BASIC POLITICS

by Lawrence Wilson, MD

©January 2010, The Center For Development

The basics of all politics are rarely taught in schools today. I think this is due, in part, to ignorance by the teachers. Sadly, I believe it is also a subtle effort to confuse young people so they will just avoid the subject. That way the elites who run things will have a free hand to dominate us.

WHY IS CIVICS OR POLITICS IMPORTANT?

Every society must provide certain things for its people. Starting from the most basic, these include:

· Defense from foreign invaders and emergency services.

· Defense against burglers, rapists, murderers and others who harm people inside the nation. This means a need for police, courts, jails, judges and so on.

· Safety standards for products, some services such as airline pilots and even automobile licenses and so on.

· Regulations governing buying and selling, the money supply, weights and measures, transportation, telecommunications, power distribution and other types of standards.

In order to do this, people set up governments. How to do this in the most orderly, efficient, safe, fairest way is the subject of this article. To keep things simple, I will attempt to present principles of government so that one can see how all this fits together.

PRINCIPLE # 1. THE MORE THAT EACH PERSON TAKES CARE OF HIS OWN NEEDS, THE MORE FREEDOM, POWER AND RIGHTS EACH PERSON HAS

Conversely, if a government provides more of your needs, the government has more power and authority, and you have less power and freedom.

So, for example, in the jungle, each animal provides for all its needs, so it is the most powerful there. At the zoo, most or even all of an animal’s needs are taken care of by the zoo keeper. It may be safer, but the animals have no power and are basically just living behind bars in cages. This analogy goes for human beings as well.

The law of the jungle in human society is called anarchy, which means no government. You do as you please and you take care of your needs. The old “wild west” of America was somewhat like this, though certainly not totally so. Everyone had to look out for himself.

The opposite of this in terms of modern society is called the welfare state. Here an all-powerful, all-knowing government takes most of the people’s money in taxes and distributes “benefits” to the people such as their education, health care, welfare, retirement benefits and so on. It may be safer than anarchy, but the people definitely have much less freedom, many fewer rights and much less personal power over their lives.

Stated differently, either you run and control your life and provide for all or most of your needs, or a ruler or government runs your life and provides for your needs. This is the basic idea of politics. Political systems are all a mix or degree of self-rule versus authoritarian government rule. Let us examine the basic ways this can be done.

ANARCHY OR COMPLETE SELF-RULE

Anarchy was mentioned above and is defined as each person rules his own life completely and there is no government at all. This means there are no outer rules one must follow. Each follows his own rules or whims. If you prefer to drive your car on the left side of the road or the right, it is up to you. If you want to shoot someone you don’t like, that is okay, too. Of course, others may also shoot you or steal all your property.

Advantages. Anarchy is probably more fun for the strong and intelligent people who can stay ahead of everyone else. It offers them the most freedom and power. It is also simple, does not require learning rules and regulations, involves no bureaucracy, voting, court houses, jails, or any other trappings of modern society. It is very cheap to administer, in other words.

Problems with anarchy and why it does not work. Anarchy does not work well because only the fittest and cleverest survive, and the rest are generally left to their own devices and subjugated by the strong and willful. Thus, it is a terrible system for the weak, the sick, the disabled or the less clever and less intelligent people. There is no protection for them, so they are generally exploited horribly, and often just killed off. This often includes the women and children, who are more dependent and less strong.

Also, anarchy does not support commerce, which is needed to supply humans with all the food, shelter and goods and services they need. One problem is there is no monetary system in a an anarchic society, so “anything goes”, and barter is the main method of commerce. This is very cumbersome and discussed in a separate article, Basic Banking.

Anarchy also does not support industry or agriculture, which depend upon laws such as private property rights, and laws against stealing and damaging the property of others. Without such laws, few would want to undertake any kind of business or farming, even, since they know it can be stolen or destroyed by anyone at any time, without any consequences.

It is also not a good system for anyone that wishes to develop spiritually, which is the goal of humanity, always. The reason for this is it is too unstable and insecure. People need some security and safety from maurauders, thieves, rapists, murderers and other malcontents.

AUTHORITARIANISM OR TOTALITARIAN SOCIETIES – TOTAL GOVERNMENT CONTROL AND NO SELF-RULE

The opposite of anarchy or anarchism is authoritarianism. This means the government or the ruler makes all the decisions for the people. The people are basically like the animals in the zoo, or like serfs or even slaves of the government.

Until about 200 years ago, authoritarian governments were the standard on earth. They often involved a king or queen who was the absolute ruler. Sometimes a committee made the rules and ran the nation, as occurs today in Red China, Russia, North Korea, Iran and other nations that are set up basically this way.

The rulers make most important decisions for the people, even deciding life and death. They control the banks and the money, the businesses and industry, they own the property and perhaps just rent it to the people. In some nations, the people “own” property, but the government can steal it or “nationalize” or “appropriate” it whenever they want to.

The government also makes all the decisions about the inheritance of land and other property when someone dies, they control health care, the education system, the retirement or welfare system for the poor, and much more. This was the rule on planet earth until 1776, when America set a new standard.

Advantages. Authoritarian or totalitarian rule seems simple. There is no need to consult the legislature and the people when making decisions. Everything is top down and people know that the ruler or the ruling committee is in charge. Some people actually like this system, as it is clear and defined. Other possible benefits are that it is easier to manage large projects centrally, such as running an army or even a huge building project. There is some economy of scale, meaning that doing things centrally on a large scale can be less costly, at times. Also, it is easy to have one standard for the whole nation, since it is all dictated from above.

Problems with totalitarian societies. These are many and include massive corruption and very costly and cumbersome bureaucracies or armies of workers who are needed to collect information about the people, manage the money, distribute all the goods, services, welfare, health care, education and other benefits. Another huge problem is that no one is intelligent enough today to know all there is to know about education, health care, etc. As a result, centrally managed systems tend to make a lot of errors, many of which can be very serious and fatal for the society because they simply are not smart enough to manage the needs of millions of individuals.

When forced to comply with loads of rules and forced to give most of their money to the government, people tend not to work any harder than they have to, so the society often languishes. They also become angry and often rebellious against the government when things don’t go well. Finally, taking away people’s incentives and freedom deprives them of vital life experiences and learning opportunities, so the people do not develop mentally and spiritually nearly as well. they behave and live more like caged animals at the zoo than like human beings.

