The Politics of Power, and the Death of Democracy

The lust for power

We've seen the end of Colonel Gaddafi, and now there's the gradual crumbling of Bashir Al-Assad's regime in Syria. A few years earlier there was the end of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Have you noticed one thing that these leaders have in common? The lust for power.

A different understanding of leadership

There is only one thing that these "leaders" understand - power. They will do anything at all to gain and hold on to power. It was the same for Hitler, for Stalin, and it is the same in China and North Korea. Here is how they get and hold on to power:

How to gain power

If we can attain power by fascism (they say) then we'll be fascists. If we can attain power by communism, then we'll be communists. If power can be attained by a "popular uprising", then we'll have a "popular uprising". And if it can be attained by "democracy" and "an election", then we'll have "an election" and of course ensure that it has the right result. (This has the added advantage of pleasing the gullible West.)

Holding on to power

Power is so important to these "leaders" that they have an extreme and irrational reaction to anything which looks like a challenge to their power. So, any peaceful demonstration must be brutally crushed. This is what happened in Libya and is happening in Syria. It happened in Soviet satellite states (Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia) and in Tiananmen Square. At the same time, the "leader" suffers from the massive self-deception that "the people love me!" when in fact the people shout their praises out of fear.

Why do people "love" dictators?

There is a good reason for this. We do not truly learn (and so change our behaviour) just by getting information. We learn by our actions, by what we actually do. Look at the ending of George Orwell's classic novel "1984" which exposes the Stalinist Russia of 1948. In this novel, "Big Brother", the dictator of a future Britain, represents Stalin, and the hero Winston Smith has gone through all kinds of mental and physical torture because he dares to question the regime. He has been forced to submit to the leadership and finally through mental torture he is forced to act like a good citizen who "loves" Big Brother - and his entire personality is changed.

"He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother." (Last paragraph of “1984” by George Orwell)

Now we know why these dictatorial regimes demand huge parades, songs of praise and cheering crowds. This makes the people really love their leaders! Sixty years ago, many Russians truly loved the monstrous Stalin.

This explains Russia and China's present attitude to Syria

We can also understand why Russia and China still steadfastly refuse to act against the brutal Assad regime in Syria. To do so would be to betray their foundation of absolute power. They could no more act against Assad than Western governments could act against the Syrian rebels.

The people don't understand democracy

Outside of the West, the people too do not understand anything except power. They certainly do not understand democracy, because they have never lived under it. An "election" in Iraq or Afghanistan does not mean that they have chosen their representatives who will carry out their wishes. It just means that they have chosen the people who will have absolute power over them.

Naive Western Governments

Meanwhile, Western governments naively assume that a "free and fair election" means that the country in question is now "a democracy" and is just the same as any Western country. Now we can send our troops in "to defend democracy", when actually there is no democracy. It's an unknown concept. All that the people know is family, tribal and religious loyalty.

Two Cheers for Democracy 

Democracy has many drawbacks (see "Two Cheers for Democracy" by E. M. Forster, available as a free download), but it's the best method of secular government that we've come up with so far. However, if we don't defend it at home by concentrating on responsibilities rather than on "rights", democracy will die. That won't be too long now, the way things are going.

The conclusion 

So, am I optimistic or pessimistic? Actually, optimistic, but probably not in the way that you think.

Roger