All human governments have one
common problem, which is that every system of government establishes seats of
power; positions of authority. Those
seats of power, no matter how noble their conception, immediately at conception
become attractive to the kind of people who want to have power over other
people. Consequently, no matter how we
set up a government, we always end up selecting for and getting mostly deluded
sociopaths for rulers. They are the kind of people who passionately want power
over other people. This becomes an ever growing problem the more we allow the
powers of government to become centralized in one big government.
Maybe not all of our leaders fit this profile,
but certainly most of them do. Because
of that elitism is always a threat to the populace as a whole, much like rust
is always threatening to ruin anything made of metal.
Aristotle to the contrary, there
are really only two basic forms of government, Local Community Moral Self
Government, and the various forms of elitist oligarchy. “Oligarchy” is rule by wealthy families and
powerful special interests. All the
other forms of government (besides LCMSG), from dictatorship to monarchy
to aristocracy, Marxism, Fascism and all
the rest always seem to have in common that things are actually run by some
powerful amalgamation of hidden special interests and wealthy families
(oligarchy) and all use the same pretext of elitism to keep themselves in
power.
Elitism is then the idea that some
elite group should rule over the rest of us.
It is a philosophy of government commonly seized upon by those
aforementioned sociopaths who simply want power over others. When they get in those positions of power
they find themselves largely surrounded by like minded sociopaths, so the idea
that we “superior” elites should just run things by ourselves for the good of
the ignorant masses arises naturally and greatly appeals to them.
The basic flaw with elitism can be
simplified to a mathematical formula, namely A+B>A, where A stands for the
wisdom of the elite class, and B stands for the wisdom of all the rest of
humanity.
A+B>A
All A+B>A means is the wisdom
and knowledge of all the people together will always be greater than the wisdom
and knowledge of any small group of people, no matter how high their
intelligence or thorough their knowledge.
It is impossible for it to be otherwise because that small elite group,
with all its intelligence, wisdom and knowledge, will always be included in the
population as a whole.
The big downside of an elitist
system is that the elite 2% will tend to seize and consolidate as much power as
possible, truly believing that they and they alone have the requisite wisdom to
rule society. Since it will prove impossible to maintain that conceit, at least
as far as easily keeping their victims convinced of it, their first priority
will always be holding on to power.
Therefore, they will squander much
of their intelligence, using their control of media and the education system,
to divide and degrade the people. They will work to entice the masses into
desires, attitudes and habits that leave them incapable of governing themselves
or of working together freely with their fellow citizens to solve mutual
problems. At that point the people will
begin to feel an increased need to have the elitists rule over them, thus
rewarding the scheme of the elitists by giving them even more powers with which
they will probably further degrade the masses.
At that point, the equation is
changed. It becomes A+B>A, diminished A. In words, A plus B, the wisdom
of the elites combined with the wisdom of the masses is much greater than >
the wisdom of diminished A , the wisdom,
knowledge and energy left in elite circles after they have expended so much
effort in deceiving, degrading and oppressing the masses.
This stark deficiency is not yet
the worst aspect of elitism when compared to non elitist government. In the American ideal of liberty that natural
elite 2 % is embedded in and an organic part of the local community. Then they, as credentialed and
internationally accepted members of the intelligentsia who keep themselves
abreast of events and ideas, and who see it as part of their civic role to
translate the latest cultural developments into language that the common people
(their neighbors and friends) can understand, begin to act as cultural elites
who have not bitten into the tempting apple of elitism. At that point the
equation becomes:
A+B>A
In English this means that
enhanced A+B, the enhanced wisdom and
knowledge of all the people united together is vastly greater than the wisdom
and knowledge left to the isolate elitists after they have spent themselves
subverting their fellow citizens. Truly
exponential enhancement of popular wisdom and knowledge could grow out of the
American system if we make it work as intended.
Every culture at every time has
always had an elite 2%, the multi talented folks who excel in their
fields. Rather than joining together
with each other in DC, New York, L.A. and Palo Alto to rule over the rest of us
(as they do today), our elites used to behave in a much more honorable and
constructive manner. In traditional
America, a nation with Local Community Moral Self Government, those same elites
mostly stayed in their hometowns and used their knowledge and talents to
elevate the thinking of their neighbors. Much of that positive dynamic was set
in motion by our decentralizing of the powers of government, and by our system
of checks and balances which wisely set one group of elected sociopaths against
other groups of elected sociopaths. It
wasn't a perfect system but it did prevent the worst of elitism.
Let's switch gears a second and
learn something from rats. As
individuals, rats are not typically highly intelligent animals. When, however, they are in a mischief (that
is the term), the intelligence of the rats as a group goes way up. They effectively learn from each other. That might be why the term “mischief” is used
for a group of them.
The system of ordered liberty that
developed in America resembles a mischief of rats in that it enables us to
combine and effectuate the best thinking of all the people. We can set it up again so that we learn from
each other, and we will quickly re-learn that A+B is always greater than
A. Given our glorious history, it is not
just a matter of faith either, but it becomes an act of faith because we must
first reacquire the belief that we will find the most truth when we hear from
the most voices. We will then be most
likely to find solutions to our problems.
It is obvious, but must be restated
that this great liberty must be an ordered liberty, and not just devolve into a
cacophony. We have had enough cacophony
lately. So it behooves our current
cultural elites, and you know who you are, to work to not only ensure that all
voices are heard, but that it remains an orderly and hence meaningful
process. What's more, a truly
enlightened elite might employ the finest communication, healing and
psychological arts to draw out and encourage those individuals who are not
polished speakers, but sincerely feel they have something worth hearing. Let's gently draw them out. It is my experience that from such humble
thinkers great wisdom might be gained.
Maybe they are bothered by
something we are already working on. Or
maybe there is an easy fix, and the person will leave much happier for knowing
it. Or maybe it is a new and good idea
that advances society. Or maybe it is
just some nut job. If so, that will be
obvious soon enough and it will be good to have elite experts in on the
conversation to debunk it.
Additionally, the natural elite
should not be concerned that their voices will be ignored. We must be committed to the idea that all
voices will always be heard. We
certainly need their informed analysis and profound wisdom. Their thinking must not, however, be
amplified to the exclusion of all other thinking.
Finally, this analysis of elitism
and human government should open our minds to consider why a return to the
American system of Local Community Moral Self Government, as defined in the
Constitution as written, is probably the only way to achieve all the goals of
freedom, prosperity, social equality and equal justice under the law that we
all want. Especially, those people on
the progressive left should try to hear this. While the elitists always paint a
pretty picture of what they will do for the masses, their plans are always
predicated on giving them all the powers that sociopath run elitist government
always grabs for.. We must always keep in mind that the elitists are very
unlikely to ever deliver on their promises, because it is the very existence of
those problems, and their portraying themselves as the only people who can
solve those problems, that causes the masses to continue to support their
elitism.
In short, the way to best ensure
that government actually serves the people and strengthens our communities is
to return most of the powers of self government to the people in their
communities. Just as wiping a metal
surface with oil is the best way to reduce the problems caused by rusting metals,
re-invigorating Local Community Moral Self Government is the best way to reduce
the hideous threats posed against the people by elitism.
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