Another problem is called perverse incentives. This means that when people are given all sorts of welfare benefits, they become lazy, not as caring about their health, and tend to abuse or overuse the government benefits because they are “free” or close to it.

Keep these two extremes – anarchy and authoritarianism - in mind at all times, as all other systems are variants somewhere in between them. This is the basic framework of all politics.

PRINCIPLE #2. NATIONS CAN BE RULED MORE BY LAWS, OR MORE BY THE WHIM OF PEOPLE

This is another way to understand modern societies. Some are based on fixed laws, while others are not run by laws as much as they are run by one person, a committee or a parliament or group of people. Let us examine examples of each of these and the words used to describe them.

A. Systems in which laws that apply to most everyone rule the people.

1. Traditional indigenous societies. Many traditional tribal or indigenous societies are governed by strict rules that have been handed down for generations. For example, some are called a theocracy. This word means rule by a religious group or religious or spiritual laws. An example of this in biblical times was the Jewish people, who strictly followed the many rules in the Torah. Modern examples are the Muslim nations that are run by clerics and that strictly follow what is called Sharia law, again found in their holy books.

Christianity never set up strict laws for an entire society, so strictly Christian nations do not exist. Nor do strictly Buddhist or Hindu nations exist, although some areas of India and even China are strictly governed by laws derived from their holy books.

Advantages. These older and often very tradition-bound societies tend to be stable, in some cases, because everyone knows the rules, knows what to do and where they fit into the society. Men’s role, woman’s role, and even the child’s role are all prescribed. This offers a certain comfort and prescribed identity that some people really like. If the laws and regulations are good or fair, the society can survive a long time this way.

Problems with tribal indigenous societies and theocracies include:

1) They have difficulty with technological changes. They cannot shift or change easily as new ways of doing things come along. As a result, they often disintegrate quickly when new farm implements, guns, automobiles or other new technologies are introduced.

2) They have difficulty adapting as their people mature. For example, women are tired of being second class citizens in many Muslim or Islamic nations, today, and are asserting themselves more. This is okay, but it tends to destroy the whole society, which is built around certain gender roles and behaviors.

3. A newer law-based society - the republic. This type of society, of which America is the prime model, is based on a rigid system of laws that are described in documents called Constitutions. A constitution is a contract between the people and their government. It sets down what the people may do, and what functions are delegated to the government and how it is to operate. The US Constitution is only about 10 pages long, but it is quite clear about the role of the government and the basic rules to be followed. The functions and powers of the central government are strictly limited so that the people and the states have most of the power. It has been terribly abused, but is still in place today, at least in theory.

Republics have a mechanism for updating and changing the laws in a peaceful manner in order to keep up with changes in the technology or others. They do this by amending their constitutions, and by passing statutes, which are laws that must conform to the basic constitutional law.

The word republic means the rule of law, instead of the rule of people. The job of the leaders is to carry out the laws, rather than to just do whatever they want, as occurs in the systems of government listed below.

For example, in the United States of America, all the senators, congressmen, presidents and appointees swear an oath to “uphold the Constitution of the United States”. In other words, their job is not to do as they please. They are to execute, meaning to carry out or enforce the laws of the land. This is the essence of a republican form or government.

Advantages of this system of government. If set up right, it has the stability of having a strict code of simple, well-known, and easily understood laws. This offers comfort to the people, supports commerce and industry, and provides all the benefits of a traditional society above.

At the same time, as technology advances and humanity evolves as well, the laws can be changed so that the society evolves with the people and the laws are kept up to date.

An important advantage of all societies ruled by laws rather than people is that everyone should be treated fairly equally under the law. This makes for peace between people, reduces corruption greatly because there is less incentive to try to bribe judges and juries, and generally helps prevent strife.

Disadvantages or problems with republics. Many can arise. For example, if the people do not understand the system, they elect poor quality leaders who change the laws to make them stupid, inefficient or unjust. Corruption can also set in and cause the passage of bad laws. Enforcement of the laws can be lax, and then the laws become a joke. This is the case with immigration and border security in America, for example.

A problem with any legally-based society is also that if fast action is needed in an emergency, the laws may not provide all the answers and the society must somehow come up with new laws or new mechanisms to deal with the problem. An example in America occurred after the attack on the World Trade Towers in September 2001. US laws were not set up to deal with terrorists, but rather with war with other nations. Terrorists are not from a single nation and so the American people and government are still, years later, trying to come up with a legalistic strategy to deal with terrorism.

The founders of America placed many checks and balances of power in the American system of laws to help prevent or minimize these problems. Overall, the system has worked well until the last 50-60 years, and even then, it is better than most other nations.

Important terms having to do with the American republic. Conservative or right wing. These words, in America, refer to people who are often religious Christians, and who want America to return to the rule of the US Constitution more carefully than is done today. They miss the rule of law that kept America honest, strong and freer for almost 200 years. Many also want a more Christian religious tone to American laws and politics. They base this idea on the fact that America was formerly quite a religious society, although there was never a state religion, as there was in European nations. Also, American law was inspired by the bible and America adopted the English common law, which is also based on the bible. English common law has largely been superceded by statutes in America, but the principle of many of our laws still derives from English common law which, in turn, is often biblically based.

Libertarians. This is another important word in American political life. This group or this ideology also wants America to return to a stricter rule of law and the US Constitution. Libertarians differ from conservatives in a number of ways.

Libertarians want more moral freedom without the restraints found in the bible, so they often support things like gay marriage, legalized prostitution, legalized gambling, legal abortions and so on. They believe in more personal freedom, in other words, as long as it does not harm others and is among adults only.

Libertarians also advocate an even smaller government and much less intervention in other nations, since that was a tenet of the original founders of America. The American founders falsely believed that America would be left alone and could simply be concerned about defense of her borders and little else. This turned out not be true.

In particular, the European banking establishment such as the Morgans, Rockefellers and Rothchilds wanted control of the money in America. So they quickly infiltrated the American banks and wreaked havoc on America. Among their horrible schemes were to incite wars such as the Civil War by pitting North against South. They finally succeeding in basically conquering America in 1913 with the passage of the Federal Reserve Act establishing a central bank under their private control. To read all about this, read The Creature From Jekyll Island by G. Edward Griffin or similar books.

