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The Middle Path
The difficulty of choosing a
middle political path, staying within the range that seeks to avoid
extremes, is that this path requires on the part of the polity the
ability to actively, constantly to make adjustments, corrections,
refinements. It is certainly not a "maintenance-free", automatic
process. On the contrary, it calls for the broad, sustained engagement
of the polity in self-governance. It is indeed the most difficult
political path of all, though one with the greatest universal benefit,
and one most nature-like.
Beware of Certitude
Political extremists,
such as fascists and totalitarians of every stripe, on the other hand,
seek to expunge any trace of ambiguity, introspection, nuance from
political process and discourse and offer instead a fairly rigid,
static formulation - a certitude. (In Bergson's and Popper's terms,
they seek to institute a "Closed Society", where any questioning is
suspect and rigidly proscribed. ) This formulation usually caricatures
topical political issues by presenting them in polarized terms (black
and white), and offering, very conveniently for infantile or lazy
minds, this reassuring simplification: "Us" = "Good Guys", "Them" =
"Bad Guys". Once this primal, adversarial distinction of Self v. Other
is established as the general ethos, the establishment politicians then
define as "Us" the dominant social elites (along with their
unquestioning supporters), and "Them" as anyone who does not subscribe
to this abject characterization.
It is clear why
such simplifications have been so successful over the ages. They appear
to address directly and decisively each person's basic existential
questions: what's my purpose in life; will the future bring contentment
or difficulties?; who can I trust with my life?
The answer is of course: "Be one of Us!" The bargain between political
extremists of any particular flavor, and the individual obviously comes
at a cost - solely to the individual that is; a cost that too many -
often unwittingly - incur unaware and unwary. Since the membership of
"Us" is defined top-down by the self-chosen elites, conformity to the
idealized image of "Us" becomes - in practice - mandatory, and results
in a competition among people to become almost literally
"holier-than-Thou". This is because, in general, all rigid "Us"
definitions tend to become, over time, more and more restrictive, lest
they begin to lose their meaning and power. An all-inclusive "Us",
where there is no "Them" is an anathema to any political extremism.
Instead, the process of supporting an ever-tighter definition of "Us"
sets up a "devil take the hindmost" dynamic for the members of a given
society. Those who subscribe to this Weltanschaung are drawn inexorably
into a race away from the "bottom", to make sure that they are not
perceived by anyone as a marginally-acceptable member of "Us", so as
not to become in consequence eligible to be reclassified by the rulers
as being really "Them" - the Enemy. And so the Pandora of politics gets
to have her day.
Self-Repression
Once this relationship gestalt
is internalized by a sufficient portion of the citizenry, there is no
need any longer for the elites to set up an overt
repressive/coercive social apparatus. That's because people have
learned to keep themselves "in line" without prodding from the masters,
and, in an "ends justify the means" fashion, do whatever is necessary -
no matter how actually immoral, illegal or fattening... - to
desperately scramble away from the (to borrow football terminology) the
"relegation zone".
In a theocracy, status (based
on the person's acknowledged degree of "Us-ness") is conferred on the
ostensibly more zealous and orthodox servants of God(s). The Priests,
as the Self-appointed middlemen
necessary for mediation between people and the Devine One(s), take
charge and make up Self-serving rules for the rest to follow.
In an oligarchy - where material, rather than spiritual -
wealth is sought after, accumulation by each individual of the greatest
possible amount of "earthly" possessions is the favored expression of
belonging. In this mindset, being poor (analogously to a theocratic
schema) becomes the farthest from "holiness" and is therefore downright
"sinful". So the competition is set up in such a society to ensure that
- "whatever it takes" someone else is made (or simply perceived as)
poorer. The more such people there are, the better for those who aspire
to rise to the top. In such a society, the richest in material wealth
define the "Us" membership: they rule and make the rules for others.
Foundations of Fascism
When a theocracy and oligarchy are both operating in
synergistic coherence, the stakes for the unwitting competitors are
increased geometrically. The need to out-pray and out-gain one's
friends and neighbors becomes nothing less than pathological. What
begins to characterize outward social behaviors is fear of - and
therefore avoidance of - excommunication. In religious terms it implies
no longer being a part of community of saved/redeemed. In economic
terms, it implies no longer being allowed to partake of a community of
profit-snaring, officially-sanctioned activities.
A theocratic-tendency society that is also obsessed with material
wealth would seem impossible. After all, major spiritual teachings
(which the major churches however have corrupted to serve their own
purposes) decry earthly possessions as major impediments to the process
of a soul's nurturing. Yet, churches, synagogues, temples, mosques,
what have you, have over the years figured out how to deal quite
resourcefully with this thorny theological problem. Rather than combat
it directly (recall Jesus chucking the money-men from Temple precincts
they had sullied with their grubby, greedy presence), they offer power
elite a way of sneaking back into God's good Graces via a public
announcement of contrition, though not necessarily any actual acts of
spiritual "reparations", and certainly not anything involving
abandonment of - usually unfairly attained - wealth. The religious
authorities thus allow for "buying" - literally - one's way back into
the community of the righteous. Unfortunately, oligarchies are
tolerated by the Priests because only the truly rich can bestow the
material blessings of land, income, temple construction, etc. on the
religion the Priests manage.
A religion which
places an emphasis on preparation for an afterlife via renunciation of
material wealth in this life, is extremely useful as a social tool to
the rulers. They, who have already accumulated wealth, now protected by
a cloak of utmost piety, benefit from having those they've make poorer
stay that way - out of real piety. The poor are reassured by the
Priests that at least, theoretically, they are more likely to be
"saved" than those will have to in the afterlife perform the "camel
through an eye of the needle [rope, in some translations]" trick. What
the poor often don't understand is that their earthly privations, on an
unfair Planet, have allowed the wealthy to psychologically-speaking buy
themselves a tiny camel and a gigantic needle in an act of psychic
self-reassurance.
When the theology of the
primacy of profit-making - whatever it takes - is taken to the extreme,
we have a curious spectacle of tolerance of economic crimes, and
perversely, little sympathy for their victims. For example, drug
addicts are seen as fallen people and are often mercilessly punished
for their "weakness", while the drug profiteers, because they have
become wealthy as a direct result of the addicts' misery, are mostly
left alone. They are after all, purported fonts of "trickle-down"
wealth, and thus must not be interfered with, lest these well-springs
of prosperity for all were to dry up. Banks look the other way at some
of their customers' suspiciously large hoards of cash with no apparent
legal source. Here we see how "money talks", silencing consciences of
many with its seductive, soothing patter.