One Slave, One Vote

It's a dreary prospect we're facing in a few short weeks – either we elect, or re-elect, “the people who got us into this mess in the first place”, or we elect or re-elect the people who are doing everything they can to get us out of this mess – and, as a result, are creating an even bigger mess. This is, of course, assuming the American public has been thoroughly inoculated against considering third parties – Libertarian, Constitution, what not – that might actually have some answers, and constructive solutions. So basically, as the dog returneth to his vomit, so will the American citizen return to his folly – i.e., the folly of supporting one of two indistinguishable parties (or one-half of the ruling party, however you want to think of it). And one can say, well, if that defines the limit of their vision, then surely they deserve whatever comes out of it – which is perfectly true, but one must also take into account the fact that the American public is, by and large, grossly deceived, misled, and lied to at every turn. Consider, for example, the “mainstream media”, AKA “the voice of the ruling elite”. This is where most people get most, if not all, of their information on political matters – and if they don't exercise around-the-clock skepticism, it's no wonder they march to the polls with a bunch of propaganda-based delusions churning around in their heads. Take anyone who uses the term “cut and run”, for example – his brain has already been captured; he's one of the pod people. Or, how about that term we strangely seem to hear less of nowadays -- “Islamofascism”? You show me someone who uses that term in anything but a satirical way, and I'll show you someone who has been turned into a gibbering idiot by the media – which means, by the administration – which means, by the ruling elite. And of course the ultimate shibboleth (I use the term advisedly) when it comes to foreign affairs is an individual's opinion about Israel – and the beauty of this is that it is probably the one issue which features the largest gap between what people are willing to say and their real feelings. (A much bigger gap than the race issue, for certain!) But this in its own right is a sign of total dominance by the ruling elite and those who manipulate the language. When else in history has the majority of the population of any nation been willing to sacrifice that nation's interests, as well as their own, in the service of another nation – and not even a nearby one, but one halfway around the world? And one that, moreover, shows us more signs of hostility than of friendship? As I've said before, I consider this an unprecedented event in all of human history... and yet it's happening, on daily basis, right under our noses, and no one can do anything about it because the majority have bought in to the delusion – or if not bought in, are too intimidated to speak out against it.

Thus, the American public – the voters – are, in effect, captives. They march off to the polls with their heads full of delusions, propaganda, and mostly fear... and vote accordingly. And the result of their vote is heralded as a “mandate”, when all it is is a tale told by an idiot – or by a few million idiots. It would be much healthier, and more honest, to simply do away with elections altogether – do away with the ritual, the fetish, the pretense – and admit that we have become a nation of captives, or slaves, who are of value only insofar as they serve the purposes of the non-elected ruling elite. But this would never do, because it's that very delusion that serves as an anaesthetic of sorts to keep people numb and ignorant as to the games the power elite are playing. And we know this is the main point when we see how the establishment reacts on those rare occasions when some of the citizenry start to wander off the reservation – and I'm not talking about third-party members here, who are easily labeled as “cranks”. I'm talking about the “tea partiers” -- and despite the media's stereotype of them as inbred, mouth-breathing, knuckle-dragging bigots, they are probably just about as “normal” or “average” a group of people as has hit the streets during our lifetime. And this in itself is significant. Since when has a demographic that one might have described, up until recently, as the ultimate in “contented” Americans decided to take up arms (or at least protest signs) and risk being put on the FBI's and DHS's lists of “suspected terrorists”? Thing must be in awfully bad shape for that to have happened – and, sure enough, the tea party line is that things are, indeed, in bad enough shape for the middle middle class to get up off their couches and do something. The problem is that this “something”, while it seems impressive to the participants, and seems to be driving the media up the wall, does not really amount to much, and in the long run will be, at best, remembered as the final, last gasp of a popular delusion – namely, that we have a government of, by, and for the people. Like a terminally ill patient who has one last burst of energy and clarity, the heretofore-silent majority has had the scales fall at least partially from their eyes and are voicing their indignation – but it's too late. They're already on the train to the extermination camps, and all the clarity in the world isn't going to stop, or even slow, the process. And the ruling elite sits on their thrones (in Washington, New York, Brussels, the Hague, Zurich, Tel Aviv, etc.) in complete serenity, viewing the scene with contempt, but even more with amusement. They look at the tea party rallies the way one would look at an anthill – it seems big and important to the ants, but we know better.

But then the question arises, if that is the case why do the media even bother to spend every moment deriding and defaming the “tea parties”? Well – for one thing, that is what they do; they have been trained to it from birth. And for another thing, it is slightly more convenient for the ruling elite not to have too many people up in arms, taking off work, marching on Washington, and what not. It's inefficient, don't you know – you can't have the petite bourgeois jumping out of its box every five minutes, because it is still, unfortunately, their labor that is the lifeblood of the economic system. If the ruling elite could get along with no middle class at all, they would, believe me – and this process is well underway, as we can see... but it has a long way to go. The main thing at this point is to preserve middle-class attitudes, even among slaves. It's not so much a matter of standard of living as of attitude; this is something that totalitarian governments have known for nigh unto a hundred years now. The proletariat are much too volatile and non-dependable, so you can't count on them in the long run. (Plus so many of them are just plain lazy -- there, I said it.) They're good cannon fodder for revolution and “social change”, but they don't have what it takes to hold a system together. In particular, you can't count on them to support "revolution within the form". For that, you need a thoroughly-brainwashed “bourgeoisie-in-spirit”, even if their actual resources are not significantly better than those of the proletariat. And this model is not theoretical – far from it! It was put into meticulous practice by the Soviets, and with considerable success. (Note that more radical regimes, like China, Cambodia, Cuba, and North Korea, did away with the middle class altogether – economically, socially, and attitudinally – but that turned out to be a self-defeating move in every instance, as far as I can tell.)

So we have before us a society – a system – that exhibits what I consider the most important aspect of Orwell's “1984” society, but one that has been almost totally neglected in discussions of that work – namely a middle class sustained by illusion (and delusion), a coldly realistic ruling elite, and a proletariat that has its memes but is, overall, much less deluded than the middle class. You want to find someone who “tells it like it is” -- forget the suburbs, go into the inner city. There is where the truth lies, in all its wretched glory. And this is why – among many other reasons – the establishment has such a hard time convincing the “proles” to vote – because they have at least a glimpse of the truth... enough of one to understand that the era of “the people” is long gone – assuming it ever existed.