For this and other reasons, America has not been able to isolate herself, and this is even less true today with modern transportation and electronic communication.

Libertarians are also very strong on maintaining the right to bear arms in order to remind the government that they cannot just ride roughshod over the people. It is a movement that is growing slowly in America.

CONFUSION OF TERMINOLOGY, MOST OF IT DELIBERATE

Communist or “people’s” republics. The word republic has been abused by many communist nations in the past 100 years. Places like Red China call themselves “people’s republics” when they are not republics much at all. They fall into the category of governmental systems described below. This has sadly given the word republic a bad name that it does not deserve. This was a deliberate attempt to manipulate people and confuse them by manipulating their language.

Also, a republican form of government has nothing to do with any political party.

Classical liberalism. Another term for the American system of republican government is classical liberalism. Unfortunately, the word liberal has been redefined today in the media to mean socialist and progressive, which are the opposite of classical liberalism in many ways. This was, at least in part, a deliberate attempt to subvert the very successful system of limited government based on freedom. The confusion has worked – meaning most people do not understand the meaning of the words and are more swayed by nice-sounding phrases than by the ideas behind them.

Governmental systems that are more based on the rule of people than they are on the rule of law.

1. Old fashioned monarchies. This is basically rule by a king, queen or other royal family members. Such societies were very common on earth until the twentieth century. Now they are confined largely to the Middle East such as Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia and parts of Asia and Africa.

2. Modern dictatorships, also often called totalitarian societies, meaning total government control. These are very similar to the old monarchies in the paragraph above. The differences usually are that these are more often run by a central committee that makes all the rules and laws, and they are often more militaristic, rather than full of pomp and glamour as were the old monarchies of Europe. Examples are North Korea, Red China, Cuba, present-day Venezuela, Nazi Germany, the former Soviet Union and possibly present-day Russia, Mexico, and many smaller nations or Africa.

As with the monarchies, the leader or committee has complete control, no matter what they claim are the laws of the land. They can take people’s lives, their property and do whatever they want with it with few if any controls or recourse for their people.

3. Parliamentary democracies and welfare states. These are modern-day semi-totalitarian governments that are popular in Europe, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and a few other nations. Most were former monarchies or colonies of Great Britain or other European nations.

A democracy literally means ‘rule of the people’. In theory, there are two types of democracies. The first is a pure democracy. This is where everyone votes for every issue. It is completely impossible except in a family, perhaps, and even there it is quite impractical. The common type of democracy is called a representative democracy. This means that the people are allowed only to vote for their rulers. Then their representatives or rulers make all the decisions for them.

Advantages of a democracy. The main advantage is that the people have some input. As a result, the leaders must cater, at least to some degree, to the needs of the people. This is a huge step forward for many nations that previously just have a one-party rule or a monarchy, for example.

Problems with democracies. The main problem is that individuals have no rights. If 51% of the people vote to kill someone, for example, that person is put to death and has no recourse. After all, the majority want it that way. If 51% of the people vote to go to war, the nation goes to war. If 51% of the people vote the next day to stop the war, the war stops.

I hope you can see that a pure democracy is really mob rule. The founders of America were well aware of this. So they purposely chose a republic, not a democracy, as the form of government for America. Recall that a republic means the strict rule of laws, not the rule of majorities. The laws protect individual freedoms and rights, so even if 100% of the people were to vote to kill someone or take his property, for example, it is not permitted by law. No nation on earth is a pure democracy because they do not work well at all. The mob or majority is a fickle group that can too easily be influence by their emotions and passions.

Very sadly, the word democracy is misused on a daily basis, even by school teachers and even by most world leaders including presidents Bush and Obama. They repeatedly refer to the United States as a democracy, which it is not. America is a republic with democratically elected leaders. It is not, never was and fortunately never will be a democracy.

Difference between a republic and a parliamentary democracy or welfare states. In a republic such as the United States, the rulers are expected to carry out the laws in the Constitution. In a parliamentary or social democracy, however, the members of parliament or rulers have quite unlimited powers. They may have a Constitution, or contract with the people, but it is mostly just in theory. So, for example, in Europe, if the government wants to take over an industry, they just do it. This has happened over and over. If the government wants to take over health care, they just go ahead an do so.

This kind of behavior should be illegal in America because it violates the people’s rights to their property and their businesses, and the right to contract freely. Unfortunately, in recent years the Supreme Court of the United States and the lower courts have allowed the government to take away more and more of the people’s rights.

4. Other societies ruled by committees and/or dictators include any that that are called liberal, leftist, left wing, Marxist, socialist, or progressive. These words all refer to a large, powerful government with almost unrestrained power.

Advantages of government by men and women, unrestrained by many laws. The main advantage of the system of government of monarchy, oligarchy (a small group makes the decisions), dictatorship, parliaments, Marxist, socialist or progressive is that decisions can be made quickly and easily without wasting time getting the approval of the people or the Congress.

If the decisions are very good, this can be an important advantage. For example, the leaders of Red China have made some wise decisions concerning business that is causing that country to grow quickly and become more prosperous.

Also, in theory the people are all hopefully cared for by the welfare system. In other words, no one goes without medical care, a pension or social security and basic needs such as housing. This is not often the truth, but it is the rhetoric, at least, and it is true in many of the more relaxed European and Asian welfare states, but not in the dictatorships of Arabia, Africa, Russia, Mexico, North Korea and even Red China, as yet.

Disadvantages of governments run mainly by people rather than rigid codes of laws:

1) Poor decisions. These are often disastrous for the society because there is no recourse or real opposition allowed, so nothing can be done to stop destructive policies, destructive wars, etc. This is what ended Nazi Germany, the British empire, the old Soviet Union and most totalitarian and socialist nations.

2) Inability to adapt, often. The leaders are often so burdened with decisions, especially in a large nation, that they can’t really see what is coming and how to change with new technology, for example.

3) Oppression of the people. This may seen justified, but in fact it causes many problems such as reduced economic output, uprisings, more illness, less safety, more drug use, more alcoholism, more class warfare, establishment of black markets and other problems, since it stifles the people’s freedom, liberties and rights. Most people do not like being treated like caged animals at the zoo.

4) Instability. The above causes a certain instability in most dictatorships and even welfare states. Rules are not clear, and may change from day to day. This impedes commerce and everything else. People do not feel secure and safe. People start to feel alienated, unsure about their future, unsure about starting businesses or even unsure about having children because the rules can change at any time.

