The Origins of Democracy

Many believe Democracy to be one of the greatest forms of government ever created. Psychological study supports Democracy as the most efficient and healthiest style of government in existence, encouraging social interaction, granting purpose to each citizen, and building faith in social institutions encouraging the flowering of community. Every citizen has a vested interest in their government, something to gain and much to lose should it fall, thus each contributes to their utmost to support the state because without them it would surely collapse. We come to identify ourselves with the state and thus protect it. It is an amazing form of governance, creating altruism, innovation, and inexhaustible possibility. But this grand political design did not spring from ideal thoughts, nor did it arise out of the vague belief in the equality of men. Democracy was birthed from fear, not hope. Doubt, not faith, was the ironic seed that birthed Democracy.

Democracy is in and of itself a check on power. It divides authority serving to keep any one person or group from unlimited reign. Each of us is given a piece, so each of us is a member at the table of power. This serves to draw the whole community to government, hundreds, thousands, millions of minds working to solve problems. When the power is wielded by one or a few, the threat to the whole of society increases. The centralizing of power serves to alienate individuals from the state. If one has no say, then one has no part. If one has no part, then why sacrifice? The state and the community separate, eventually destined to become enemies. The process is inevitable. From democracy to republic to tyranny to anarchy. Sometimes society rises from the ashes. Sometimes it does not.

The catalyst of centralized power differs. Sometimes it is a military threat from without forcing a state to streamline government for more immediate responses and defense. Other times it is a gradual process, good intentions such as socialism or communism which gradually take on more and more responsibility. Many times, it is that one or few who suffer from an insatiable drive to seize the reigns of power. It is this figure(s) who serves as the harbinger of tyranny’s reign.

Those of unlimited power find themselves quickly corrupted by it. This is because power can shape reality but also distort it. The tyrant must surround themselves with an inner circle who will carry out their wishes. This inner circle gradually becomes a rampart against the real as they, not the leader(s) exercise authority. They are the tyrant’s tools. This system insulates the leader(s) from society. They lose touch with the real, surrounded by those who rely on the leader(s) for power; leeches parasitically clasped to the breast of government. These sycophants serve as both a crutch and a handicap. Knowing their importance as the gatekeepers to power, this court of bootlickers can distort the truth to the tyrant in order to achieve their own gains or to escape punishment for their ills. They tell the leader(s) what they want to hear. Act as the leader(s) orders. They reinforce the tyrant’s belief in himself until he comes to the view of infallibility. There is no right or wrong. There is only the leader(s) will. This leads to an erosion of moral thought and eventually higher reasoning. Value for critical thinking is lost. Long term planning trails off. The importance of the state falls away. All that matters is the immediate wants of the leader(s). Power exists to support them and them alone. Power begins to be abused further. It becomes baser, more primitive. Society is no longer geared toward community but towards the leader(s) will. Basic service are completely forgotten leading to a decline of the state. As society crumbles, the leader(s) cannibalizes it. He becomes an all consuming monster. This is largely due to an evolution of the pact between the leader(s) and his sycophantic inner circle.

These sycophants become a threat. As the leader(s) powers wane, he comes to rely on his inner circle and their supporters to carry out his will more and more. These sycophants begin to accumulate power from the source until they became the leader(s) sole source of power forcing the leader(s) to make concessions of a damnable sort. Without these sycophants, the leader is vulnerable and defenseless. So he releases the leashes and lets his hounds loose to do as they will as long as they remain loyal.

