Realpolitik & Outlook

"You too can join the millions who nod..."

Or so claims a current popular auto insurance ad. If you don't happen to get the little pun unintended by this, then you may not get the rest of this piece, or any of it.

How many of you out there are parents? How many of you really have meaningful friendships with your kids? How many of you ever hear them talk about being bored? How many of us admit that we too are bored? Boredom in any form, among too many people, among too many of the SAME people, for too long, is not a good thing. An old adage has it that "idle hands are the Devil's workshop." Though fewer of us are ever likely to hear this or many other of the old adages as more time passes, the principle still holds; people with nothing better to do, cause problems for themselves and others.

And yet we are fortunate and pleased to be living in the most brilliant, media blitzed, information rich environments ever imagined in the history of the human race. What's there to be bored about? Our civilization is spectacular. So many opportunities, options. Our technology is shaping us, changing us. As it does, some people are not just numbed, they are half asleep. This lulled state of mind and of life, has been for some, all they could mentally make of their world, or so they thought. We hear so much about stress these days, and people actually claim to be suffering physical damage caused by stress. The pace of life and the blitz of mind bombarding information has produced a profound sense of alienation among many. Nothing that may have seemed a constant in the lives of children has survived into their adulthood. There's nothing to hold onto. The pace of change is also unprecedented in human history. We seem to be living in a flood or a wind tunnel.

Is Politics Important?

Of course politics is important and deserves our attention. These government people do things that affect all of our lives. If we have a choice in the matter, no matter how small, we should use it. This is the Democracy that is left to us. It gives us something to do between changing TV channels or having usually inane discussions with our supposed loved ones. Oh sorry, this may not be your life. It isn't mine, but that too in time. We'll have occasion to discuss all of these issues in this publication, as that's what it's for.

But it is the political season in the United States and for eye openers, we'll start with a big picture of what politics amounts to both here in the USA and elsewhere around the world.

In the largest sense, politics applies to human beings on planet earth. These human beings comprise around 6,000,000,000 individuals who actively use 2% of the surface area of the planet. The only other animals, by mass that may be as numerous as humans on planet earth are the sharks. Sharks probably use more than 5% of the planet's surface. I'm sure sharks have their own politics, as there are in some heavily shark infested places, many species of sharks sharing the same or neighboring space. In the same sense there are likely bird politics, insect politics and so on.

In any case, there are a lot of human beings on planet earth and humans like sharks are also differentiated into a number of races. A race differs from a species in that members of one species usually cannot reproduce through another species, whereas races are still all of the same species. We humans invented this system to classify other animals: we often wonder how these notions of species or races apply to ourselves. Make no mistake though, to the extent each of us is aware of these differences no matter how small, some politician out there is interested in exploiting them. That is a big part of what politics amounts to.

However it happened, these differentiated groups of human beings have all pretty much acquired some territory. Whether hired to the offices or they assumed them by force, some individual humans in each of these groups, engage in an activity called ruling, that usually involves the establishment of a government capable of enforcing its rule over the human beings in its territory as well as defending that same territory against the encroachments of others. This is known as "sovereignty" but the key word here is "rule", associated with making rules and law. This is the ideal. How it has in fact been worked out among the billions of humans who have spun around on this planet long before us, is a matter of history.

In all times of recorded history some rulers have been dangerous to their own people as well as to other people around the world. Some have been cast as heroes as well. In our own time, each side in a political argument about some human issue views its own rulers as heroes, while its opponents on the other side may regard the same rulers as monsters. History usually records the views of the winners in any really big dispute among humans.

In America as elsewhere around the world, the unceasing flow of commerce has shaped and continues to change the quality and effectiveness of rule according to its own incontestable needs. Commerce cannot be so limited by rule without causing huge hardships among the people the rulers are attempting to rule. Some rulers and many people don't know this yet. Shouldn't we let them know that certain policies will cause their people to starve, to live in less good standards of life than other people who may live close by? If we do, it will become the subject of politics.

The Great Stage Show

We're all in a theatre. The characters on the stage are of two teams, each with its own uniforms and mascots. Some in the theatre have box seats while others have standing room only. Shouts are occasionally heard, or the action on stage is ignored by turns, unless someone's making a big deal about nothing. Most people watching the action are unaware of the strings attached to all the characters on the stage. High above the stage, behind the curtains, in the catwalks, unseen people are pulling the strings. This is the truth about American politics. It is the truth about politics elsewhere as well.

Everywhere and for all recorded history, politics is a controlled, carefully choreographed stage show. If someone makes a false move or a bad step, they may have their strings cut and thrown off the stage. Politics is not just about rule, but about how rule is perceived. Is it a good show? That depends on commerce, how well people are able to live or perceive they are able to live. Does the show reflect their outlook or not? In a democracy, to the extent that it does, it remains in power. Elsewhere people must live under more dangerous rulers and the shows they are likely to see are in some cases far more brutal. There are still strings attached to these rulers.

Most People Are Asleep And Like It That Way.

My daughters occasionally ask me about their dealings with others, why are some other people often so difficult, so hard to get things across to, etc.? There is nothing particularly odd or uncommon about their complaints. I hear plenty of it from others and overhear it in public constantly. So what's the big deal? Why are so many of us so difficult? Well, a lot of it can't be avoided. There are good reasons for it etc. "It's just part of life," but there are a huge number of these complaints that could be resolved long before they become aggravations for others, and yes, it behooves us all to try and live better with each other.

But what I usually tell my daughters is something to the effect that other people "just can't help it," they're "not as smart as you are," which is often the case too, but more often, "they didn't know what they were doing." A surprising number of people don't know what they're doing even while they're doing it.

The Polar Bear