If (as many believe) democracy is indeed in crisis and peoples desires and visions for the future are not acknowledged by government then we have to assume that it’s the corrupt elites interests and plans for the future that define official policy.’
If that is the case then are political failures (assuming a
failure is something the people do not want or approve) the result of the corrupt
elites’ stupidity or that was their plan and the fact that we, the people don’t
like it is too bad for us.
I guess elites – corrupt or not as clever as they are just people
like the rest of us and it is understandable if they make the occasional error.
But bearing in mind the information and resources that they have on their disposal
that is highly unlikely. Therefore, it may be beneficial to analyse so called
political failures from the premise that they may not be errors, but planned
actions aimed at some consequences preferred by the decision makers.
The elites prioritise their interests just like any human
being – me first, increase what’s mine second and help those closest to me
third. Citizenship, society, nationhood, global awareness comes after that.
Cooperation and/or exploitation of others is always a plus in the pursuit of
personal interests.
The difference between the elites and common people is in
the scale of power and resources that elites have at their disposal. We the
people would like to believe and the elites would like to convince us –
sometimes sincerely and sometimes hypocritically that they manage these
resources on our behalf, but the truth is that they have the control and we
only the choice to trust or not to trust them. And indeed sometimes resources
are managed to the benefit of all but when corruption and greed overtake the individual
member of the elites the damage spreads like malignant cancer. Better political
systems manage this spread more effectively than more primitive ones but which
are better is a matter open for discussion.
So a typical member of the elites will prioritise defending
and enhancing his or her exclusive personal privileges, encroaching on the
privileges of fellow elites who have more to lose but then more to give and on
those of common people who have less but are more in numbers and last but not
least protecting elite privileges or as Marx would define it class privileges.
While Marx is right on that part he is wrong about the whole class struggle
thing because the workers – or proletariat are not interested in defeating the
elites – the bourgeois class, they are interested in becoming part of it. That’s
where an enterprising member of the elites may and will summon the support of
the common people to increase his, hers or their groups power and wealth at the
expense of the other members of the elites and of course – the hapless masses.
Does that mean that there is no hope for the establishment of
a just and prosperous society? No, indeed there is hope as history and current
developments have shown. Elites, masses,
humanity strive towards a world where rules work and personal freedoms are
protected. Yes there are those who would try and will sometimes succeed to
cheat the system and on a grand scale too – see the Military Industrial Complex
as one blatant example of that, but the fact that with all their power and
money they cannot keep it secret and won’t be able to get away with it for long
gives us hope. Because arrogance leads to ignorance – ignorance to fear, and
fear – to failure!
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