One has only to look at Mugabe of Zimbabwe for a modern example. He came to power at the behest of the black majority of Zimbabwe in a revolution that saw the toppling of an oppressive white minority government. Great power was vested in him to change the nation for the better. Mugabe surrounded himself with allies as he sought to improve the plight of blacks in his country, home to numerous educated citizens and the breadbasket for southern Africa. He sought to raise the standard of living, spread education, and integrate his nation following the racist practices before his ascension. But greed tainted his rule. Mugabe began to act on his own behalf, enriching himself at the expense of the whites in his country. When the public became wary of his actions, Mugabe used his security forces, rather than the will of the people, to solidify his grip on power by destroying the political opposition, tightening his grip on all parts of the economy, and enforcing order as he saw fit. He sowed xenophobic fear throughout the state of Western attempts to re-impose colonial rule upon them. He galvanized the majority against the minority (blacks against whites). He did all this to divert the citizens’ eyes from his snatch at power. No one balked until the famine came coupled with unemployment and widespread corruption. Then the violence began to affect the majority as it had the minority. The state had come to threaten the community. The split was unmendable. As Zimbabwe increasingly turned against him, Mugabe knew only his security forces could keep him in power. They knew this too. They have made demands of their own, confiscating farms, terrorizing the populace, and worse with impunity because of the power they now held. Mugabe, more and more, has become a figurehead. Even now, Mugabe is largely in power against his will. Security forces are pushing to keep him where he is for fear of the power they will lose. Anyone else in office would surely curb their actions. This is the fate of all leaders: to be devoured by the power they once held.

Tyrants have existed for millennia. As to whether Locke was correct and government arose from a social contract or Hobbes had it right when he stated the strongest forces forged states is irrelevant to this argument. Tyrants arose from the mists of time and forged kingdoms and empires across the face of the world. With absolute power, only their will could check them. The human mind does not work well without boundaries. Every soul, given free reign, is destined to become lost in the limitless expanse of possibilities. Unlimited power is sure madness for the wielder. Every tyrant has proven so. Men such as Ivan III, Stalin, Caligula, and even Alexander have shown the decline humanity encounters once one passes through the portal into limitless authority. There is no structure, only void. Laws do not exist. Punishments do not exist. One keeps going forward into the darkness because there is nothing to hold them back. That is what absolute power is.

Tyrants become so far removed from their subjects that they fail to see them as people anymore. Humanity becomes a faceless mass used to build a tyrant’s feverish dreams into a reality. Bones and blood become resources. Given enough time, every tyrant comes to see them self as a god. Reality is no more. All that is can only be at the will of the leader(s) and woe be unto them who challenge this will.

Democracy arose from the lessons learned of tyrants. The Greeks, the Romans, and many others forged their democratic governments not out of love for, and respect of, the people but to prevent the rise of another evil force. Power was distributed to halt the resurrection of an Age of Tyrants; to keep the Beast in the Pit.

Yet here we are in modern America watching the state gradually centralize authority into fewer and fewer hands. Our leaders are becoming insulated and detached. We have become numbers via polls, Social Security, and census data. We rebel the only way we know how, embracing our individuality in a stranglehold to the point of choking the life out of society. We are embarking on an insane path of centralization via fragmentation. Yet no one notices. So many have withdrawn from our political system because they have lost hope. So few have a stake in what is thus no one cares what is to come. The void is starting to yawn wider and wider. The question is who will step through it.

My Reason Why

People always wonder where the magic went, waking up to face each day; life getting dimmer and grayer with every receding dream. The magic never went away. You’ve simply become blind to it.

A large number of people believe maturity is the end all, be all to human development. We have to progress to that logical plane where everything had a reason and everyone a purpose. There is no room to be wild and spontaneous. One must have responsibilities and keep obligations. Well I say otherwise. Responsibilities are the chains that bind us and obligations the bars of our own make. Why does everything have to make sense? Why must we all have a purpose?

Now I’m not an immature man. Far from. I understand the need for certain responsibilities and the reason for certain obligations. After all, in this world, trust is an important thing. But I call shenanigans on forced responsibility and unnecessary obligation. Why should I take a job I don’t like? Why do I need that expensive car, those trendy clothes, or social status? And should others look to me, why is it my obligation to lead them? Why should I have to watch what I say or how I act to serve as a role model? Why can’t I simply be me, others be damned? There is a thing in life called choice and should others ignorantly follow in my footsteps then let the lemmings spill over the cliff. At least I have enough forethought to step aside at the last moment because I see the cliff rather than the guy’s back in front of me, placing my trust and safety in a guy whose face I’ve never seen.

This is the world we live in. We’re expected to “grow up”, set aside our wonder and instead question question question and prod prod prod to find out why, yet when the answer is right there before us we refuse to see it. Growing up is all about denying your true self. We build this armor around us of past memories and fashion glasses of former experiences not realizing that all we’re really doing is cutting ourselves off from the world and distorting the reality around us. Reality is only what we make of it. Our minds and perceptions filter what really surrounds us and sadly maturity means narrowing that broad horizon to a slit which allows only the slimmest of wonders to slip through.

