Thoughts for a Christmas Eve

Every year at about this time, people look back and start talking about “wow, what a year it's been”, and “it's a wonder we survived”, and all of that folksy stuff. Most of the time, the year in question has been eventful, sure, but not all that exceptional in the scheme of things. But I would venture to say that 2008 has broken the mold in many ways. On the political side, we have at least the appearance of “change”, and it is, in any event, historically significant that an African-American (in the literal sense, for once) has been elected president. Whether this will spell real change is another matter, and color me pessimistic, since – as I have said many times – I believe there is really only one “regime” and that it remains in control regardless of who gets elected or appointed to any given office. And yet, the way American politics works, maybe appearances are all that count; this can certainly be said of most administrations and most “emergency” programs down through the 20th Century and into the 21st. Politics is, above all, the art of appearances and of illusion... the art of deception... the art of “bait and switch”... and the art of rotating neglect of innumerable human and social needs. And the amazing thing is, it continues to be practiced as in days of yore with nary a peep of protest from its victims, the people. Perhaps this is such a profound, deeply-rooted human trait that it's a lost cause trying to root it out – the starry-eyed, gullible faith in politicians, the herd behavior in the voting booth, and the obliviousness to what happens next – the corruption, the exploitation, the deceit. The most one can expect from the voters is that they will throw one gang out of office and invite a new gang in, only to find that things haven't improved, so they throw that gang out next time around and... ad infinitum. And none of this fazes the people who are really running things, who look down from great heights and laugh at the foolishness of the body politic.

2008 is also remarkable in that it is the year in which vast reaches of the nation's economy were, for all intents and purposes, nationalized – not for the good of the people, but, paradoxically, for the benefit of those whose “mismangement” necessitated the nationalization. History will, someday, if there is an honest bone left in the body of historians, mark 2008 as the year the United States became an officially fascist system, i.e. one in which business and government are one. Of course, events leading up to this denouement have been occurring for decades, but now that it is official, and there is very little protest because everyone is too frightened to question the “remedies” being offered for all of the various manufactured “crises”, we can assume that the Regime has decided that it's time to dispense with the illusion and the language of “free enterprise” and “capitalism”. This is not to say that a few vestiges won't remain; you can expect some glimmerings of the free market here and there. But overall, and where it counts, we won't be any more of a “free enterprise” or “capitalistic” country than Nazi Germany. The Regime will decide who gets rich and who doesn't, and what price they have to pay. And ordinary people will be fed propaganda by the media and kept on sufficient life support to remain “productive”, i.e. slaves of the system.

So 2008 is a year of a great economic sea change, accomplished mainly by unelected, unappointed, and, in many cases, anonymous men who are motivated by... what? One is tempted to say simple greed, but after all, how much money can any one individual realistically use over the course of a lifetime? A more likely explanation is simply raw power – performing great deeds because you can, and because those deeds will appear as a tidal wave to lesser mortals, sweeping them off their feet and into poverty, dependency, and desperation. Grandiosity of this type does not require deeds of the building-up kind, that will be fondly remembered for generations to come. It is much more evil and perverse than that. It is enough just to have had an impact – to have grabbed thousands, or millions, by the throat. Destructive? Yes. Tending to destroy the society, and the system, that enabled those actions? Certainly. But these people don't care. If they can't create, they will destroy. If they cannot work for the common good, they will work for their own good – narrowly defined – and enjoy the spectacle of what they have wrought, the way an arsonist does.

How the levers of society, and our economic system, got turned over to people of this type is an issue worth exploring, but I'm not going to do it now. Instead, I'm going to provide a quotation – a long one – from none other than Charlie Chaplin. This is a portion of his speech at the end of the film, “The Great Dictator”, and despite Chaplin's highly dubious political convictions he does manage to hit the nail on the head many times in this speech. So here it is, with my best wishes for Christmas:

“We all want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone and the earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful. But we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men's souls - has barricaded the world with hate; has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed.

"We have developed speed but we have shut ourselves in: machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little: More than machinery we need humanity; More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost. The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me I say 'Do not despair'.

"The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress: the hate of men will pass and dictators die and the power they took from the people, will return to the people and so long as men die [now] liberty will never perish...

"Don't give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you and enslave you - who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel, who drill you, diet you, treat you as cattle, as cannon fodder.

"Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men, machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts. You are not machines. You are not cattle. You are men. You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don't hate - only the unloved hate. Only the unloved and the unnatural. Don't fight for slavery, fight for liberty.

"In the seventeenth chapter of Saint Luke it is written 'the kingdom of God is within man' - not one man, nor a group of men - but in all men - in you, the people.

"You the people have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness. You the people have the power to make life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy let's use that power - let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give you the future and old age and security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power, but they lie. They do not fulfil their promise, they never will. Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people. Now let us fight to fulfil that promise. Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness.

"In the name of democracy, let us all unite!”