The War on Politics

A lot has been said about politics; some of it complimentary, but most of it accurate.

- Eric Idle


There is another bastion of ignorance that has imposed itself on mankind from as far back in history as anyone has cared to record. On the rare occasion when people run out of reasons for hating and killing each other based on religious differences, they make up political ones. Politics and religion are often mixed to the point of not being able to tell which is to blame for a particular bias or viewpoint. Both require the same kind of zeal, and both require a large number of unquestioning and ignorant followers. Someone once said 'it is much easier to follow than to think--which is why there are more followers than thinkers'.

There have been repeated attempts throughout history to create systems of government, which have had a variety of goals and agendas, as well as a variety of successes and failures. The origin of these systems usually comes from an individual or group of like minded individuals. In some cases the individual(s) are raised to the level of leader(s) by those around them, based on their decision making skills, or innate abilities. Others define themselves as leaders, using fear and propaganda, or social class to put themselves into positions of power. They all have one thing in common however--their success or failure all depends on their ability to assuage the concerns of those they are governing, or to manipulate and coerce them into becoming unquestioning followers.

All matter of kings, religious leaders, and politicians have vied for the positions of power in our societies. Some consider themselves to have a kind of 'noble birthright' that puts them into a position of authority. Others believe that they are divinely chosen by God, or some other deity to be leaders of men. Some elevate themselves to the level of God, and consider themselves to be unfallible, and even immortal. As often happens, absolute power corrupts these individuals, and their egotism and delusions are their own undoing. Once the masses have grown a backbone, and decide to remove such an individual, they are usually quick and decisive about the use of vigilante force. Some leaders are able to control enough of the population to allow them to assume the role of dictator, and continue to rule for a time, but there has yet to be a system on earth that is not undone sooner or later.

Over the course of the last few centuries, true monarchies have all but disappeared. Some countries still have 'kings' but they are simply figureheads, with little to no power. Patriarchal systems still remain in most countries, with generation after generation of men of certain families, groups of families, classes, or castes assuming the position of leader. There are very few societies that allow women into positions of power, as most systems of government have been made into exclusive 'male only' clubs. The resulting egomaniacal swaggering has been to blame for many wars, and untold death and destruction.

Most major world governments in existence today model themselves after one of two systems, socialism or capitalism. The basic socialist system is based on the idea that everyone within the society is equal, the government owns everything, and is responsible for distributing the wealth equally. This model has never actually existed past some very small communes, since every socialist or communist country has the same problem of a small group of individuals amassing the majority of the wealth and power, while the rest of the people are left with little or nothing. As long as this imbalance of power exists, then socialism is undermined. There are many theories for why socialism would not work, including the obvious fact that greed drives people to want more than those around them. The capitalist system, on the other hand, attempts to capitalize (pun intended) on peoples greed. Under the capitalist system, the real power lies in money, and those with money control everything. The United States of America began as an experiment in Democracy, after revolting against Britain, and declaring themselves free from the oppresion of the British monarchy. The founding fathers ideal, was that a government 'by the people, for the people' would give each individual a voice in shaping the system. Capitalism thrived under this new Democracy, and soon the majority of the money and power were again consolidated to a select few. Proponents of the capitalist system claim that anyone who works hard, and has initiative can become wealthy and powerful, however anyone can see that this is not always the result. The industrial revolution brought with it fantastic economic growth, making it possible for individuals to live much more comfortably, but also brought new problems with it.

John Steinbeck's novel "The Grapes of Wrath" outlines the adversity faced by sharecroppers, who owning no land of their own, were forced to leave their rural farmland when large industrial farms realized that they could till, seed, and harvest far more produce with much less cost through the use of new, more sophisticated equipment. They could pay one individual to run huge pieces of equipment, and farm massive tracts of land. The sharecroppers were forced off of their land, and were told that there were opportunities in the west--so they loaded up their families, and traveled west. They find that most of the opportunities have either already been taken by the overwhelming numbers of displaced workers, or what remains is backbreaking work paying pennies a week. In the modern system, immigrant labor fills the majority of this kind of work, leaving individuals who want a living wage to have to search for more lucrative prospects.

