The Dark Heart Of Centralized Power

[Ares]

This pathology is not the result of individual psychology or character; it is the result of centralized, concentrated power itself.

It's little wonder so many sociopaths end up in positions of power: power attracts the ruthless unencumbered by empathy. No wonder the phrase pathology of power resonates: The Federal Reserve and the Pathology of Power (November 18, 2010).

There is an ontological darkness in centralized power, and it flows from the disconnect between authority, responsibility and consequence. A leader with vast centralized powers--a president, an emperor, a dictator--has the authority to send young citizens into combat in distant lands, but he does not carry an equal responsibility to ensure their lives are not lost in the vain glories of Empire. The consequences of his decisions do not fall on him; he is far from the combat and the loosed dogs of war. His concern is the domestic political squabbles of the Elites who support his centralized power.

All centralized power carries the same pathology: those with the authority are never exposed to the consequences of their authority, nor do they have any responsibility for the consequences. The president who launches an unwinnable war that chews up the nation's youth and treasure leaves office to fund-raise for his self-glorification, i.e. a presidential library.

The CEO whose strategies fail to revive the corporation and indeed send it to the brink of insolvency leaves with a "golden parachute" worth tens of millions of dollars.

This pathology is not the result of individual psychology or character; it is the result of centralized, concentrated power itself. Giving any individual or small group this kind of power--over war, over the nation's money and credit, over its healthcare--distorts the field of perception; even people who were once non-pathological become pathological once power takes hold of their being. Soon they believe they have god-like powers to "fix things;" indeed, they feel a responsibility to wield their god-like powers "to do whatever it takes."

But since there is no personal consequence of their rash policies, nor any responsibility for the devastation their powers unleash, the power becomes pathological.

When the multiple bubbles burst and the financial house of cards comes crumbling down, Ben Bernanke will be comfortably secure, far from the consequences of his policies. It is worth recalling, on today of all days, that only two U.S. presidents in the past 50 years had any experience of combat: John F. Kennedy and George H.W. Bush. Both men acted with care and restraint in matters of war and both sought a peaceful resolution to the Cold War. Was this merely a coincidence, or did experiencing combat inform their humility and sense of responsibility for the consequences of their choices?

The more power devolves to those who actually face the consequences of their actions and authority, the less pathological it becomes. This is the power structure of liberty: each person carries the responsibility and consequence of their actions, choices and words.

"But we are told that we need not fear; because those in power, being our representatives, will not abuse the powers we put in their hands. I am not well versed in history, but I will submit to your recollection, whether liberty has been destroyed most often by the licentiousness of the people, or by the tyranny of rulers.



I imagine, sir, you will find the balance on the side of tyranny. Happy will you be if you miss the fate of those nations, who, omitting to resist their oppressors, or negligently suffering their liberty to be wrested from them, have groaned under intolerable despotism!



Most of the human race are now in this deplorable condition; and those nations who have gone in search of grandeur, power, and splendor, have also fallen a sacrifice, and been the victims of their own folly. While they acquired those visionary blessings, they lost their freedom." (Patrick Henry)



"Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people…. [There is also an] inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and … degeneracy of manners and of morals.... No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare." (James Madison)


http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-11-22/guest-post-dark-heart-centralized-power

[Hatha Sunahara]

Both of these quotes come from the enlightenment, or "The Age of Reason' which started to fade shortly after the Constitution was ratified, and is only a distant memory today. The idea of freedom and self worth and individual inalienable rights has been under constant attack by statists and collectivists and the elite for almost 200 years.

There are four types of power that can be centralized, and the founding fathers of America understood them well. One is the power of the state, and they limited that with the bill of rights. Another is Religion. They limited that by forbidding the state from endorsing any religion. Another is the power to issue money. They dealt with that by making only gold and silver real money. And the fourth kind of power that can be concentrated is the means of mass communications. They dealt with that by providing for the freedom of the press. There is a fifth kind of power that cements everything together that the founding fathers did not deal with. That is the power of education. They assumed that people would be educated in schools to acquire the skills of reading, writing, and rithmetic, which were the skills necessary for educating ones self. Beyond that, they assumed people would acquire their attitudes and culture from their families. The most valuable idea that the founding fathers instituted was that the people are the sovereigns, and the government is their servant.

All these ideas have either been inverted, or corrupted or exploited by people who think that unlimited centralized power is a good way to rule the world. That spirit has been concisely and chillingly expressed in The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Lucifer blew out the candle of the enlightenment.

People today who are younger than 30 do not know the freedom that existed in America. They have been taught in public schools that the constitution is a relic of history. They have been indoctrinated with collectivist values, and that people with authority know what is right and good for them. They have been taught to marginalize people who don't believe that, and to cheer when the state inflicts violence on them. The collectivists have taken America's children into the public schools and turned them into zombies--or even worse, sheeple.

The American revolution proved that it does not take a majority to turn tyranny around. It takes only about 10% of the people to deny the centralized power legitimacy.

Legitimacy is the ultimate accountability of a centralized power. The Soviet Union proved that. The tyranny we have today is very close to losing the perception of legitimacy. People are beginning to understand how the money is phony, how the mass media lies to them, how the government lies to them, and how the collectivists have used the public schools to turn their children into zombies and sheeple. And debt slaves. And it has all been done without their consciousness. Kinda like how you boil a frog. When that consciousness returns, the people who have done all this--including turning every community into a police state and putting everyone under surveillance, and exporting everyone's job--will lose legitimacy. The loss of legitimacy will be their karma. There is no better expression of that loss of legitimacy than to 'Just say no.' When enough of us learn that, we won't have to any more.


Hatha

[mick silver]

The CEO whose strategies fail to revive the corporation and indeed send it to the brink of insolvency leaves with a "golden parachute" worth tens of millions of dollars.