5) High costs and often bankruptsy. Among the costs are:

· Extreme administrative costs because large government bureaucracies are needed to track everyone’s status and needs, and to hand out the benefits, and then to track waste and fraud and punish the cheaters and so on.

· Waste. Government programs administered from miles away often involve a lot of waste because the distant administrators simply cannot know enough about what is going on thousands of miles away.

· Perverse incentives. This means that welfare states give people incentives to become lazy, less likely to work, more likely to call in sick even if they are well, and much more likely to overuse and abuse government services like health care just because it is free or low cost.

· Fraud. This is a major problem in government-run programs. It is due to lack of oversight and distant administration of programs. It is just impossible to police the system well.

· Massive paperwork. To reduce fraud, waste, abuse, and to oversee the system, there must be a lot of forms filled out in triplicate that are analyzed by computers or operators to check facts and details. This takes a lot of extra time, extra personnel, extra computer equipment and so on.

· Inefficiency. While some government programs run well, most are horribly inefficient. Reason are the perverse incentives mentioned above, along with waste, fraud, abuse, and general stupidity of the bureaucrats who have too much job security most of the time so they don’t care if their work is not really up to par. Also, the entire idea of taxing the people heavily, then passing the money through large bureaucracies and then resending the money back to the people as “benefits” is highly inefficient. Compare this to just letting people keep their money and spend it as they want, and care for the poor and disabled through private charity or even a simple government safety net.

Mental and spiritual development are often less as well because people have fewer incentives to improve themselves.

BROAD TRENDS IN GOVERNMENT IN AMERICA

Based on the concepts discussed above, there are two basic trends in government in America. Describing them will be helpful to understand them better. The first I will call the conservative/libertarian trend, and the second I will call the socialist/Marxist/liberal/progressive trend.

THE CONSERVATIVE/LIBERTARIAN TREND

Millions of people in America want the United States to return to more strict adherence to the US Constitution and other basic laws and principles the nation was founded upon. They are more closely associated with the Republican or Libertarian Parties in the US, though not always. I will describe in more detail their basic platform.

1. The people know best what they basically want and need, not the rulers.

2. Let the people make most of the decisions.

3. Let the people make the laws as well, within a framework that is called a Constitution. This was a new type of document, never used before, that was a charter or agreement between the people and their rulers. It sets out what the people can do and say, and what the rulers can do and say.

4. Let the people elect their rulers or leaders.

5. The constitutions can be changed by amending it, but not easily. This is to maintain stable laws.

6. The people also reserve the right of rebellion, assembly, speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, right to own and use guns freely. These rights and freedoms are in part natural rights from God, and also help remind the rulers that they serve the people, and not the other way around.

A few other important doctrines are:

1. While personal freedom and sovereignty are important, one must not harm or impinge upon the freedom of another. In other words, the people’s sovereignty or power is shared among the people. This is a curious type of power that is far more spiritual in its concept. It basically says, “I am powerful, but I must not hurt another person or infringe on another’s ability to be free and powerful either”. This does not mean that one may not employ another and tell the employee what to do. However, the employee also has the power to choose not to work for the employer who does not treat him well.

In other words, it is a voluntary system, not a slavery system. Some doubt that this actually works in practice, and it is not perfect. However, it is far better than anything anyone else has come up with, including Karl Marx, who dreamt of a worker’s paradise that has never worked in practice because some people are better at leading and directing, while others do best taking orders and working for other people.

2. An aspect of the source of person power is that each person is endowed with natural rights by the creator of all life and rights, which is a mystery greater than any of us. These rights are unalienable. This means they cannot be taken away by any government because they come from a higher source – the creator or God.

3. The people form a government to be their servant to protect their unalienable rights. In other words, all power resides with the people. However, to run a smooth society, the people temporarily turn over or delegate certain limited powers to their government such as the power to raise an army or levy taxes to pay for certain limited things such as the army, the navy or the postal service.

All of powers and roles of the government are spelled out clearly, or should be, in documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. The latter explains exactly what powers are delegated to the government, and what powers and rights people do not delegate to the government.

The US federal and state constitutions have been thoroughly trashed in the past century, but the words are still there on paper for anyone to check.

Therefore, the people own, run and control the government, which serves at the pleasure of the people only. The government has no power except that which the people delegate to it, and which the people can take back at any time.

Thomas Jefferson wrote that if the people really don’t like the government, they have the right to revolt and overthrow it and put in a new one. This is how they justified the American Revolution, in fact.

The government may not interfere with basic freedoms, rights to work, freedom to contract with others and to live as one pleases, as long as one does not harm others. The role of the government is not as a provider or doting parent, nearly as much as it is a role of referee. It is restrained and must stand aside so people can live as they choose.

Now let us look at an opposite trend in America that has made great strides in the past 100 years or so.

THE TREND TOWARD WHAT IS CALLED EITHER LIBERALISM, PROGRESSIVISM, MARXISM, SOCIALISM, COMMUNISM, OR PARLIAMENTARY OR SOCIAL DEMOCRACY

This trend basically seeks to undermine the US Constitution and abandon it in favor of a parliamentary democracy as Europe has, or even to set up a totalitarian, secular, “green” society. They also want to stop modern capitalism, which they claim is a bad economic system. People in this camp believe the US Constitution is, and perhaps always was a bad idea. They feel it is restrictive, out of date, too religious or Christian, and basically unfair to the poor, for example.

Here is their basic argument. If you allow the masses to have “too much freedom”, especially in the area of money and business, some will be smarter and work harder. They will make more money, while others will be left behind to work in the factories or at low-paying jobs. This, they say, is unfair and just one the big problems with capitalism and freedom. Another problem with freedom in industry and business is people pollute and are killing the planet by burning oil, for example, or making toxic chemicals.

In response, the capitalists point out that capitalist America is far more environmentally responsible than totalitarian nations such as China, Mexico, North Korea and all the others. The pollution in Mexico or China are hundreds of times worse than they are in any American city. The reason is that when people have strong property rights, as they do in a capitalist nation, people can sue for damages when someone starts polluting the air or water. In a totalitarian nation, no such recourse exists.

Also, capitalism, of itself, does not pollute. Bad technology pollutes and is slowly replaced by better technology as society evolves.