The US government now forces companies to pay a 'minimum wage', however this does not fix the problem. Corrupt corporations find ways to cut the amount that they pay their employees, docking them hours for work related illnesses, and of course forcing the individual to pay for health care. The minimum wage in the US is well below the poverty level, and in order to survive, someone would have to work multiple jobs in order to make ends meet. Even the individuals who find better pay, are inundated at an early age into a system that guarantees that they will be slaves to their jobs. Credit card companies, along with banks, and other lending institutions have made it possible for everyone to have the same bright shiny toys as those next door, but at an amazing cost. The average person in the US, has so much debt, billed at such as high rate of interest, that they will never pay it off in their lifetime, regardless of the amount of work that they perform.

Education is the key to success under such a system. However, even with an education, an individual can fail to reach the level of success that will allow them financial freedom. A intelligent and frugal person will choose a field with opportunities for employment, advancement, and eventual retirement. They will not fall into the pitfalls of racking up debt, just to 'keep up with the Joneses'. Even with these decisions, unforseen disaster can cause someone to be buried with medical bills, lose their home, and become financially insolvent. The government has a system to allow an individual to file 'bankruptcy' and have all of your debts absolved at the cost of destroying your credit for up to ten years. Unfortunately, under the current administration, they have made it much more difficult for an individual to file for bankruptcy, although corporations continue to have the capability to file, as many have just in the last few years.

Social programs have also taken a hit in the last few years, mostly due to an illegal war being run in the middle east, headed by greedy war profiteers and oil companies. The current president has run up over 1 trillion in foreign debt to try to pay for this fiasco, and billions of it have been wasted, and actually lost. I will discuss more about this war, and the current administration in my next post. The programs that the government has in place to help the less fortunate are imperfect to say the least. There are plenty of people on welfare who are fully capable of working, and the system is in need of major reform. Anyone capable of working should be put to work. There are plenty of things they could be doing from building shelters for the homeless, to feeding the hungry. Elderly and disabled individuals require assistance, as well as veterans (of which there are going to be a whole new generation with the number of injured and disabled soldiers returning from iraq).

Even now, at a very low point in Americas history, there is a glimmer of hope. Despite all of the corruption, greed, lies, and ignorance, there are people working to enact changes. It will require hard work, and determination, and while we may not be able to fix all of the problems in our society, we can uproot those who spread ignorance and fear. They will not go easily, and as they see their hold on power dissolving, they will become dangerous like injured and cornered animals. They must be dealt with quickly, and carefully, and their replacements must be held to a higher standard in order to keep from repeating the same mistakes again and again.

A truly Democratic government welcomes and respects those who question its authority, its motives, and its actions.

-Me

Next Time: Chimpeachment!

Religion, Opiate of the Unquestioning

Have you ever wondered where you come from? Where you are going? What the point in all of this is?

Apparently people have been asking this question for quite some time, and while noone has been able to come up with one unfaltering explanation for all of it, it hasn't stopped some people from coming up with frameworks to eliminate the need for questioning, and to just accept things on faith.

Faith is a dangerous thing, because when you stop questioning, and start accepting, you run the risk of entering into the realm of ignorance (see previous posts). It is important to understand that not all faith is bad--some people use their faith to give them strength, motivation, creativity, and a reason for living. It can also be a crutch, which after putting too much weight on it, can allow an individuals entire world to come crashing down when doubt knocks out the foundation of their understanding.

There are obviously many different religions around the world, based on different kinds of faith. Each has its own beliefs, deities, explanations for creation, the meaning of life, and what happens after you die. All require that you accept certain 'truths' and work towards some kind of goal.

In Christianity, the 'truth' is that Jesus Christ (the Son of God) was born of a virgin, lived a perfect life, and was crucified, only to come back three days later. Somehow this allows him to keep you from being damned to hell by absolving you of your sins. The main tenets of Christianity are that all men are hopeless hellbound sinners, and only through the 'Blood of Jesus' can anyone enter into heaven, due to God (despite being all powerful) not being able to look upon sin. The goal of a Christian, after accepting Jesus Christ as their saviour, is to try to live a sin free life, and spread the message of Christ throughout the world.

