Marie Antoinette
(It is unlikely the queen expressed the infamous "cake sentiment"
but it remains an apropos epitaph for the spendthrift oligarch.)
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Antoinette***
"Conservatism: The Emperor Has Old Clothes"
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/03/conservatism-emperor-has-old-clothes.html
***
Dear Fred,
Thanks for your email.
Yesterday (March 8, 2014), I attended a conference in Chapel Hill.
Its purpose was to motivate resident latinos to participate in political process.
The chief obstacle to Hispanic participation in politics is cynicism/fatalism.
Time out of mind, The Ruling Class -- whether deliberately or by default -- has been so piggishly dickish and slam-dunk ruthless that commoners have "wisely" kept a low profile, choosing to better themselves within families and extended families, seeing the overarching political process as a nonpareil way to get one's head lopped.
***
G.K. Chesterton Viewed The Rich As "Oppressive" "Scum" And "Failures"
***
Under monarchy, politics has been the domain of kings, princes and nobles.
In that patriarchal world, commoners were chattel - The 1% effectively reifying everyone else.
An aside... For decades I have viewed Christian moral theology through the lens of reification. If human subjects are deemed equally dignified in the eyes of God, they are essentially safe - or as safe as we can make them. But as soon as humans become objectified or demonized, hell breaks lose and Pascal's dictum reminds us yet again that "men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction."
With the advent of the printing press (the epochal invention that launched McLuhan's "Gutenberg Galaxy") --- and further influenced by The Reformation (itself dependent on the printing press) --- Royalty gradually gave way to the democratizing influence of Christianity.
We are all God's children. And on this democratic playing field we are all -- every one of us -- equally enfranchised members of The Indivisible Human Family.
Aided by "the acceleration of culture" and abetted by the parallel acceleration of education/instruction, beleaguered Royalty -- and its moneyed offspring -- have doubled down on avarice.
Greed -- the salient sin of our time -- is the only game they know, the only game these wealthy dullards value, "the only game in town."
***
"Chesterton: To Get All That Money, You Must Be Dull Enough To Want It"
***
It may take a hundred years of solitude but the collapse of The Ruling Class is fait accompli.
Pope Francis envisions its end and prepares for its demise.
***
"Bill Maher: The 85 Richest People Own More Than The Bottom Half Of Humankind"
***
There is always a chance "the royals" -- fustrated and angry -- will scuttle Saint Peter's bark, a sort of planetary abortion. http://copiosa.org/church/
One way or another, "Revelation" has begun and the genie will not go back in the bottle, unless, of course, The Ruling Class provokes nuclear catastrophe, plunging us in a "dark age" ruled by brutal men... as happened at the end of Rome's grandeur and decadence. (Saint Constantine the Great was among them. See "The Executions of Crispus and Fausta at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_I)
Although conflagrational Apocalypse is a central premise of conservatism's current degeneracy, rank-and-file ditto-heads are largely unaware of their impulse toward Total Destruction, their unconscious desire to make Armageddon a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Pax on both houses,
Alan
PS As pointed out in your email, the acceleration of education/instruction creates a self-reinforcing feedback loop.
PPS Robert Putnam's groundbreaking investigation into social capital and its existential dependence on widely-distributed "trust" is central to any understanding of what makes societies (and economies) work. http://en.wikipedia.org/
"Bill McKibben: How A Faithful Nation Gets Jesus Wrong"
***
Marie Antoinette
Doing what oligarchs do.
Highly Educated Countries Have Better Governments
and Vice Versa
--
Fred Owens
cell: 360-739-0214
My gardening blog is Fred OwensMy writing blog is Frog Hospital
send mail to:
Fred Owens
35 West Main St Suite B #391
Ventura CA 93001
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