The government as provider and protector, not referee. Progressives, liberals or socialists (similar terms in their overall meaning) favor a more totalitarian system where the government takes most of people’s money in taxes and takes away many freedoms like the right to bear arms, to speak freely, to petition and oppose the government, and others. In return, the government will change its role from referee to provider of most services, which, in theory, it doles out equally to everyone regardless of their wealth, status, how hard they work or their race, color, creed sexual preference or national origin. This, they say, is the only just way to run a society. A code word for this is social justice.

Doing all this, and controlling so many vital activities such as health care, requires a huge, expensive, totalitarian style government. For this reason, even if they do not admit it, liberals, socialists and progressives are basically authoritarians. It is extremely similar to Marxism, communism, and other left wing philosophies, which is why I lump them together. In fact, the progressives and liberals often quote and look up to Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin and Mao Tse Tung as their heroes.

Instead of capitalism, an economic system based on freedom to earn, save and invest your own money, they believe in socialism and a command-and-control economy. This is an economic system in which the government basically dictates what will be produced, or grown, or mined, how much of each product will be made, what the price will be and so forth.

This kind of system has been tried many times and it always fails because no government is smart enough to anticipate the needs of the people and to understand technological change well enough to be able to figure out what products are best to produce and how much of each. However, this fact does not stop the liberals, progressives and socialists from insisting that it is the best way to do business.

Moral relativism. Most liberals and progressives also reject biblical authority and biblical moral standards such as any defined moral truths, and specifically laws against sodomy and abortion. Many are openly or covertly anti-Christian, in fact. They believe the bible is old-fashioned, outdated, too rigid or strict for modern times, and that it discriminates against women, homosexuals, transvestites and perhaps others.

The main doctrine of the progressives and liberals in the moral realm is called moral relativism. This is the idea that there is no right and wrong and each person can have their own truth in the moral area. This is quite the opposite of the Ten Commandments, for example. Some liberals do not believe in any moral rules, sadly, other than obvious crimes like murder. Even murder or rape they sometimes excuse if it was done by an “oppressed minority person”, perhaps.

Environmentalists. Many liberals embrace the environmental agenda, which is that freedom is causing mankind to ruin and pillage the earth. Therefore we must have a strong central and preferably world government to control the human beings, and all their technology, industry and activities such as air travel and others that pollute.

Liberals rarely embrace the capitalist solution to pollution, which is to have strong property rights so that anyone who is polluting the property or water or air of another can be sued in court and put out of business and held responsible for their actions and go to jail. This actually works well, but is a free market solution, so it is rarely mentioned in the media, for example.

Liberals and conservatives opposite in some ways. The progressives and liberals want much less freedom in the areas of economics and politics, but more freedom in the area of morals and behavior. This is the opposite of the conservatives and some libertarians.

These two trends in America - the conservative-libertarian trend and the socialist-progressive-environmentalist-Marxist trend - are on a collision course. It will be interesting to see what emerges, hopefully without violence.

Now I want to switch topics a little and discuss the psychology of politics and voting.

HOW MOST PEOPLE THINK ABOUT POLITICS AND DECIDE WHOM TO VOTE FOR

This is an important subject because it explains why some societies are succeeding today and others, such as the United States, are not doing as well. Let us discuss about four or five ways that most people decide whom to vote for.

1. Confused, uninformed, victimized, naïve, misinformed, voters. This article is directed toward this group. Millions of voters in many nations have difficulty understanding politics and the primary issues of our times. As a result, they are easily swayed by sweet-sounding promises and clever language that often disguises a politician’s true intents.

This group is often naïve and believes the words of shady candidates of all parties. This is a second problem they have. Also, many do not know how to check a politician’s voting record and how to evaluate a politician. I hope this article provides a framework for evaluating a candidate’s record and what he really stands for, not what he claims to believe or support.

2. Superficial voters. This group of people vote for candidates for often superficial reasons. They vote for the person who speaks the best, has a sexy look, promises the most money to them, or has the prettiest wife, perhaps.

The existence of this large group of people is one of the serious weaknesses of democratic elections. To minimize it, when America was set up, the House of Representatives was to be chosen by popular vote, but the Senate, the more powerful body, was to be chosen by the state legislature. This was to act as a check on the idea of totally public or popular elections, which the founders knew are easy to manipulate because most people do not read much and do not think much about their political candidates. This was unfortunately changed early in the twentieth century and is one reason America is suffering today.

3. One-issue voters. This is another dangerous kind of voter. These people have one topic or issue that they focus upon. They vote for candidates who support their issue, without regard, often, for the candidate’s other views. For example, millions in Europe and some in America vote for “green” or environmentalist candidates, or “peace” candidates, without regard for other issues. It does not matter if the man or woman is a moron, dishonest, corrupt or just plain lying.

This type of voter is dangerous because each politician is a complicated person who will be called upon to make complex and important decisions in every area of public life. We need public servants of great honesty, integrity, courage, intelligence, willing to make personal effort and sacrifice, if needed, to do the right thing. Unless one examines all these qualities, one cannot adequately judge a person’s fitness for public office. This is just another problem with democratic elections.

4. Ideological voters. This group supports and votes for an ideology. Examples are Marxists, socialists, communists, religious people, union supporters, or libertarians. They tend to vote for the candidate whom their party or group supports, whether or not he is smart, capable or honest.

Politicians who think in terms of ideology tend to think narrowly and try to fit all problems and solutions into their ideological framework. For example, unionists think that workers in a union can solve most problems. Socialists think the government can solve most problems. Libertarians want the government out of the way so individuals and companies can solve the problems. I would say the latter are the closest to reality, but not always.

Ideological politicians and voters often do not keep themselves abreast of innovations, opposing views and other realities. They are also less creative, and much less flexible in their thinking. Ideological thinking can work if the ideology is very sound. Too often, however, it is too narrow-minded and causes terrible problems for nations.

5. Cynical or uninterested voters. Another large group in most nations of the world with elections believe that all politicians are crooked, or they believe the “system doesn’t work anyway”, or something similar to this. They are dangerous for at least two reasons.

First, they tend to vote for anyone who offers “change”. Because they are quite cynical, they often don’t examine what the change is very carefully. They just figure it can’t be any worse than what is going on presently, which of course is not true in almost all cases. America is getting “change” promised by Mr. Obama that is far worse in many ways than what went on before. This may be up for debate, but it is not debatable that corruption and payoffs to senators to pass legislation has hit an all time level of horror.