Children are wonderful and I’ll tell you why. They don’t have past experiences to cloud their view of the magnificent world around them. Everything is new and special and welcome. Children aren’t afraid. They see no reason to lie to themselves. They don’t worry about what their place is in the world. They only worry that they don’t have enough time to experience everything there is to offer.

That is what life is. It is experience. Maturity, true maturity, shouldn’t be a limiting thing. You shouldn’t sell a part of your soul because you have something to prove. You should confine yourself to an existence that smothers your lusts to be.

The magic children see and we are too blind to notice is simply the wonder of life. There are still so many experiences out there no matter how old you are. So much to learn and discover. If we’d just let go of what has been, let the scales fall from our eyes, the blazing light of existence would reignite that smothered flame of our souls. Take every moment for what it is. Not what you think it represents. Find that magic.

People call me immature. But you know what? I don’t live for them. I live to be. That may make me giddy and to some apparently careless, but it’s my life and I don’t want to regret one single part of it. Life is experience people. Stop taking the safe road. Set off for that horizon. Follow your dreams. Create your destiny. Never settle for less than what you’re worth because you are worth far more than any material object you could ever own.

Humanity is Screwed

I have come to one very depressing conclusion: humanity is screwed. The environment is collapsing, the water is polluted, political systems are failing, society is crumbling, and civilization is on the verge of a mediocre smothering. I know, it’s been said thousands of times before, but come on people. The writing is on the wall. The worst part is most of you are too illiterate to read it.

Now notice I don’t claim the world is going to end, nor that life will cease to be. Trust me, we are way too full of ourselves if we think we’re capable of obliterating this rock we exist on. And life will continue to thrive long after we become extinct. That is what evolution is all about. Sure there will be tons of cockroaches and rats, but they have the tools to survive. Hell, we’ve thrown everything at those creatures short of an atomic bomb and even if we did that, those twin species would continue to scramble to all four corners of the globe.

So why is humanity doomed? Well, it’s quite simple. It’s our mindset. We all know the all important question posed to humanity: Why am I? Now we’ve come up with some interesting answers as well as some very skewed ones (scientologists, I’m looking at you). The problem is the question shouldn’t be “Why am I?” The question is “Why should I be?”

First, why the initial question is not only worthless but a threat to the human mindset. To think we are so unique that we warrant an investigation into our origins smacks of narcissism. Do you want the literal reason for why you are here? Sex, my friend. Do you want to understand how life came to be? Chemicals, energy, and chance. Do you want to realize your purpose? It’s balance. Always has been, always will be. The universe is a complex equation of check and countercheck, everything balancing everything else out because too much of anything is detrimental to the whole. So to believe that humanity ranks above the ecosystem, the plants that make it up, or the animals who thrive in it is to remove ourselves from our natural environment and place us in a land of confusion. Just because we have a gift called reason doesn’t mean we should do the equivalent of masturbating with it by dreaming up tons of questions that will never lead anywhere. Reality is a subjective thing. What you think makes sense I know I sure the hell don’t agree with. So seeking out some universal answer to some philosophical enigma is nothing more than a waste of time. You have reason for a reason: to figure out real world problems and create solutions. We are a part of the grand equation, each of us serving as a cog in the machine. The only question we should be asking is what cog are we meant to represent. Believing ourselves special because we are human and sentient is ridiculous. Sure, I know I’m an entity. What is so special about that? If we were to make man vanish, the world could easily get on without us. That is because we’ve so removed ourselves from the life cycle that we’ve become more of an irritant retarding life’s growth. We don’t balance things. We tip the scales in our favor. We play the role of the measurer rather than of weight on the scale. We are so distant from the world, sealed in our tombs called the modern home, seeing the world through television instead of through windows, we really have no clue what is going on around us. We’re oblivious to the fact we are destroying the world. Luckily, tipping the scale too far will only lead to us sliding down and out of the picture allowing it to bounce back. We, sadly, won’t be there to see it.

