Posted by
John Dick on Thursday, December 25, 2008 8:15:44 PM
The unbridled, unchecked obsession for political power at all costs.
What does “at all costs” mean? Specifically, it means following the obsession for political power, particularly under political systems of Statism (systems based on some form of collectivism, such as socialism, communism, nationalism, totalitarianism, theocracies, environmentalism, or democracies) all the way to its very destructive logical conclusion and end: total economic chaos and collapse, along with complete societal and cultural devastation. In other words, complete destruction of a rational, industrial, prosperous, stable, and peaceful civilization – that is, destruction of Capitalism and Freedom, particularly individual rights and property rights.
“How is this so?” you ask. First, let’s tour history.
Historically, we have witnessed the dire consequences of this obsession for political power over and over again in all types of statist-oriented societies:
· the collapse of the Roman Empire from the reckless, political tyranny of the Roman state and its Caesars;
· the total destruction of German society, its economy, and the death of millions of Jews from the statist folly of Hitler’s rule and outward European aggression;
· the Russian societal devastation, economic chaos, and death of millions of Russians from both Stalin’s and Lenin’s political dictatorships, relentless tyranny, and statist policies;
· the decades of medieval serfdom horrors, ghastly political tyranny and cruelty, and the murder of millions of innocent Chinese citizens from such dictatorial regimes as those under Mao Tse-tung;
· the total destruction and devastation of the entire country of Cambodia, along with deliberate, open murder of hundreds of thousands of Cambodian peoples including doctors, scientists, and businessmen (The Killing Fields) through the extreme statist and cruel Khmer Rouge Regime under Pol Pot;
· the murder of thousands of innocent Africans and destruction of any viable economy by the murderous statist rule under Idi Amin in Uganda;
· and more recently, the destruction of the economy of Iran, with the religious tyranny and statist-political enslavement of Iranian people under the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, as well as the economic devastation and statist military tyranny in Iraq under Saddam Hussein.
In more contemporary times, we continue to witness the same statist political tyranny and economic disruption, chaos, and devastation of this obsession for political power and the various statist political policies and agenda that follow suit (wealth envy, wealth redistribution, massive taxation, massive welfare programs, crippling government regulations and mandates): the decline of economic wealth, prosperity, personal safety, and stability in Iran, Zimbabwe, North Korea, Mexico, England, France, the continued enslavement of the Chinese people by their communist dictatorship government even with some free-market upgrades, and now what is beginning to happen in the United States of America, with the growing popularity of statist-socialist oriented politicians, their agenda and policies, mixed with crony capitalists.
How does the obsession for political power relate to Statism?
Because of its very fundamental defining characteristics, Statism will always inevitably lead to economic collapse and total societal unrest, no matter how it is applied. Why? Statism, by its very nature, is always about tyrannical political power, control, ownership, and enslavement over the individual and the economy, and never about individual and economic freedom, or economic progress, prosperity, and stability. Statism means that (1) the individual’s life and work belong to the state (the government), and (2) the state (the government) controls the economic system of a country. Due to these two defining fundamental elements, Statism – by its very nature - attracts, encourages, and even promotes, those people who are obsessed with power and control over the world around them, including other people. These power-obsessed individuals uncontrollably crave such power and control – and any political system of Statism gives such people the perfect platform they need to achieve such power and control. Statism encourages, breeds, and unleashes their obsessions for political power, leading to obsessions for pure political tyranny and evil.
It is my view that people who are obsessed with political power do so because they are actually trying to hide and avoid a terribly low self-esteem and low sense of self-worth, perhaps some deep emotional pain, and are trying to “fill” an empty emotional void in their inner selves - a void that I call some sort of a psychological “hollow core” – an inner core without a self. Since they fear dealing directly with this hollow core, I believe they, instead, attempt to fill this void by falsely lashing out with all forms of misplaced emotions, such as irrationally based fear, anger, hatred, and envy towards life, the world, and other people. Since they cannot, or are not willing to, deal with such misplaced, irrationally-based emotions, their own emptiness, and including perhaps some unidentified inner hidden pain, they instead form an obsession oriented towards some sort of power and control over life, over the world, over the economy, and over other people – an obsession to try to counter their own inner feelings of emptiness and low self-esteem, an attempt to try to gain control over their own life.
