What, exactly is tyranny? Perhaps I’d better get clear on that before I take this further. The Cambridge Dictionary tells me this.
tyranny
noun [ U ] UK /ˈtɪr.ən.i/ US /ˈtɪr.ən.i/
government by a ruler or small group of people who have unlimited power over the people in their country or state and use it unfairly and cruelly.
a situation in which someone or something controls how you are able to live, in an unfair way
Alright, wealth itself cannot be the first part but wealthy people can, and they certainly do use their wealth to establish tyrannical empires. History has shown us both governmental and other wealthy tyrannies. Consider, no matter how they came to it, all “Nobility” in the history of our race have been wealthy. That’s a chicken or the egg discussion right there and I’ll leave it alone for a bit.
Can wealth itself be tyrannical? How can that be? The way I see it, wealth becomes a tyrant for some people simply by existing. They want it, they are ready to shape and sacrifice their whole lives and everything they hold just a little less dear to amass it and keep it. They are in thrall to a tyrant. The Tyrant Wealth.
Why would some people, apparently many people, accede to tyranny? Of the first or second sort? Why would they give up their individual freedoms to be enslaved, or “Tightly controlled” by either a person, a group or a situation? What is so damn compelling about that? The answer must be personal gain. The worker who willingly falls into line with that good old fascist party does so because he or she figures it will benefit them. Better connections, better to be on top than on the bottom. Better pay, perhaps, fewer worries because the leader will take care of everything.
Can wealth be any different? Whether it was a cache of pretty shells or Betel nuts, if you had more of what everyone wanted or needed, you were doing alright- for yourself.
Once you amass more wealth than you need, nowadays it isn’t shells, it’s dollars, euros and platinum bars- you’ve pretty much left “Us” or the “Common good” behind and gone into full ME mode. No, you don’t have to live like a pauper, you should have enough to keep the wolf from your door and maybe even afford a nice, wolf proof fence.
Yet, who needs enough money to buy every wolf, person, fence and door in the world and why? Perhaps, it’s deeper than a need? With some of these people it begins to feel like a psychosis. Or a salve for a very fragile ego. Or some of both?
And those of us who don’t amass a huge amount of wealth, why, we still buy into the whole “Get mine!” credo- “If you have enough, you have fewer problems!” Or the common sense argument that “A little more is a lot better, a buffer against the unforeseen can’t hurt!” No, it can’t and most of us try to save so we have enough for a stormy week if one comes.
But we don’t horde every penny because one hundred pennies make a dollar. Nor do we move into crime or dishonor to get more and more of what has us in thrall to it. Wealth.
Along with that wealth comes some sort of newfound confidence and yes, even arrogance that the wealthy put on like a coat you can buy. The millionaire who has made a million dollars screwing over people on their home loans or sucking up their retirement feels he or she is just as good as the farmer who has fed a million people while paying off all his loans and maybe even making a little profit. No, check that, he or she feels better than that farmer. They feel smarter than the rest of us too.
And we feel they must be as well! That’s the place where it all goes Ka-blooey! Heinlein stated it like this. ” Big money isn't hard to come by. All it costs is a lifetime of single-minded devotion to acquiring it and making it grow into more money.” That’s about as far out of balance as I can think of.
Is that where we are? The spoils go the the money grubbers and those who put on airs because, as soon as they open their wallet and show us the money they've taken from us, we bow down and worship them? It seems that folding cash makes us forget the buildings and bridges we build, the children we teach, the meals we cook and the billions of other things we all accomplish every day.
You see it in that call to “Run Government like a Business!!!” as it is screeched out over and over again- by rich people and those enamored of them. People forget that Government was conceived of as a means to order the tasks that a community needs done- for the benefit of all. Business was conceived of as a way to make a profit- for the benefit of one, or perhaps a small group.
Those are two very different things.
And, right on time, here comes another one, a rich guy who knows it all so much better than I do or you do because he figured out how to sell coffee in a way that made him a lot of money. And he isn’t alone because if there is one lesson the wealthy have learned it is that it’s damn good to have the money AND the reins of power. Ask Mr. Gianforte about that one! That helps them amass even more money and aids in making sure theirs is a small club and remains so. Heck, if you’re already a billionaire and have legislative power, just think what you could to a burgeoning union movement or calls to tax you- the wealthy!
Why, you could nip that shit right in the bud, you could!
But I see a backlash starting- I do see people waking up. You can’t blame people for wanting security and enough money helps get that. And America is a hard place to get security- if the average American family had just five hundred dollars extra. we’d not be so hungry for every damn dollar and every damn hour of overtime. But we are held to this lower standard of living by people who will never share that lower standard. They take care of their own and they benefit- if we work overtime to get a little more, they save money on enough personnel to actually do the job right. And they get richer.
But the robes fell off of the emperor’s skinny legged, fat paunched frame and people are getting a real look at the wealthy. Not all of them, but too many of them- no empathy, no give a damn about you or me- willing to tell you anything you want to hear until they can get away and wash their hands- we are nasty little people to many of them. Keep the brutes peaceful, act like you “Get” them!
Personally, I feel the same way after being in the same room with people who would sell us all down the river for money. And that is regardless of who they’re selling us out to- Russia, Saudi Arabia, business interests that stand to lose (Money!!!) if we save our planet from climate change.
If that is you, don’t try to shake my hand. You showed your true feelings about me and the rest of us- we are units to bleed for you, we are things to pacify and mollify, to you. We damn sure aren't people and EQUALS?
I won’t vote for you either. I don’t want to be a part of your tyranny. I’ll take another community organizer, thank you, or a woman who has served her people all her life. A man who has done the same. I’ll vote to give power to folks who have given back and as far as I can see, that is not America’s rich.
I’ll give my sincerest apologies to the wealthy who DO work hard to do it right. Those who have much and reach out to help others, you are inspirational to us all. But please, don’t run for government. Somehow it became a class issue and we just don’t trust your class anymore, no matter how you got up there.
Too many of you only have your own good at heart, and that just is not what it means to be American or, yes, Human.
Happy Monday
Kell
Cross posted from Kell's World