Politics: Ask any politician, "Is Black really White ?"

international | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis Monday January 14, 2008 23:49 by Seamus Power. - V.L.P.S.

Ask any politician, "Is Black really White ?"

Politicians are at the forefront in creating a new world, but will they slip further into their world of power and deceit ?

In theory the judicial system and the political process operate independently of each other. In practice the lines of demarcation are often blurred and at a certain level both ideologies often merge into one.

The political process is in the hands of big business. It works to service the economic ethos of the day and does so effectively. The profit principle dominates, the democratic imperative follows. The financiers who control much of the world’s wealth set the pace. They decide policy; the politicians find ways to implement it. The world must be kept safe for those in control, long-term planning is therefore essential.

Many of the big decisions today are made in secret, the prying eye an unwelcome guest. The issues that affect people’s lives, the environment and the future matter little to the moneyed moguls. They operate behind closed doors and are not driven by human sentiment. Their objective is to garner as much power to the centre as possible; the poor and the weak further isolated. This process is called progress, it is blessed and endorsed by the political system, it is then rolled out as democracy. People buy into this illusion and the human saga continues.

The political process is a machine made up of many parts. It is global in reach and clear in purpose. It is cleverly designed, adaptable and ruthlessly efficient. It is that beast that facilitated two world wars in the last century and many others. All conflicts in fact have their origin in some political process. The philosophy underpinning big power is therefore predatory not peaceful, the instinct to control sharper than the urge to accommodate.

Wars don’t just happen, they are caused; the armaments industry prospers and the financiers pulling the strings plan the next escapade. So it is with many other things, hidden forces in the background shape events, the political process offers respectability. If it were any other way people would rebel. If they could see the enemy they would protest. In the past tyranny was opposed at every level. Today the political process camouflages the truth and politicians play a double game.

They accommodate the status quo while facilitating change, they talk idealistically yet act pragmatically, i.e., to get elected. Most of the big decisions are preordained; the rubber stamp only gives them political endorsement. Politicians know their place at the table and the limits of what they can say or do. Convention abhors a rebel and those with a restless spirit are quietly sidelined or squeezed out all together. The system is thus structured to comply with its master not to confront it. The beast that lurks in the background is exacting and cruel and its writ is sacrosanct.

Politicians serve the people and big power. In order to accommodate this contradiction they adopt different personae, a new face for every event, a mask to cloud the real intent. The facility to entertain so many opposites requires a certain mind-set, the mentality that can roll with the punches and run with events and not be perturbed: a new man so to speak. This new mind underpins the modern era; it is a vital link in the jigsaw of power.

Speaking in many tongues today the politician can rationalise the world, he can explain it but not reveal it. Hidden agendas remain in the background. Debate can centre on how things happen but not why. Peripheral issues dominate the landscape; the blueprint that decides all is never touched. The politician provides a mask, behind this industrial and economic tyranny prospers. Big power needs to camouflage reality; the politician is a ready accomplice in this deceit.

The local representative likewise plays his role. He keeps the illusion alive in town and county, the pretence that everything is as it seems. Once he sniffs the beast and where real power comes from he recoils. Better to live with things as they are than to lose everything. Very few challenge the system. Those few determined to expose everything are silenced or eliminated. It is in this fashion that the world survives as it does, unequal, unfair and unrestrained.

The media collude with the political process in preserving this charade. Newspapers do not highlight the duplicity of politicians and what is left unsaid. The electronic media is equally placid. All are in the pay of big business. The politicians can therefore play the game unhindered. Saying one thing and meaning another has now become second nature to the political class. They do so regularly and voluntarily on the airwaves, this has honed their skills not inhibited them. The masters of deceit have now become the icons of the age. History, however, will record a different verdict.

Politicians have little to fear from the institutions of the state or from the opposition. In fact all political parties sing virtually, the same tune. Big money decides the agenda, politicians vote on issues like the budget and the methods of distribution but little else. The decisions that affect the state of the world, the progress of wars, the extent of famines and the indigenous poor are made elsewhere. The democratic process gives the illusion of participation. Fewer and fewer now make decisions, all power is moving towards the centre.

The centralisation of power is the greatest threat to civilisation today. Emperors of the past saw its benefits; today politicians collude in its progress. In earlier times dictators ruled by force, at present power is acquired through consent. The citizen’s rights are being eroded the individual has little say in his future, local democracy is barely evident. The politicians elected to protect the system are supervising its decline. The emperor and his retinue are back in fashion again.

Politicians are at the forefront in creating a new world, an era of duplicity. They provide the mask behind which deceit can flourish, doublethink take precedence. Little that is said today can be taken at face value. Even the language is being rolled out as the enemy. Once black is presented as white people lose the ability to decipher what is real.

Words can mean anything; political jargon is the new tyranny of the age. The enemy can slip in the backdoor not by force but by invitation. The world can turn upside-down and be treated as normal. The politicians have acquiesced in this process; the world bequeathed to the future is their world. History will not judge them kindly.