They are not trying to build up their “egos.” They are simply trying to avoid inner emptiness and pain, trying hopelessly to find self-esteem and a sense of self-worth, trying to “fill” an inner void through controlling other people. But such an effort is futile. Building a pseudo self-worth through controlling the lives of other people is not self-worth. Feeling good about yourself by controlling, forcing, and enslaving other people is not self-esteem. It is a false strength, a false confidence, a false security, a false happiness – it is empty and it is hollow. The obsession for political power and control simply grows. The inner emotional emptiness - the hollow core - remains.
A word about ego: I think that people who are obsessed with political power are not individuals searching to expand their own “egos” as is so popularly expressed, as in my opinion, this is a gross misunderstanding and misuse of the concept “ego.” In my opinion, the ego is that which represents a person’s true positive, inner self-worth oriented towards using reason and understanding reality, towards truth and logic, towards rational self-interests that improve and enhance the individual’s life and self-confidence -- self-interests that do not control or enslave other human beings just to feel good about one’s own self. The pursuit of a healthy, strong, confident ego is oriented towards trying to improve one’s own independent, freedom-oriented life, mind, and self-worth, and gaining true individual confidence in using one’s reason and in living one’s own life independent of having power and control over other people, not in being obsessed with controlling the lives and work of other people. The person with a healthy ego has no desire to live for the sake of other people, or demand that others live for his sake. Further, it is my opinion that the pursuit of a healthy ego is not oriented towards any type of obsession for power or control over people, including political power, and the ego is certainly not oriented towards trying to cover up low self-worth and low self-esteem by controlling others, or towards avoiding, evading, ignoring, or fighting against one’s own inner emotional emptiness - one’s own hollow core - by controlling and enslaving other people. Despite what is said about those obsessed with political power as having “strong” egos and “high” self-esteem, I contend that people who are obsessed with political power have low self-esteem and do not pursue their egos at all - they only follow their irrationality, madness, and obsession for political power in an attempt to avoid and cover up their own inner emptiness and hollow core.
This is why I think that such people follow their obsession for political power to any ends at all costs – they have actually disconnected their obsession from their self-worth - from their ego - and from the consequences of their obsession and actions that follow, no matter how dire or destructive the consequences may become. To give up their obsession is to destroy themselves.
It is my view that such obsessed individuals tend to blame other people, the world, the economy, Capitalism, individualism, and freedom for their own miserable state of mind, and therefore for their life. It is also my view that many such obsessed individuals believe that the world and other people somehow owe them something, something to “fill” their inner empty life. But it is really their own empty, “hollow core” life that is to blame. Finally, the political characteristics of any statist political system becomes the perfect platform for their obsession for power and control, in seeking either a political position, government employment, or in voting for their favorite statist politician(s) to “rule” over and “control” all of society. In the end, this obsession becomes the obsession for political power - at all costs, including, I think, the eventual complete destruction of a society and its economy by using the coercive power and force of a statist government to do so, if need be. All just to maintain their political power.
It is also my view that those obsessed with political power care little to nothing about society, the economy, freedom, individual rights, property rights, the “public good,” the poor, charity, a good standard of living for people, prosperity, including not even about national defense. Again, the only basic focus of such power hungry people is all about whatever it takes to maintain their political power – at all costs. That is their only bottom line. Why? Because losing their political power means that they would have to face their low self-esteem, their low self-worth, their own fear and hatred of life, their emptiness, their hollow cores.
Aside from the examples of the obsessions for political power and its consequences throughout history listed above, I think that this obsession for political power can also be observed in our own U.S. contemporary politics, by simply observing the actions and words of various politicians all around us, as with such U.S. Presidents as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, John Kennedy, and Jimmy Carter, as well as observing the actions and words of most of the present members of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives. Even at the most local levels of government in my own state and city, I see this obsessive behavior for political power and control in several, local government elected and/or appointed officials, including even in hired government employees. Statist social-political systems, including mixed economies – by their very nature – attract those obsessed for political power to any level of government.
