Fascist follies, aka Kwame and friends

The American empire is crumbling by the hour. In addition to the obvious signs - mortal stalemate and military quagmire in overseas parts which few if any Americans could identify on a map, a collapsing dollar, an economy about to slide into a lethal abyss which will make the Great Depression look like a mild downturn by comparison - the antics and high jinks of our exalted solons (which would be comical if not so serious an indictment of our attitudes toward whom we as a society deem fit to reward with high political office) give casual observers such as myself and others little confidence and comfort in the future of our society as it is presently constituted.

Consider the erstwhile mayor of that veritable kingdom of urban prairie and decay, Kwame Kilpatrick. Today comes the news that the well deserved indictment has descended down from on high for his role in covering up the illicit and shameful affair between himself (a married man) and his now-exiled chief of staff Christine Beatty, a cover-up which caused the wrongful termination of two police officers. With all hope it will end with these scions of reprehensibility paying for their perverse actions, literally - this entire affair has cost the hardworking taxpayers of Detroit over $8 million. An expensive price to 'have a thing going on', in the words of Billy Paul....

Why, you ask, do politicians always fall for this sort of stuff? With the monumental amount of illicit and licit enrichment opportunities at hand for the average public official in this era of the bloated welfare-warfare-hand over the goodies State, why do politicians always seem to go down in flames due to silliness such as this, survivable if they would only use a bit of common sense discretion?

The reality is that this goes beyond illicit carnal behavior, or even the petty and amazingly ignorant actions of one man with obvious mental and moral issues, who is anyhow soon to depart the theatrical stage that is American public life.

The fact of the matter is (with one known exception) that the average politician, much like the well heeled and powerful supporters he relies on for sustenance, believes himself to be a special sort of person, not bound by rules or other precepts (such as being faithful to your wife and mother of your children) which mere mortals have to contend with.

With great power comes great authority, and unfailingly it takes a certain sort of person to be drawn to such a position, with the power of life and death over other bodies. In psychology he is defined by the terms 'narcissist' and 'sociopath.'

In the worst cases where authority and power are greatest, he imagines himself a near godlike figure whose very will and whim should be construed as law. The "smallest" things bring out the greatest of personal hubris in that individual.

I believe I can think of at least one or two particular rulers within the last hundred years who sufficiently demonstrate what I am talking about. Again, with power comes authority, and with that comes the power to conceal any immorality, blackness of character, or human depravity in which the State supported and fattened power playa may wish to indulge.

The same impulse which drives fascism, social Darwinism, ghetto thuggery, and all other forms of strong man collectivism is that which has moved sociopaths throughout human history - a desire to forcibly take that which is others' and keep it for himself, despite this being clearly contrary to the natural law, and then justify the action by introducing the morality of 'might makes right.' The modern incarnation of this ancient strain of the banality of human nature is the modern State, where the civilized modern counterpart to the despots of antiquity practice theft and plunder but call it taxation, and instead of sacking cities make it all very convenient and painless for us, with pay deductions and harmless paperwork. Hooray for the State!

No wonder that from a moral standpoint, an outsider observing our modern 'civilized' society might be justifiably mistaken in believing that he is witnessing a pack of raving lunatics scraping for the last subsidy they can find, in order to stave off the abyss of death for one minute longer.

As a society we permit this type of anti-civilized activity to flourish, thanks to the comforting bosom of the almightly State and its military-industrial-ruling elite appendages and auxiliaries, which sustains and rewards this behavior. And thus it spreads, and moral dry rot grows to infect the entirety of the social body. This is the root of our present dilemma.