If historians are to be believed, first there were empires, emperors, and slavery. Then the empires fell because they were ashamed, and dark times of medieval feudalism arrived, which eventually bored all enlightened people, and under the cries of the newly discovered Native Americans, the New Time arrived, and then the Renaissance. Slavery was abolished not right away, but democracy was also not implemented right away. All former slaves were given equal rights by printing laws and constitutions for them. Kings and emperors were either hanged or renamed as “constitutional monarchs”, thus freeing individuals from the oppression of others, but in vain…
The main achievement of many years of our struggle for freedom is the recognition of the right of every individual to have their own beliefs. What prevented them from having them before the victory of liberalism? Not what, but who. Freedom-loving individuals were hindered by other individuals who, unsurprisingly, also had their own beliefs. From the king to the local landowner - everyone had their own opinion that the serf had to take into account. And not just consider, but obey someone else’s will, sometimes under the threat of death. It’s good that all of this is already in the distant past.
Liberal reforms depersonalized power, replacing the master with parliament, and his kind or evil will with laws. In the dark times, runaway serfs were returned to the feudal lord, who both executed and showed mercy. In modern times of victorious democracy, border violators are caught by the customs service, and punished by the penitentiary system. It’s interesting that we are satisfied with the power of laws, while the power of a specific person causes rejection. We are much more willing to be slaves of the constitution, police, and society, rather than of an individual. We have replaced the power of specific authorities with the authority of anonymous power.
The United States, as the guardian of liberalism, has been attacking its opponents with the same weapon for many decades: “the lack of turnover in power indicates restrictions on freedom!” It doesn’t matter how the dictator behaves - his long presence in power is a threat to the liberal world order. No matter what freedoms he grants his subjects, how successful the economy is, how fair his will is, and how much support he enjoys from his people - he is a usurper and a medieval tyrant. The freedom-loving people are obliged to overthrow him and establish the power of impersonal laws and parliaments.
The civilized world is proud of the change of power. Presidential and parliamentary elections, diverting the attention of the entire population of the country, regularly remind us that those in power will be replaced in the near future. Why will they be replaced? Because he failed? Turned out to be a deceiver? Did not live up to trust? No! He will be replaced because we do not recognize anyone in power over us except the power of laws. We do not recognize the authority in power. We do not acknowledge the power and authority of another person over us. Each of us is a unique and inviolable individual, with our own inner world, beliefs, opinions, and understanding of life. We may tolerate another talker in a suit at the podium for a while, but to admit that he is the arbiter of our destinies — never!
To further strengthen us in our belief in our victory over the forces of despotism, they show us the insignificance and vulnerability of people in power. Corrupt and sexual scandals involving US presidents no longer surprise us, it’s time to put one of them behind bars. It’s so democratic that presidents can fall in love, get divorced, and take bribes. Not like the kings of the time of the Bourbons, of whom the common people knew only that they were chosen by God and executed subjects in the most brutal ways at any convenient opportunity.
We, the common people, have won! Power belongs to us! The kings are overthrown! Only clowns remain (sometimes quite literally, let’s remember Reagan and Zelensky), on whom little depends! Everything depends on us, on our will, on our voting voice!
Neither power nor resources can be impersonal, or belong to everyone at once. A human being is a social creature and also a herd animal. It is inherent in us to desire to form hierarchies and to submit to leaders. The apparent absence of dictators and hierarchies of power subordinated to them only indicates that their existence is carefully hidden. Both power and resources have long been distributed among those who realized in time that the profession of a king had become unsafe and moved into the corporate shadows, leaving well-paid puppets on the stage.
Shielded by actor-politicians and controlling resources through corporations, the real power holders act in their own interests, not in the interests of the people who have unknowingly entrusted them with both power and resources. Can we, the people, control them if we don’t even know the names of these plutocrats? We know the names of “bloody” dictators. Even if they make mistakes and usurp power, at least their own conscience and sense of responsibility towards people controls them. But who controls the oligarchs?
Returning to the reasons: our liberal rejection of “royal power” has led us to the power of the oligarchy. We are bribed with promises of “freedom and equality,” but in the end, we are sold democracy in its most repugnant forms: with fake politicians and absolute irresponsibility of those in power.
Translated by ChatGPT gpt-3.5-turbo/42 on 2024-04-20 at 17:42