It should also be clear at this point that one cannot rationally or peacefully negotiate with such power-obsessed individuals. It is my view that unless one can convince such a person through reason that their obsession for political power is wrong, immoral, and harmful, and that they should give up their relentless obsession for political power over people and the economy, any attempt to negotiate is wasteful. They will not give up or let go of their obsession, even if their very life depended on it – and the lives of other people are worth far less than their obsession for political power. It is of my opinion that the mere attempt to negotiate would be viewed as a threat to such political power and control.
The Alternative to Statism and the Obsession for Political Power
On the other hand, only Laissez-faire Capitalism as a social-political-economic system, because of its fundamental defining principles, represents individual and economic freedom for all individuals and businesses. Laissez-faire Capitalism means (1) the recognition and protection of individual rights, including property rights, where (2) all property is privately owned (this also means that all economic production and ownership is private). The government under Laissez-faire Capitalism represents a proper, objectively established, constitutionally limited government – a government constitutionally constrained to its only proper function to recognize and protect individual rights, property rights, and complete, unrestricted, unregulated economic freedom. Because of its two defining fundamental elements, Laissez-faire Capitalism – by its very nature - will always lead to prosperity and economic prosperity, stability, and expansion, along with societal stability and peace, and creates a society that shuns and rejects those with an obsession for political power, as there is no place or want of such political thuggery and tyranny in a true capitalist society. For example, witness the economic and societal growth, prosperity, and stability of the United States from the late 1700s up until around 1925, and for the most part, the relative absence of coercive political corruption and interference. Also, observe the more recent economic and individual freedom developments in such countries as Ireland, Chile, and New Zealand, including the decline of coercive political interference, regulation, and taxation in these countries. Such capitalist-oriented systems become less and less attractive to people obsessed for political power and control – their “platform” is taken away as Capitalism and freedom increases, and Statism and coercive force decreases.
On the reverse, witness what has happened in the United States from 1925 forward, as the coercive and destructive components of Statism, Socialism, big government, progressive liberalism, and environmentalism have grown and spread throughout the political system, attracting all types of people obsessed for political power and control. Simply observe the caliber and character of the majority of politicians, government officials, and government workers attracted to our present day semi-statist, semi-socialist government.
Though in a free society of Capitalism there may exist individuals that obsess for political power and control, it is because of the fundamental principles behind a proper capitalistic government, that such people cannot really do anything with their obsession, because such a government will not support it or allow it. It is my view that under a true Laissez-faire Capitalism, the majority of public officials, military personnel, and government employees that would be needed to administer the proper functions of government, would focus their energies on recognizing, upholding, and protecting individual rights, property rights, and economic freedoms of all individuals and businesses, as they would focus on their proper job duties, reality, reason, facts, the search for truth, objective observation, etc., not on their public image, popularity, their legacies, any attempts for political power, government manipulation, using coercive government force, etc. Their proper governmental jobs and their focus would be the recognition, upholding, and protection of individual rights, including property rights, and the economic freedom that follows.
I thoroughly discuss the distinctions between Capitalism and Freedom versus Statism and Force, including prosperous and peaceful outcomes of Capitalism versus the predictable chaotic and tyrannical outcomes of Statism, based upon its inescapable, fundamental principles, along with my own discussions regarding the obsession for political power, on my own blogsite Capitalism vs. Statism, including with my posting “Economic Power vs. Political Power.”
I am convinced that Statism is as dependent upon the obsession for political power, as Laissez-faire Capitalism is as dependent upon the passion for individual freedom.
I repeat: it is my contention that statist-oriented politicians, political leaders, government officials, and crony capitalists would rather let an entire nation be completely destroyed socially and economically than step aside and relinquish, give up, and let go of their almost psychotic obsessions for political power, control, and use of coercive government force, including not letting go of, or reversing, any of their statist regulations, mandates, policies, and agenda - from the national down to the local levels of government. They are severally obsessed and consumed with political power, and with the statist agenda and policies that follow – those same agenda and policies that cause economic collapse and societal unrest.