Such people easily switch parties and are fickle and often non-thinking voters that could elect an Adolph Hitler if he came across as offering an “alternative” that sounded credible. They also are easily swayed by angry media channels and others who exploit their cynicism for their own purposes. Many environmental groups have come to power with the help of slogan’s that sound like change but is just a new form of tyranny with the new gang in charge.

The other problem in this group is that by abstaining from voting, as they often do, they may allow a small, vocal group to dominate an election unfairly.

If possible, note if you are one of the people described above. If so, try to broaden your outlook and open your mind because electing good leaders is absolutely critical today in all nations.

OTHER IMPORTANT POLITICAL DEFINITIONS AND TOPICS

EMPIRES

An empire refers to a world power that controls large areas of land and perhaps the seas, as well, for its own selfish purposes. Examples from the past include the Roman empire at the time of Christ, and more recently European empires such as the British, French, Portuguese and Spanish world empires. These nations colonized and controlled many parts of the world. Many ancient empires existed as well everywhere in the world, from Japan and China to Africa and elsewhere.

The concept of an empire is to control as much land as possible and extract taxes or even outright enslave the people of those lands to enrich the coffers of the mother country. It is an old story on planet earth.

Some say America is now an empire because she has troops stationed in some 40 nations and America exerts her military and economic power around the world. To a slight degree, this is true. America is very influential in the world and some say America is the only superpower left, although China and India are wealthier, today, and gaining power fast.

However, American influence is nothing like the oppressive colonial empires of the past. The older empires taxed all the people, treated them terribly, and periodically sent armies to slaughter enough of them to frighten the rest into compliance.

The American business and military empire around the world often does the exact opposite. It supplies billions in foreign aid, protects literally hundreds of nations from communist infiltration, and actually furnishes good employment for millions around the world. It helps many nations develop its resources and businesses, trains local workers, builds thousands of schools and factories, and often even improves the health, water supplies, and environmental conditions in many nations. It is certainly not perfect, but to compare America to the British or worse, to other empires, is actually laughable.

The American military, for example, today defends nations that don’t even like America such as many Asian nations like Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. They would have been overrun by the Red Chinese years ago without American aid and unspoken military support. Similarly, all of Europe would have fallen to the Russian communists if America did not step in after World War II and oppose communist expansion in Europe and elsewhere. In most cases, America still pays the bill for the military protection for even wealthy nations such as South Korea, Australia and others.

CAPITALISM

This is another important word to understand. Capitalism is not a political system. It is also not about corporations. Capitalism is an economic system in which people are essentially free to set up businesses, factories, farms and other economic entities, hire people if they wish, and produce goods and services as they desire. It requires doctrines such as the right to own property, the right to keep most of the fruits of your labor, a right to work and hire people freely, and even the right to fail in one’s business.

It is also about the freedom of private individuals and groups of people who form companies to make their own decisions about how to spend and invest their own money. This is what capitalism is, and nothing more. It is also sometimes called laissez faire or the free market system.

Is America capitalist today? The answer is only partially so, and less so every year. If America were as capitalist as even Red China, America would be in much better condition financially. However, in the past 50 years, in particular, and starting earlier than that, laws have been passed regulating every aspect of economic activity in America. Many businesses such as oil refining have just been shut down totally by mentally ill environmentalists. This is forcing America to import all her refined oil from often horrible nations that harbor terrorists that want to kill anyone they can in America.

Another area in which capitalism is stifled in America is the prevalence of licenses for all sorts of business activity. These, in my view, are all unconstitutional. America was founded upon a right to work. Forcing businesses to pay outrageous taxes and to buy licenses, including medical licenses to work as a doctor, is thoroughly opposed to the rights to work, to hire people and contract with others freely that was a hallmark of American business.

I am tired of hearing, even from politicians and pundits on television, that a problem in the world is capitalism. It is not a problem at all. The problem is the restrictions placed on capitalism that cause economic decay, economic dislocation and misallocation of resources and so many other problems such as the present “health care crisis”. For more on that topic read Health Care for the New Millennium and America’s Socialized Medical System.

Capitalism is an economic system based on economic freedom that is rarely allowed in the world. When it is, it is by far the most productive, the most humane, the most environmentally friendly and most sane economic system for producing what people need and want, in the right amounts and at the lowest prices, that has ever been devised.

Its opposite is called a command and control economy. In this economic system, the government decides which factories will be built, which products will be produced, how many of them will be made, what they will cost, perhaps who will run the factories, and more. In other words, the king or the bureaucrats in the government make all or many of the most important economic decisions for the nation.

This system does not work well at all because economic decisions are so complex that no leader or committee is smart enough to make all thee decisions wisely. For example, estimating what type of cars, computers, medical services, houses, and millions or billions of other products and services are needed by each man, woman and child, not to mention what is needed by every business and factory in the nation, is impossible for anyone to know. Any government official who claims he can do this is lying.

In a free market capitalist system, the marketplace, with its pricing, provides feedback that tells each business what to make, how many of each product to make or how much of each service to offer. The feedback from the marketplace is continuous and evolving every moment. The system works well, though no system is perfect.

For example, the people who actually build the computers find that model 1234 is selling well, so that means it is the one people want, even if the company does not know why. So they make more of those and stop making model ABC, which fewer people seem to want. When they think up a new product, they put it on the market and they see what sells. They system is holistic, self-balancing, self-correcting, and full of feedback, and it keeps society moving ahead. The economic engine adjusts to the needs of the society in a beautiful and unpredictable way as a total system. It is precisely the slight chaos of the marketplace that irks many socialists because they cannot control it and cannot predict where it is going very well.

By contrast, command and control economies perform horribly. Someone in control forces the companies to produce certain items and bans others. Shortages develop, surpluses develop, people are thrown out of jobs when in fact there is plenty of work to do but it is not ‘approved’ by the authorities so it doesn’t get done. Command and control economies are also usually far more corrupt. In the old Soviet Union and even there today, things get so bad that everyone turns to the “black market” to supply their needs, even the government. The ‘black market’ is nothing more than the free market capitalist economy that springs up like flowers in the springtime to care for the people’s needs, even if it is declared illegal and anti-revolutionary by the pundits in Moscow or in Washington, DC.

