Controlling The Masses

Power.

One simple word. Yet, it is a word that dictates everything that has happened, that is happening, and that will happen here on our third rock from the sun. Throughout cultures, throughout languages, throughout landscapes, the central issue that societies deal with is power. However, power is a finite resource. There is only so much of it to go around. Who has the power and how they yield it will determine how a village, a city, a country, and even our world as a whole unfolds. Benevolent power-holders will be revered throughout the ages. Malevolent power-holders will be shunned for all eternity. How leaders react to the possession of power ultimately reveals their true character. They may be able to mask this for a time being but at the end of the day, it becomes clear who they truly are.

It wasn't always this simple.

Throughout human history, those with power have done everything possible to justify their position. Early rulers throughout Mesopotamia used the ignorance of their people to maintain their power. In the absence of science, early rulers used natural occurrences in accordance with their own political agendas. A hearty growing season meant that God was happy with the people. An unseasonally high flood meant that God was angry with His people. By closely aligning themselves with the local deity (and in some cases, claiming they were direct descendants) these rulers successfully manipulated their subjects to believe it was their actions and not the actions of the rulers that were the cause of great successes and failures. Harvests, hunting, even war were all dependent upon the faithfulness of a rulers' subjects. Of course, rulers took advantage of this and were not afraid to ask for higher taxes in order to ensure that God would continue to protect His people. Oddly enough, God never received these direct payments but the rulers were able to line their pockets quite nicely.

As we progressed into the Middle Ages, rulers hit an unexpected snag: the Bubonic plague. Yes, a massive disease wiping out 1/3 of the population of Europe was less than ideal for any monarchs or absolute rulers. The faithful masses, despite attending church services and living piously, were shocked and dismayed when their faith could not protect them and their loved ones from a mysterious ailment. Having closely associated their rule on a divine right, these monarchs were greatly troubled and scared of a potential uprising. So what did they do? They again manipulated their subjects, this time through the emerging concepts of heaven and hell. Up to this point, the idea of an afterlife was based on Greek and Roman mythology where an "underworld" was where great heroes of the past went after life. However, for monarchs of the Middle Ages, they needed a way to somehow explain how and why good, pious people were dying while others were left alive. This gave birth to what would become the modern version of an afterlife, including both heaven and hell. This idea that there was a world that awaited us after life and that if we lived a good life, we would be accepted to heaven, was the perfect answer to those suddenly questioning their faith and, by proxy, their monarch. By the end, both monarchs and their subjects largely accepted the plague based on this new idea and concept of an afterlife and it became a staple of daily life and worship.

Over the next 500 years, we gradually saw the decline of these great monarchies. The American Revolution showed that a new country could form without a monarch. The French Revolution showed that a monarchy could be overthrown by the people. As the industrial revolution worked its way across Europe, we saw the emergence of nation-states. Seeing this new trend, powerful royal families began to intermarry in an effort to consolidate power. By the early 20th century, we had a number of cross-woven alliances that would ultimately lead to the onslaught of the Great War. The Second World War emerged as a result of the aftermath of the first. A flawed peace process combined with a vengeful German dictator and we came to see the raw, sheer power of one single man hellbent on world domination. For 5 years, there was a very real possibility that the world would end up being reshaped in Adolf Hitler's image. That crisis was only averted through the bravery and heroism of men willing to scale 5 separate French beaches on June 6th, 1944 and the subsequent campaigns in both Europe and the Pacific put an end to the rising conflict. 

Flash forward 75 years and we again are seeing the struggle of malevolent leaders to maintain their power. During a time of global crisis related to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are seeing three distinct leadership styles emerge. The first style, relating to the goodwill of the people, has been steady leadership working with scientists to minimize the impact of the pandemic. This can be seen via Chancellor Angela Merkel in Germany, and President Emmanuel Macron in France. Both of these world leaders have been honest and open about the tremendous struggles their nations face and will continue to face during the pandemic. They allow the free press to as them challenging questions and do not shy away from providing harsh truths about the impact on their citizens. The second style, relating to bad actors on the world stage, has been an attempt to manipulate the public in these affected countries. Leaders such as Vladimir Putin and Kim Jung-un are more than happy to deny that the virus is even impacting their countries, despite well-documented claims to the contrary. In creating this false narrative for their people, both Putin and Kim are able to reassert their unquestioned leadership at a time when other countries are clearly struggling. By muzzling critics and non-state media, Putin and Kim have created the myth that it is thanks to their leadership that their countries are remaining safe and secure during this time of international crisis.

Yet we've also come to now see a third style of leadership that has emerged: quasi-authoritarianism. With the re-emergence of fascism being en vogue at this point in history, we've now come to having countries with democratically-elected leaders now being led by conservative demagogues as in the case in Brazil, Turkey, Hungary, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These nations are in the unique position of having their elected leaders be accountable to their people while simultaneously wanting to use the pandemic to broaden their own political powers. This has led to extreme variance of strategies among these political leaders. At one end are India, the United States and the United Kingdom with their conservative leaders having been woefully slow to respond to the crisis. Toward the middle, we've seen defiance from the leaders of Turkey and Brazil who refuse to slow their economies (in a move that might hurt their reelection chances) by engaging in any sort of nationwide shutdown. At the extreme opposite end, we've seen Hungary use the COVID-19 pandemic to enact a sweeping power grab for its prime minister in a brazen move that now threatens the country's position in both NATO and the European Union.

What we're seeing with Republicans and the Trump administration here in the United States is the culmination of 10,000 years of manipulation. They want to hold on to their power at all costs and for them, that power is guaranteed through the next election. By maintaining power, Trump and his cabal of criminals can continue to line their pockets, a la the ancient Mesopotamian rulers who gladly took in the additional taxes during times of great upheaval. Even today, we still see Trump supporters in the Evangelical world attempt to undermine science by claiming their faith can drive away the coronavirus and make them immune from its effects. Again, this is about power. Evangelical pastors have built their reputations on intentionally fleecing their flock by claiming they can control things beyond the control of we mere mortals. It is why Evangelicals found such a home in today's Republican Party: they too, will do anything they can to keep their people in the dark and maintain control in any way possible.

Power reveals who you are. Republicans and the Trump administration have clearly revealed themselves to the American people over the past month. Fox News downplayed the crisis until they realized they could be sued. Republican senators publicly reassured their constituents and privately sold stock, knowing full-well a crisis was imminent. The Trump administration sat on its ass for 6 weeks knowing what was coming but intentionally did nothing so as to not hurt their reelection chances. Now, they are pivoting to saying that had they not intervened, the inevitable death toll would have been a whole lot worse. This is gaslighting 101 and unlike those throughout various points in history, we here in America in 2020 have documented evidence that shows Trump is lying. Those of us outside the Fox News bubble know full and well just how inept Trump and his cronies have been. They cannot hide their incompetence from the American public any longer. 

At the end of the day, Trump will go down as a modern-day Nero. A man who watched his country burn while he played golf, went to fundraisers, and ignored an impending crisis, all for his own personal political gain. It is the exact situation that was presented at his impeachment trial and contrary to Susan Collins' detached idealism, Trump still hasn't learned his lesson and he never will. Sure, 40% of the country will love him no matter what. But the rest of us see through the GOP's overt manipulation. We've been seeing it for 3 years only this time people are dying in real-time because of this so-called man's utter lack of empathy and his ruinous desire for political revenge. He will continue his 5:30 PM press conferences-turned-campaign-rallies, but the majority of the American people know not to believe his propaganda. As Americans, we don't always know our history but we do know not to believe a fake-ass liar when we see one.

In today's tumultuous times, that's more than enough.