Now I’m going to shock you. All that crap you’ve been told since birth about being special: you’re not. Yeah, mommy and daddy wanted to build up your ego, aid in the building of some self-esteem. Well, face it. You’re not special. In a world of over 6 billion (6,000,000,000) humans, what exactly sets you apart? You have the same organs, the same senses, and likely the same skin and hair of some fraction of the rest of humanity. So are you a stand-out? Are you some demi-god or messiah, some superhuman? No, you’re not.

Let me shock you some more. We are not all equal. Yeah, the introduction on the United States’ charter would have you believe otherwise: We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal. First off, if that were true then why were only the educated upper classes representing the rest of the colonies? Why was there an aristocratic elite even in a backwater like America in the eighteenth century? It was a nice little idealistic spiel but not an honest one. If ol’ Tom Jefferson wasn’t winking when he wrote that then the man was obviously broken in the brain. No my friends, we are not all equal. There are those who are smarter, stronger, more aggressive, more creative, more innovative, etc. We are a multifaceted species and that is a good thing. It allows us to look at problems from different angles, to each play some role. If we were all exactly alike, all “equal”, then why should one guy get the chance to hold a position over another? Why are there hierarchies? We all have gifts, usually not the same as others. The pathetic part is television, the media, and our very culture rams down our throats that we are all capable of the amazing and nothing is beyond our grasp. People, stop driving yourselves insane. Not everyone is capable of being the greatest. The slots are limited, the competition intense, and you very likely do not possess the tools to accomplish victory. Sad but true, yet it doesn’t make you pathetic. You play a part, you’re just not meant for greater things. There is no shame in realizing your limitations. But to believe yourself capable of far more than you really are; that is hubris and that is the direction humanity is going. If we continue to believe we can do the impossible, the frustration is going to kill us.

Another problem with civilization is our glorification of those who feed our hunger for illusions. We deify athletes, movie stars, and musicians yet forget soldiers, teachers, and others who contribute far more to our society. Sure, that boxer overcame the odds and knocked out the champ in the last round in a Cinderella comeback, but what about the soldier who took a bullet in a unknown battle in a forgotten part of the world? Wow, that actor was really good in that movie. Real blockbuster stuff. Did you see all the explosions? What about the teacher who taught the actor to read the script, the writer to write, etc. We glorify our dreams and forget the reality. There is a reason why past societies considered entertainers lower than prostitutes: because they take you out of the world. Sure, they can make you forget the problems in your life for a few hours because of them, but when it’s over you sure the hell still have the same problems. Why not glorify people who actually strive to change the world, not make you forget about it?

So, I ask you, why should you be? What do you have to offer humanity? What do you have to offer the world? If you’d just drop the damn narcissism and realize you’re part of a larger whole, that you’re not special or unique but belong to a larger whole that can’t function without you, then maybe we could stop the fragmenting of civilization and actually turn the world around. You exist so that there is a tomorrow. That is why you are. Try to find a way to make it happen. A life well lived is one where you left the world better off because of you’re life. It’s not material possessions or fame, historical precedent or a even a large family. It’s having done what you could that things improved.

Come on guys. You all have reason for a reason. Stop wasting it, shutting it off, squandering that potential. Stop letting other people tell you what to think, how to act, what should be. Make a mark. Let those sparks of thought fly, burn bright with your inquisitive nature, illuminate a path to a greater tomorrow. Make me eat my words. I’m challenging you. Now do it!

Will Smith SUCKS!!!

I know that everybody makes bad movies, but Will Smith is in a league all his own. I'm not sure if making shit movies so that the audience will appreciate if you make good ones is a valid argument for the heinous nature of his career. That's like banging your head with a hammer because it feels so good when you stop. More often than not, these days people make bad movies because they can get away with it. If there were any justice, all parties involved with making drek like "Wild Wild West" would never be allowed to work in Hollywood again. But they did, and while that's great for Smith, every time somebody makes a piece of garbage like that and then brags about how they could put all of the money he made off of it on a 16 wheeler in his next family friendly rap song, it lets the studio just how much rancid shit they can get away with making. Now look where we are today in the movie industry. Perhaps one movie in 50 is any good at all, but that's okay because they're "trying". If I made as many fuckups in my job as they do in Hollywood, I'd be eating government cheese right now, but in the movie industry it's like "Nice try, here's 50 million dollars and a goodie bag."