Where the United States of America is Headed
Regarding my own country, the United States of America, if our current politicians, political leaders, and government officials do not give up their personal obsessions for political power, as well as giving up the continuance of the already established statist agenda, programs, policies, government regulations and mandates, including the uncontrolled Federal Reserve expansion of fiat credit and fiat monies, along with also giving up the forced infusion of all the new proposed statist plans coming down the pike from the incoming Democrat Party and statist-oriented conservatives (including the massive taxation plans, increased economic regulations and restrictions, unchecked government spending, and severe environmentalist controls, fines, and regulations), make no mistake about it: the United States of America will experience overwhelming economic chaos and devastation, total wealth destruction, overall societal unrest and collapse, and the loss of individual liberty, individual rights, and property rights.
Unless the Statists, their obsession for political power, their followers, and their statist agenda and policies are completely stopped, reversed, repealed, and rejected, the destructive consequences of Statism are inevitable: the total devastation of the United States economy, destruction of wealth production and the division of labor, and including the total loss of all individual freedom, economic freedom, individual rights, property rights, and derivative freedoms (such as freedom of speech, freedom of religion, right to keep and bare arms, etc.).
No amount of wishing, blanking-out, “change” hysteria, or “We can do it!” chanting, can change or stop the statist economic and social guaranteed destructive end: the fundamental nature of – meaning the fundamental principles of - Statism “guarantees” this destructive end, as in reality it should.
One cannot “do it differently from the old socialists,” one cannot “manipulate political control and the statist system to make the outcome somehow different,” or “apply the right form or amount of Statism to fix or correct things.” There is no such thing as the “right” form or the “right” amount of Statism. Trying to “fix” and “correct” things with Statism in any form, along with an unbridled and unchecked obsession for political power at all costs, is not possible - ever.
It’s like being an envy-obsessed person, and to make yourself feel better, you force a small amount of poison onto a free, independent, healthy, competent person because you fear and hate (envy) them, thus making them ill and weaker. You want to control them to try to give yourself a false sense of power over your own empty inner life. Then, because this healthy person is now sick, weak, and can’t perform as they use to, all because of your initial poisoning – due to your own ignorance, evasion, denial, arrogance, and/or deliberate malevolence – you blame them for their illness and tell them that the state of their condition is their own fault. You then continue to force onto this now semi-healthy person more and more poison because you believe – mistakenly and psychotically - that more of the same poison given in a different way will somehow “fix” the healthy person’s illness and weakness (and because you still fear and hate this person, and because your dirty little secret is that the sicker he gets the better you feel). And you continue to do this until the healthy person is so sick that they finally die. Because of the fundamental nature of the poison and its danger to human life (just as in the fundamental nature of Statism and your obsession for political power), no matter how you administer the poison, the result - the consequence of forcing more and more of it onto another person – is increasing illness and, ultimately, death.
The same applies to the forced application of Statism, and the obsession for political power, onto a free people and an unregulated free-market economy: the initial poison “injection” of Statism (socialism, communism, leftist liberalism, environmentalism, etc., and all the agenda, policies, regulations, controls, and taxation that follow) makes a free society and economy sick (less productive). Then to “fix” the sickness that Statism creates in the first place, more and more of the same Statism is pushed onto society and the economy, through coercive government force, pushed by the obsessed political power seekers, causing both society and the economy to get weaker and sicker, and no matter how you administer your coercive statist “poison” (more taxation and regulation, welfare, business bailouts to crony capitalists and unions, wealth redistribution, discarding the gold standard, expansion of state controlled fiat money and credit, tariffs, price controls, public work projects, disregard of property rights, environmentalist controls and fines, climate change mandates, political corruption such as voter fraud, disregard for the U.S. Constitution limits on government, etc.) the final result will be social and economic chaos, collapse, devastation, and finally death for all, including even for the Statists and obsessed political power seekers and supporters themselves (as any parasite will also die when its host dies and there are no more victims to consume). As I said, Statists and those obsessed with political power are disconnected from reality and the consequences of their actions.
Economic freedom, economic stability, economic prosperity, along with economic “fixes” and “corrections” simply are not possible under Statism, no matter how it is applied. Never. And it simply isn’t possible under the unbridled and unchecked obsession for political power. Ever.