On the surface, Christianity sounds like a pretty good deal. All you have to do is accept Jesus, and your soul won't be tortured for eternity in a lake of fire. This is an example of the typical fear based system which people seem to feel the need to inflict upon themselves. The history of the 'Christian' church (as well as many other major world religions) are filled with stories of people debasing themselves, turning themselves into martyrs for their beliefs, and punishing themselves for their normal human desires and actions. Christians blame a fallen angel 'Lucifer' otherwise known as 'Satan' for causing them to want to sin, deny God, and do all manner of evil things. It is pretty obvious, when looking at the actions of 'evil' people, that no such force is necessary to get them to do the things they do.

The main piece of evidence that Christians use to support their beliefs and faith, is a book called 'The Bible'. Perhaps you have heard of it? It is a compilation of books written over a span of thousands of years. It starts off with the 'Old Testament' cataloguing some pretty disturbing events. The second part of the Bible is called the 'New Testament' and talks about the life, death, and supposed resurrection of Jesus Christ, it also has some fun stuff about end times. There are many variations and translations of the Bible, including the 'King James Version', and the 'New International Version (NIV)' Some Christian churches are very specific about which Bible is 'correctly' translated.

There are many other religions around the world, including Judaism (which provided a foundation for Christianity and Islam), Budhhism, Taoism, Sikhism, Hinduism, and many others. Each have their own specific beliefs, rites, deities, and holy writings. Some believe in one God (monotheistic), and some have multiple Gods (polytheistic). Within any of these religions there are many variations, called sects.

For someone to claim any one of these relgions, or a specific sect as being more truthful, accurate, or complete than any of the others, they would have to do quite a bit of research, and would still be left having to accept whichever belief system they were left with on faith. This of course, does not stop some people from blindly accepting one particular religion (usually, conveniently the one they are brought up by their parents to believe in), and vehemently denying that there are any shortcomings in their own religion, or that any other religion has any basis in fact. Throughout history, there are repeated cases of violent and brutal clashes resulting from differences of religion. The strange part is, that the actions taken by the devoted followers usually differ greatly from what the religion itself teaches. The actions taken are usually justified by the individual, and the group as a whole as being necessary to keep naysayers from destroying their truth. They will even go so far as to twist the words of their holy writings to claim that they are doing what their 'God' wants them to do.

This has been evident throughout the history of the Christian religion, which while it preaches peace, love, and humanity, has been one of the bloodiest and most brutal defenders of its own faith. It has been used as the justification for mass murder, slavery, and just about every sick, disgusting act ever imagined. The individuals, of course, are to blame--as well as their leaders, both political and theological. Leaders have long known how to tap into their followers religious fervor, and with a few simple justifications, have been able to convince them to commit heinous acts, with little to no questioning.

An individual should never follow a religion, or any belief system, to the extent that most people seem to. Unquestioning acceptance, and blind obedience are among the main reasons for war, slavery, poverty, and intolerance. In order to transcend all of these things, mankind will have to throw off these chains of ignorance, accept that noone has all of the answers, and try to move forward.

Next Time: Lets Get Political!!!

Delusions of Grandeur

If ignorance is the disease, then delusions are the main symptom.

Humankind has long given itself far too much credit for it's importance in the universe. If you were to wipe out the entire population of earth in a nuclear holocaust tommorrow, it would be like removing one speck of dust from the last page in a set of encyclopedias in the basement of a massive library--noone would notice.

It would, of course, be a tragedy. Not a surprising one, considering the constant struggle for mankind to come up with better and more efficient ways of killing each other. Most of the greatest technical advances of recent decades have been because of massive military budgets for developing superior weapons. Mankind has come a long way in a short time, and yet, stays in exactly the same place--running to stand still.

It is no more possible to explain how life began in the universe, than to explain how the universe itself began. The theological answers simply echo the delusions of grandeur that I discussed above. Humans, seeing that they exist, sought an answer to why. Some made the assumption that because they exist, something had to have created them--and some made the connection that whoever or whatever created them, must have had a purpose for doing so.