Every actor makes bad films once in a while. You can't always pick 'em. But Will Smith makes the same bad movie over and over again. Moreover you can tell that every one of these films is framed and written to make Smith look as good as possible every second. They should call every one of these shitty films "Will Smith: The Movie Part 2 or 3 or 5" etc. The guy has all the clout in the world and he still can't bother to use it to make a literary adaptation that isn't a complete bastardization of the source material. He's not swinging for quality; he's swinging for the lowest common denominator because he knows he can succeed by appealing to the simple. Anyone using box office receipts to prove a point obviously never had one to begin with. You can sucker the idiot American public into seeing and loving anything. Look at the success of Jumper and Cloverfield and any Adam Sandler movie. He's a big box office star. Big fucking deal. It says more about the general public than it does about Will Smith as a talent.

Wright, Shut the Fuck up!

You haven’t heard, which wouldn’t be surprising due to the amazing silence of the majority of media outlets, Obama’s pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, recently said, “God damn America.” Now I am not going to chastise the guy (amazing, I know!) for that comment as I believe each and every person in this nation has a right to say whatever they wish. Freedom of speech is a glorious thing which has allowed us as a nation to advance as far as we have in science, civil rights, and the arts (though we’re regressing on that last point). But, as I believe in freedom of speech, thus I am going to exercise it to dispute the rather short-sighted, ridiculous claims made by a demagogue in Christ’s raiment.

There are those saying that Wright's words were taken out of context. That he was not blatantly damning the whole of America but racist views which have held his people back (the man is black), made them into criminals, and attempts to extinguish them as a culture. The pastor related various incidents leading up to his condemnation of our country. He spoke of his days as a Marine, returning from war, and being told he couldn’t eat at certain restaurants or go to certain areas because of the color of his skin despite the fact that he fought for this country. He railed against blacks being relegated to the lowest rung of the economic order, being forced into criminal acts to survive, being locked up because of a system which prevents them from rising up to middle class status. I call bullshit on his entire argument and I am going to tell you why.

The pastor complained about public segregation. That complaint is near forty years too late as all forms of segregation, whether in schools, water fountains, bathrooms, restaurants, etc. ended a long time ago. The last time I checked, no restaurant turned away a customer based on the color of their skin.

On the economic order of things, blacks were not the first people to suffer through economic misery. There were Irish immigrants, German immigrants, Italian immigrants, Jewish immigrants, and even the new wave of Hispanic immigrants who all came to this nation without money or education, had no political power, and had to suffer through privations until they rose up and took their place alongside the citizenry of this nation. Political theory has shown that any group can, and will, eventually attain equality unless there is true discrimination going on. Through hard work, a group attains money. Through money, a group attains stature. Through stature and economic value, the group attains political voice. Through this political voice, the group attains power and thus becomes a part of the system. The average amount of time this system takes is usually forty years. Not counting from the point of slavery’s abolition, but instead from the end of the civil rights movement in the 60s, blacks have had the prerequisite amount of time to have completed the system and to have the equality they seek. The problem is they do not want it.

Listen to the average black politician. They will consistently play up black urban plight, the repressive system that holds blacks back, the difficult economic situation of African-American culture which forces a disproportionate number of their young in the criminal system. Yet black culture glorifies urban culture. The majority consistently complain about how they are “owed” something. The problem with black culture, and you may call me racist for being so blunt, is that blacks want things given to them rather than to earn them. Where this view originated I can’t really tell you. The Civil Rights movement was made up of men and women who fought against the system that kept them and their children back from a host of possibilities. They faced brutal repression to give future generations a chance. Once they had the door opened, perhaps it was the way they were invited into the political system which warped their style of politics. The nation bent over backwards to give blacks a chance. There was desegregation of schools, the creation of public housing, the establishment of quotas, and more which not only leveled the playing field but outright gave blacks advantages over other groups. In other words, government “gave” blacks what they wanted rather than made them “earn” it. By that, I mean we did more than strip away racist laws; we created laws which discriminated others and forced people to step aside that blacks may become a favored class. Whenever someone steps forward and complains about preferential treatment, and to state a quota of any sort is based on merit rather than on skin color, then they are labeled racist and politicians back off for fear of the backlash. Why not call it what it is? Blacks are racists who believe they are entitled, partially due to government’s pandering to them reinforcing such behavior, and they do not want to give up that status. The blacks have virtually become like the whites of the early twentieth century: too stubborn to allow merit, over skin color or flawed thinking, to determine what is best.

