Power - Editorial, The Week in Review

Analysis, Commentary, Opinion

10.06.2018

Power

Frank Herbert said: Power does not corrupt, it merely attracts the corruptible.

He wrote many insightful things about the human condition in his great collection of Science Fiction, the Dune books, and others. The first time I read those words they resonated with me, and I knew he was right.

Like moths to the flame, the corruptible are attracted to power, it is lamentable that like moths, they do not burn up when the fly to close to it.

Frank Herbert also said this:

Most people never participate. They get by on little more than dumb persistence, reacting with anger and even violence, at anything that might come along to disrupt their resentment filled lives of mediocrity.

Look at the American electorate, look at crowds of people who gather to listen to the orange villain speak, listen to him channel their anger, watch it grow in response to him, in its vile, vituperative, vicious feedback-loop.

T-Rump in the exemplar, sine qua non, he is the unparalleled archetype of the first piece of wisdom offered by the sage, Frank Herbert.

This ridiculous buffoon shot from his mother’s womb like a steaming pile of corrupt filth, demonstrating throughout his life his obsessive need for congratulation, and adulation and the love of the crowd that you have to wonder if he was ever loved at all.

I think his mother must have seen what he would become and rejected him from the start, without realizing how her own neglect would shape him into the monster that he has become.

Did you read the report in the New York Times on the lifetime of corruption and fraud he and his family have pursued, and lied about, the hundreds of millions of dollars he squandered of his father’s fortune, finally, robbing his father of it when he was disabled with dementia, by forcing him to sign a codicil to his will.

We have a fixed number of constitutionally appointed officers and office holder outlined in our constitution. We have three branches of government and their roles are fixed.

These are the bright flames of power, that attract the corrupt people like T-Rump, yes, his corruption is obvious, you can see it dripping from him as he salivates when he throws his tantrums on the stage.

Let’s talk about the corruption of people like Susan Collins the Senator from Maine. She got in front of the camera yesterday and gave a speech about the nominee for the Supreme Court, in which she pretended to be reasonable in her acceptance of all the lies that the nominee told the senate, both this year, and in past years when he had previously sought confirmation for a judicial appointment, to the federal bench, and to the court of appeals.

The man told bold face lies; about his role in the Bush administration in drafting the legal rationale for torture, about his receipt and use of e-mails that had been stolen from the opposition party in the senate, about his knowledge of the sexual harassment and inappropriateness of a judge he clerked for, who resigned his post over his behavior; he lied about his own habits, his drinking in high school and in college, about the parties he attended, about the meaning of passages written in his yearbook, about his nickname Bart, about his own sexual conduct and misbehavior. He lied about when he knew about the allegations that came from his second accuser, Debby Ramirez, telling the Judiciary Committee that he learned about it when the story appeared in the paper, while at the same time his former classmates were coming forward with texts messages from him and he PR team, weeks before, pushing them to adopt a narrative to refute Debby Ramirez’ claims.

He lied, he ranted, he raved, he treated his nomination like it was an entitlement, rather than the honor and the privilege it is.

Susan Collins got up and in her speech, whitewashed the entire record. She asked the American people to believe that she does not know when she is being lied to, and to in turn accept her lies in asking us to believe it.

She did what the rest of the Republicans in the Senate did, their colleagues in the house, the President and all their supporters did; they foisted a con on the American people, a scam, they screamed and whined, and they told us the most obvious lies, all of it pouring out of their mouth like vomit, from the corrupt place inside of them where all of their self-loathing lies.

They did not do this for love of country. They did not do this because they think this will make America a better country to live in, a more descent country to live in, a more hopeful country to live in, or more just.

They did it because they think and believe in their collective rotten-heart that this vote today, this vote for Kavanaugh, is the path for them to retain the power that they covet.

On the campaign trail, the MAGA voter, the T-Rump sycophants, they eat it up, proving the latter thesis offered by the wise Frank Herbert.

They give no thought to what it means to let such a man onto the highest court in the land; a political partisan, an ideologue, a hack; a man who perjured himself to get confirmed, a man who once assaulted a fifteen year-old girl, and who could not find it in his hear to apologize, seek forgiveness and move on.

The MAGA voter only wants to see their Dear Leader win, to experience his victory vicariously, even while he pushes them down, stands on their backs, to bask in their applause.

T-Rump has taken to vilifying the survivors of sexual assault, of rape, to mock them and ridicule while his crowds cheer. He has brought the country low, and he seeks to bring it lower still, counting on the anger of his followers, their rage and their violence to keep it there.

We must resist

It is one month until the election, we must resist.