Again, the only outcome of Statism, along with the unbridled and unchecked obsession for political power, is total and complete economic and societal chaos, collapse, and devastation.
The Only Solution to Our Obsessive Statist Woes
However, on the bright side, there is an answer and solution to all of this present statist governmental mess, to our current looming economic crisis, and to the current relentless obsession for political power. Actually, it is the only possible answer and alternative, the only possible way to fix and correct the current chaotic state of economic and social crisis, and it involves two essential steps:
(1) the complete and total rejection, repeal, prevention, and end of all statist-socialist-environmentalist ideas, agenda, policies, projects, programs, government departments, agencies, and commissions (such as the Executive Departments of Interior, Agriculture, Education, Housing and Urban Development, etc., and including such agencies as the IRS, FRB, FDIC, SEC, FDA, EPA, FAA, FCC, FEMA, etc.), the complete deregulation of all commerce and business activities, including all government taxation, welfare, mandates, restrictions, regulations, and controls, and along with the demand for the rejection of, prevention of, and ousting of those corrupt politicians and other political leaders, government officials, government employees, and crony capitalists who exist only for their obsession for political power; and then,
(2) the complete and total implementation, application, preservation, and protection of Laissez-faire Capitalism, meaning complete unrestricted and unregulated economic freedom for all, with individual freedom for all, especially the reimplementation, defense, and protection of individual rights, including property rights, all recognized and protected by a proper, objectively established, constitutionally-limited, small government – a limited government defined by its only proper three functions: (1) military for national security and defense, (2) domestic police system to protect against domestic crime (initiation of force and fraud), and (3) a proper, objective justice system (courts) based upon the objective rule of law, administered under objective rules and laws that recognize and protect individual rights, property rights, and derivative freedoms, including dealing with such things as fraud, criminal and civil law suits, breach of contract and/or contract disagreements, other conflicts between individuals and/or businesses, etc.
That’s it. That’s the solution, pure and simple. This is a process not to be determined by what the majority of people may want, or by “democratic” vote. No one person, nor any majority, group, or mob, has any “right” to any form of Statism or Socialism, or to enslave other people. No such “right’ exists. The process is to get back to the fundamental building blocks of individualism and individual rights, including property rights, that the United States was built on, NOT the all consuming entitlement frenzy of the majority, the group, the mob, the gang – back to a representational republic of the individual and individual rights, NOT a devouring democracy of slaves ruled by power obsessed tyrants.
Regarding the reimplementation of individual rights, see Gen LeGreca’s essay “Why We MUST Invoke Our Individual Rights – NOW,” a must read. Also, see Dr. George Reisman’s essay “Towards the Establishment of Laissez-faire Capitalism.”
Regarding what I call the present feverish, almost psychotic, mob-style chanting blaming Capitalism for the current economic crisis, see Dr. George Reisman’s essay “The Myth that Laissez Faire Is Responsible for Our Present Crisis,” and also Dr. Walter E. Williams article, “Capitalism and the Financial Crisis.”
Despite the popular emotional clamor about blaming the free-market for all our current economic and social woes, it is Laissez-faire Capitalism and complete individual freedom, and the invoking of complete individual rights, including property rights, that are the only possible rational and, therefore, moral answers to a bright, happy, expanding, prosperous, stable, peaceful economy, society, and future – for the U.S.A., or for that matter, anywhere else on earth: the pursuit of Laissez-faire Capitalism and Individual Freedom, without any influence and interference from the obsession for political power, including the complete end to coercive government restriction, regulation, taxation, force, control, enslavement, and tyranny.
The only other alternative to Capitalism, Freedom, and Happiness is the irrational and, therefore, the immoral: the continued pursuit of Statism in any of its forms, with its coercive government force, control, and tyranny, including the continued unruly obsession for political power that only Statism allows, encourages, and makes possible – the obsession that leads to complete murderous control, thuggery, and tyranny at all costs, including total and complete economic and societal chaos, impoverishment, collapse, and destruction.
The mindless, drooling, bloodthirsty obsession for political power at all costs.