Government policies have ruined black communities. These policies are entitlement programs. What incentive is there to work if welfare exists? From the cradle to the grave, that program alone destroys any drive a person may have. And it has become generational. Then there is desegregation of schools. Through busing, kids are taken out of their neighborhoods and put in other communities’ schools in order to “force” diversity. Yet there has been no real improvement in black economic or educational growth. This program has helped to ruin inner city schools. Whenever a school fails, the parents blame educators and want their kids shipped to more affluent areas for better education. Education is not simply teachers in the classroom. Education also happens at home. How can teachers teach if parents are setting bad examples, failing to discipline their children, and refusing to help their kids through their studies? It is the family unit, not the schools, that has failed blacks in America.

Over 70% of black children are born illegitimate. 70%! Children grow up without a father and that leads to all sorts of problems. Daughters seek out that missing male in their life, taken advantage of by sons who have never been taught what it means to be a man. Single mothers have to take two or more jobs to support their children (if they work) and thus are not available to supervise their children who get into things they shouldn’t. Children feel lost and alone and thus attach themselves to peer groups in the shape of gangs who give them that first true feeling of belonging they never had. Black children grow up angry and upset because their community had failed them. Rather than own up to their failure, the black community plays the race card (like Nazis with Jews) and take all their problems and embody them in white repression. They focus all their anger and frustration at whites to direct it away from the real problem because they simply don’t want to deal with it.

Black culture glorifies gangstas and athletes, sexuality and bling, violence and drugs. There is no talk of education, activism, or sacrifice. Blacks want the easy way because it is the simpler way. Whites helped to pave that path. Blacks refuse to deviate from it.

I’m sorry if this rant has insulted some. To me, this is the truth. Someone had to say it. Might as well be the quiet guy who can’t shut up anymore.

Me

I am not expecting anyone to understand the complexity that is me. Neither I, nor my ex-wife, ever understood what I am. I am a miasma of so many emotions; a conflicting series of wants, needs, and desires. Sometimes I wish I were in a different time. A simpler time. I feel so out of place.

I know you don't know what I mean. Maybe you do. I pressed myself so hard in my youth. I had to achieve the impossible as soon as possible. There was not ime to waste. I had to be the prodigy. I had to change the world. When I failed, I faced depression beyond belief. I wanted to be so much more than I am. Then reality finally came and I began to see I am only human. That is an amazing thing.

I loathe those who strive for perfection. Man was never meant to be perfect. We all have flaws. No one will ever be perfect. No one can ever achieve the impossible. I believe that is part of my hatred for Christianity. That faith lashes one for their inablity to live up to a standard; a standard of a man who liekly never existed, and if he did, he did not exist in the form that he did.

The human condition is one of learning. It is a lifetime of stumbling, of discovery, of self-assertion. There are those who do not understand this or who refuse to. I do not hate any race, any sexuality, any view. I realize we are all diffrent. We are all unique. For anyone to hate a person becuase of who they are is short sighted, shallow, and ill-informed. We are all special in our own way.

I know I may be rambling. I am quite intoxicated as it is, but I felt it important to share my views. So many people fail to understand those strangers just a few feet away; fail to hear what it is they wish to express. We are all human beings who speak a shared language, yet are incapable of understanding what we mean.

I'm a solitary man; a lonely man. I wish there were those who understood me. But I have come to realize mine is a lonely path of discovery. I envy you, those who have those to join them on their path of discovery. Learn from these precious moments given to you as I struggle forward hoping to understand why I am and what I was meant to be.

What I've Been Up To (Shudder)

The past few days I've been putting together the beginnings of an alternate history surrounding World War II. I know. This has been done to death by hundreds of thousands before me. But I need something to keep the mental gears fluid and rolling, and I definitely need some time off my second novel. I only have fourteen more pages left to edit/re-write and then I'm officially done with it, but still: I'm a procrastinator and need something new to do after six months of that novel. If you want to watch my "history" unfold, just click away.