For example, a recent news broadcast announced that in Canada today private hospitals are illegal. However, the government allows them to flourish because the government socialized medicine program cannot care for the people, and the private hospitals can do the job. (reported on National Public Radio, 2006).

One reason why authoritarian or totalitarian nations often start wars is they cannot produce the goods and services their people need, so they decide to distract attention from this and steal the goods and services from other nations by going to war with them. For more on capitalism, read Capitalism and Freedom.

CORPORATIONS

I am also tired of hearing the lie that corporations are the problem in the world today. To produce any good or service in quantity requires a complex structure called a corporation. They are very old institutions dating back thousands of years.

Modern corporations are able to organize people, materials, natural resources, factories or offices to produce an incredible array of goods and services at low prices. You may not like to work for a large corporation, but they function well and they get the job done, often in truly remarkable fashion, I think. I look at what a modern car or computer can do and I marvel that they are available so easily and relatively inexpensively.

It is quite insane to blame corporations for pollution or anything else. They just build products and follow the laws. Some are corrupt, but so are some government officials, and many others.

I find many of those that want to place blame mainly on corporations are what I call anti-progress or anti-science, thinking that somehow we would be better off living in the dark ages, stoking wood fires instead of burning gasoline, riding on horses instead of cars, and probably starving instead of having enough to eat. Please examine this attitude carefully when you hear it and question why people believe this way.

It is true that companies that grow very large often engage in anti-competitive practices and deceptive advertising, at times. However, these problems are rather easy to solve with better regulation of advertising and awareness of corruption. To read a lot more on corporations, read Corporations.

AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM AND THE FORCES OPPOSING IT TODAY

American exceptionalism is another important term to understand well. It refers to the idea that America is different than other nations in some way, and that America sets an example for other nations in standing up to tyranny around the world. It also means America comes to the defense of other nations when asked, unlike most nations that are not as interested in helping other nations in trouble. This is American exceptionalism. Do not be confused by others’ definitions such as the that we are leaders in ‘green ‘ technology or something else.

Barak Obama, for example, is quite ashamed of America’s past. Since taking office he has offered apologies whenever he travels to Europe or Asia. He is ashamed of our military efforts to stop communism, for example, in Asia, and basically said that to the Communist Chinese. This is the opposite of American exceptionalism.

As to whether American exceptionalism is a good or a bad idea, that will depend on where you stand or what you believe in personally. I am proud of it, and ashamed of a president who apologizes for it. It has not been all good, but overall there has never been a more generous, giving, self-sacrificing nation like it that I am aware of in history. A president who is ashamed of his nation’s past in this way is either totally misinformed or quite mentally ill, from my perspective, and needs to be voted out immediately. This introduces the next political topic. It is to examine the main forces that are tearing down America at this time (2010). These include, but are not limited to:

1. Environmentalists. These people are mentally ill, many of them, and believe we are killing the earth. Nothing could be further from the truth. However, they run most of the American colleges and teach the young to hate anyone who does not follow their rules, which, of course, are not the same as the rules in the US Constitution. They are all very guilty people who do not think clearly and are often closet socialists and authoritarians. They hate anyone who does not follow their radical agenda to disembowel and dis-establish industrial and post-industrial society.

This will not happen, but they are trying hard and succeeding in too many ways. They actually block wonderful, clean new sources of energy, for example, because now they believe it will use up the oxygen on earth. This is total nonsense, of course, because all one needs to do is plant more vegetation and it converts the carbon dioxide into oxygen. Why this is not pointed out more often, I don’t know. It is that simple to overcome “climate change”, which is just a euphemism for stop all industrialization, which the environmentalist community does not understand well.

Anyway, they are doing terrible damage to the US Constitution and to the American people, but they are losing ground fast, fortunately, because America is bankrupt thanks mainly to their insistence that America may not build more power plants and more oil refineries. Environmentalists must also bear responsibility for much of the terrorism worldwide, because they force America, Europe and elsewhere to buy oil from terrorist nations, who use the billions of dollars to fund their nefarious schemes like nuclear buildup, paying families of suicide bombers, building horrible chemical weapons, and much more. So the environmental movement is far from benign.

In fairness, they are correct that we are polluting the planet with mercury and other toxins. However, this can be handled easily with better technology, not by stopping technological development as they advocate and put into laws.

2. The bankers. This is the worst group in terms of clandestine activity. They have always been a power center of Europe that has transplanted itself to America and is represented outwardly in the Wall Street firms of Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Sons, Merrill-Lynch, and all the others. They fight among themselves, but underneath they worship money and they use it to corrupt everyone from the president on down.

They also worship power and they don’t hesitate to use it to murder their enemies, defame their enemies and so on and so forth. These are ancient tactics that have been updated using electronic warfare, cyber warfare, disinformation campaigns, drugging the population with fluoride in the water, anti-depressants and more.

3. Old fashioned Marxist ideologues. This old-fashioned group of hippies and radicals includes the current president of the United States, as is amply proven by the people he has chosen to surround himself with. They are all followers of Saul Alinsky, a 1960s radical Marxist, and they are all followers of MaoTse Tung, the most hateful and murderous dictator of the twentieth century, bar none. His exploits make Hitler look like an innocent school boy. Hitler, however, drew most of the world into a war, unlike Mao who just slaughtered millions of his own people.

Sadly, these twisted minds are alive and well today in a small fringe group headed today by Marxist and radical, Barak Obama. This is evident to anyone who cares to investigate it. Glenn Beck and others in the media have done a good job uncovering Mr. Obama’s early childhood influences in this area. These people are out to set up a Marxist utopia in America and are forging ahead with a do-nothing Congress at their side led by some of the same group of ex-hippie California and other radicals. This is who is running America in January 2010.

4. Greed and corruption of the rulers of America. The American people have, of late, become so confused and distorted in their thinking that they are electing very poor quality leaders. This is unmistakable to anyone who looks carefully. The bankers and the environmental freaks would not get far if the American leaders were more competent, brighter and less corruptible. This is a huge factor today. I hope the people are waking up, and a few are. Hopefully more will in the future before they are completely ruined by the corruption and stupidity of their elected and non-elected leaders.

These are the main forces I see today ruining the American republic, an experiment that went well for a time, but is now plagued by powerful forces that wish to destroy it. Having said this, America has much going for it in its favor that is countering all of the negative forces at play. I want to detail these as well.