The recent arguments as to the origin of the species of man regarding so called 'intelligent design' are just another clue as to how delusional some people are. The widely regarded Theory of Evolution does not attempt, nor does it claim to try to attempt to explain the origins of life in the universe. Instead, it is the binding element that holds almost all other scientific study together. Ask any scientist that isn't getting funding from a 'Christian' establishment, and you will find very little doubt as to whether or not humans have evolved to become the bipedal, opposable thumb wielding, large forebrain posessing creatures that we know of today.

I have my own theories regarding the evolution of man. The first is the answer to the common question 'If humans evolved from apes, why are there still apes?'. Although a 'missing link' between apes and humans has never been found, it has been proven that humans share 99% of their genetic makeup with chimpanzees. I hold that there may have been something unique about the particular apes that eventually became humans. Something different in the sequence of genes in these apes allowed changes to occur, where it did not in others.

Secondly, there is an amazingly wide amount of diversity of genetic makeup in the great ape family, even within a particular kind of ape, and it would not be unlikely that this would explain the variety of human forms that are in existence at this moment in time right now. The idea of creation that most 'Christian' people hold to, is that 'God' created a man and a woman. These are usually depicted in 'Christian' literature as being two white people, tall and thin. This is the obvious work of ethnocentricity, which has long impeded attempts to investigate the evolution of mankind. The irony, is that the 'Christian' claims to be affronted by the concept of evolving from apes, and yet their bible claims that they were created from dirt.

However we ended up in our current form(s), and despite our perceived progress, we are still in our infancy when it comes to understanding the world and universe that surrounds us. I am glad that there are people who are willing to continue this process of understanding, rather than accepting the convenient and simple (if you are willing to stop questioning) explanations given by those who fear the unknown. The first step in having a greater understanding is always the realization that you do NOT know everything. It has been said throughout history, that the truly wise man, is the one who realizes how little he knows.

Next time: Religion--is it for me?

First things first.

There is nothing more repulsive than pure unadulterated ignorance.

I can accept differences of opinion. I know that people have different beliefs and views. Nothing, however, excuses the defenders of ignorance. Ignorance is the key to fear, fear is the key to hatred. When individuals are unwilling to ask questions they open their minds to ignorance.

There are things that I have no explanation for, but rather than fear them, I am driven to understand them. The origin and limits of the universe, the existence of life in that universe, these are things that have no complete explanation. Individuals are compelled throughout their lives, regardless of where they are born and live, to accept explanations based on faith, grounded in superstition and beliefs that are handed down from generation to generation. Questioning these explanations is not acceptable, and a fear of questioning is bred in the individual. Afraid of the unknown, and unwilling, or incapable of casting off the burden of lies that they have been told.

It is only when the individual faces their fears head on, and asks the questions that need to be asked, that they have a chance to beat their own ignorance. These questions must be asked, and the answers must be weighed carefully. The answer may not come at all, and an individual must learn to be content with this. Not knowing the answer to a question is preferable to accepting an incorrect answer just to make oneself feel better about it.

The question of the origin of the universe is one of the most compelling to me. There is extensive evidence of the existance of the universe, and from our perspective, it appears to be infinite. The concept of infinity is mostly incomprehensible to a human mind, and so limits are placed on it. There have been many attempts by scientists to explain the origin and extents of the universe. Based on mathematical formulas, physics, and experimentation, they have tried to get a better understanding of the nature and history of the universe. There is a widely held theory that they universe as we know it started with a gravitational singularity, and that it has expanded, with the passage of time. The immediate question I have is 'expanded into what?'. Attempts to research questions of this magnitude have launched some men into lifelong obsessions with understanding what most consider to be incomprehensible. Some make progress, and combined with the efforts of others, we continue to have a greater understanding of the makeup of the uinverse. We have sent probes and telescopes deep into space, and so far they have continually shown us one thing--if it isn't infinite, it's pretty damned big, and still doesn't show any obvious signs of how it got here or where it came from. Just more pieces in a massive puzzle.

Next Time: The Origins of Life in the Universe