One question…
More fools us? me included at the top of the list.
Why are we ever surprised when a leader says one thing and then does another?
This isn’t about David Cameron and his present situation, this is about all political leaders and I feel, based on my experience of life, a huge percentage of the politicians in their parties. Apologies to those others. Only you know who you are.
Apart from maybe Bhutan, (https://www.ted.com/…/tshering_tobgay_this_country_isn_t_ju…) where an apparently benign king rather than a Government appears to rule, the majority of the world’s Governments, Kingdoms, Autocracies, and yes even so-called Democracies etc, are infected by corruption. That’s not a conspiracy theory, that’s got be a fact based on our general experience of humans in positions of power over other humans for Millenia.
They say power corrupts… ‘they’ are probably right in the majority of cases.
One possible solution…
‘Power’ is only effective so long as those subjected to it act in accordance with it’s edicts. I’m not in a million years suggesting revolution in the usual sense. I’m suggesting that each of us in our own lives should starve ‘corrupt’ power of the oxygen of our compliance, in a non-violent metaphorical ‘turning of backs’ when we witness and are subjected to power that makes our lives worse, not better. That doesn’t mean sticking our heads in the sand, it means not giving it a receptacle in which to live, or to ‘be’.
That takes courage and I’m not sure I have what it takes to do it, but every journey begins somewhere.
If we start by practicing this behaviour in our own lives, in our own environments, then maybe one day we’ll collectively find the courage to do it on a national scale, maybe even a global scale.
If you starve a policy, action or behaviour of oxygen, not by arguing against it, but by simple non-compliance, ‘back turning’ if you will, then those attempting to exert it have nothing to influence. A little like playing tennis with no one batting the ball back at you. Power can only be exerted if there’s something to exert it on.
Maybe it’s a naive thought, maybe it’s a strategy doomed never to be taken up because most of us prefer the status quo to the status ‘un’ quo… who knows? But if some begin to practice it a local level within their own circles, perhaps it just might grow as an idea.
It would certainly be a bumpy ride, and that’s understating it, because those with power will fight tooth and nail to keep it; after all, the privileges it brings are intoxicating and not easily given up; but like drink and drugs to name but two other opiates, just because they can make ‘you’ feel good, doesn’t mean they’re good for those around you.
Just a thought…
BTW Here’s a TED Talk about Bhutan… seems like a nice place, seems like a nice guy, but who knows?