1. A strong population that believes the lies or half-truths that they are free, and brave, and wonderful, and healthy, and capable of anything. The American people are, in fact, exhausted, their money is gone, many of their children are autistic and ill, their teenagers are often taking drugs, and their moral values are in the gutter. However, the American people are unique and the most hard-working and generous the world has ever known. This works in their favor in very unique ways. It means when disaster strikes, as it is now for many, the people do not collapse as they do in other nations. They work together, they use their heads and they come up with solutions.

2. Spiritual guidance for America. America has a destiny. It has been written about in many books, including those of St. Germain such as the I AM series, in books by Elizabeth Clare Prophet and others. The destiny is to show the world a new way of doing things. America has fulfilled that destiny and will continue to do so. I am very inspired by these books, and this website reflects that.

America is not just another nation, as Barak Obama sees us, for example. He is completely wrong and it is why his popularity is declining and, I believe will continue to plummet and he will be removed. It is a test of forces, because the bankers love him and so do most environmentalists and their controlled media. In fact, he is their idol. However, he is still wrong about the destiny of America. He thinks America should join the Europeans in their socialized medical care, cap and trade programs that don’t work, and socialized economies that don’t work well.

If Mr. Obama succeeds in passing all his legislation, for which he has to lie to the people in spades, it will hopefully be repealed. If it is not repealed, it will likely be modified because Americans don’t care for European-style politics of privilege and patronage. It is rotten to the core and they know it. So this is in America’s favor as well.

3. America is not alone in her fight against the European bankers, environmentalists and others. She now has the backing of nations such as China, Brazil, India and other large, populated and desperately poor countries. We may not like the Red Chinese government, but they know they must industrialize and give their people enough food, water and shelter, or there will be revolution in that nation. The same goes for India. Brazil and others are in better shape to a degree, but not much.

These nations also know about the bankers, and they know about the environmentalists, whom they basically hate because they, unlike the environmentalists, understand that industry brings better jobs, better health, literacy, responsibility and prosperity to their people that the people desperately want and need.

They understand that the environmentalists are not realistic at all, do not understand humanity, do not like humanity, and they are fighting back hard. Mr. Obama looked like an idiot at the recent environmental summit because instead of siding with the people of the world, who live in China, India, Brazil, Mexico and so many other nations, he clearly sided with the backward-facing, incredibly out of touch environmentalists the world over.

4. The internet is waking people up worldwide at an incredible pace. This single invention is changing the world faster than any other in history, except maybe the invention of the wheel or electricity, perhaps. Millions in China, India, Asia, and elsewhere can tune into what is going on so easily, and their tyrannical governments can’t really stop it. They talk about shutting down the internet, but as more and more commerce and communication depends upon it, that idea becomes les and less popular.

The old divide-and-conquer tactic of dictators and power-hungry politicians everywhere is being foiled by the internet that connects everyone the world over. It is a real threat to the old order. It is like a new “brain” being given to people around the world.

Mr. Obama is talking about limiting the internet for Americans. This should tell everyone where his thoughts are. He is afraid, as are all the authoritarians, that the truth will be told. The truth that the earth is not dying. It is changing, and it always changes. If New York goes under water, then the New Yorkers will move inland, as many populations have had to do in the past. If the poles warm up a little, the polar bears will survive and adapt because animals always adapt, much better than people in many cases. This is the truth, not the lies that are told to the people on the news each day.

Also, the world is not about terrorism. The terrorists are well-funded because the bankers want chaos and the environmentalists don’t want America refining and drilling for oil and other minerals. So these groups essentially force the nation to buy oil from horrible governments who oppress their own people far worse than anything they would wish for themselves. This is also the truth, and it will become known. As it does, things will change.

5. Other new technology favors the American cause. New technology besides the internet also favors individual rights and individual freedom. Whatever one thinks of cell phones, they are here to stay, and they give people freedom – to roam, to talk, to do business as they please without interference, and so on. In addition, computers give people freedom and power right in their own homes and laptops. The computers also teach many skills to poor children who previously had little opportunity. Now they can type, they can read, they can play games and do much more.

It is sad that the environmentalists cannot see all the good that comes from industry of all kinds. Removing the pollutants is easy. Stopping the technology is stupid and is being resisted. Their very villains, the evil corporations, are solving the world’s problems right before their eyes and they cannot see. Instead of controlling the corporations, the best course would be to unleash them, stop charging them taxes, and tell them to industrialize the whole world, fix starvation, fix diseases with natural methods, and then they would be heroes. Instead, they are vilified, degraded and impeded at every turn. That is the nature of the environmental movement today.

Of course, the environmentalists use all the computerized tools and internet invented by the corporations. This is wholly hypocritical, but that is also the nature of the movement that it is full of hypocrisy. If they really hate the technology, why do they fly around on jet planes, use computers and drive in modern cars? No one seems to confront them on this issue and someone needs to.

6. Other new technology is foiling the bankers. The bankers are an important regressive force on earth. They have ruled the roost for over 1000 years, since the invention of modern monetary systems. However, paper money is more difficult to control, because the government just prints more and forces their people to use it, whether the bankers like it or not. So they have had to become more devious in the ways that they corrupt, threaten and murder the leaders they don’t like. Now the money is going electronic. This is even harder to control.

I feel that people are also getting tired of the government bailing out the billionaire bankers who don’t even want to lend money to the little people. They are getting tired of hearing that each new Treasury Secretary and head of banking formerly worked for Goldman Sachs or another Wall Street firm. I believe this will be ending soon.

7. America’s mission is expanding and growing, in that other nations are picking up the banner of liberty. This is another area in which Mr. Obama is totally incorrect. Instead of spreading the American dream, he wants to spread the European socialist environmentalist agenda. This is losing out around the world to the industrial agenda and information age in which people are becoming more free, more healthy, and more happy with the help of modern technology. It is unfortunate our president does not recognize this, as he would otherwise be a very popular man. However, even America’s enemies don’t like him much, much to his chagrin.

CONCLUSION

This has been a slightly irreverent introduction to the complex area of politics, economics and the psychology of power and corruption and government. I hope it has perhaps helped provide a framework and some understanding of basic terminology and at least one person’s view of what is going on in the world of politics today.

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