and trade…. Over time, they learned that it is far easier and much safer to reframe an argument from a position of leadership, use emotional manipulation techniques on the crowds, and utilize force only when necessary! Career Politicians are the very finest examples of these charismatic manipulators, doing their real work behind the background - safely away from the [occasionally] vigilant eyes.

Tyrannies are determined by the character traits and principles adhered to…. Tyrants and Terrorists have none… or, at the very most, very few! Tyranny can exist under a 99% majority of the electoral vote or [even] the popular electorate - case in point: Saddam Hussein, Hitler, Stalin, Mao and literally thousands of others. When governments do not derive their direct political authority by “The Consent of The Governed,” they all are Tyrannies of one variety, or another. Nor, does the extent or severity of the abuses, thusly, being perpetrated upon the overall public determine their status!

Tyrannies don’t have to be highly ethnocentric, zealously nationalistic, largely xenophobic, or patently genocidal in order to be what they inevitably are! Is every Bully a “Racist…” do they all stomp around like “Nazi’s”… and are they all “Homicidal Lunatics?” Of course, not! Were that the case, few of us would have made it past first grade.

The “Tea Party Movement” doesn’t exist, because so many Americans have decided [merely, upon the spur of the moment] to get involved just for the heck of it, I assure you! Had that been the case, they would have joined one or the other of the major political parties. No, friends, a growing number of Americans are tired of being disenfranchised from their own political process by two “Tyrannical Parties” that no longer have their consent… either actively, or apathetically… and those that continue to fail in listening, will most certainly "regret it!" Whether they "live to," is really dependent on how long they wait before responding.... History, does [in point of fact] repeat itself, even in America.