Force and Power, Fear and Respect

“People respect force”.

If they did, force would not be necessary. In a “democratic” ruling class society, the masses fear force and sublimate it through their respect for “democratic institutions”. True power wins respect and makes force unnecessary, and makes society more pleasant.

All social classes are paranoid, as is meant to be, but the ruling class has an uniquely intense siege mentality out of fear of the vast numbers of masses. Force becomes the only comforting tool, it is the only physical proof of domination.

The United States has achieved — along with other first world countries — relatively “peaceful” rule through a powerfully ingrained ideology. The “respect” the general masses have for their ruling institutions has been unprecedented. This assessment of respect for ruling authorities must be made comparatively of course.

Our rule, like any other, is backed by the understanding that force and punishment will be used if necessary. And under the influence and guidance of their ruling class masters, the masses have traditionally been bred to misplace that fear onto various other individuals, traditions, and the unknown. Fear of force has become an almost inherent understanding in ruling class society, so that compliance is not primarily viewed as fear/force-based. Thanks to the perfection of capitalism and democracy, We have known, at least in our time, relative peace and tremendous profits. The individual has been tamed like never before through their own “freedom”. The masses, by and large, respect ruling class ideology and mistake it for “the way it is”.

But that power through respect is crumbling. Perversely, the lack of opposition to ruling class machinations is a sign of a lack of respect for the masters above. The Great Institution is all but ignored by the population, even as it shapes their lives and thoughts. And now rule by force and fear is being stripped naked. If the lower orders do not engage in their responsibilities, they will not have the luxury to ignore the ruling class for much longer. They do not know that day soon approaches.

The Financial Times, prominent mouthpiece for the ruling class, couldn’t have been more clear that the status quo is unacceptable. Business domination of government is bad for society. Here is a pdf of the FT’s “Why business cannot make government great“.

The FT starts by repeating the standard paradigm:

Governments have achieved amazing things. They built the pyramids and defeated the Nazis. Yet it never occurs to anyone to bring government officials in to reinvigorate unproductive businesses. When governments do get involved in business, the results are usually bad, and no one is surprised.

Business must always look better than the public sector. The mythical incompetence of government is an important trope to the system, and often engineered to the chagrin of the masses and ruling class realists alike. It helps keep government from gaining too much popular support.

No one has ever thought of using government officials to help business? Hmmm . . .

Just to take few random examples:

The small city of Providence, Rhode Island, has experienced something of a revival in recent years with the crucial help of the government institutions. The auto and banking industries were salvaged by government, albeit, on industry terms.

Then there is the example the of what Milton Friedman called Chile’s “economic Miracle”, under Dictator Augusto Pinochet. It was supposedly a success story of the free market neoliberal order. “But that miracle was in fact a hoax, a fraud, a fairy tale in which everyone did not live happily ever after,” Greg Palast has written.

This fiction has been accepted by Liberals and Conservatives alike. Whatever success there was under the savage dictator, James M. Cypher points out in an Dollars & Sense article “. . . it was not the invisible hand of the market that caused the new boom in resource-based exports. Most of the credit belongs to the state . . .” .  Pinochet privatized many state assets, but some, like Chile’s industrial centerpiece, the cooper industry CODELCO, remained nationalized.  In addition, “a 1993 study pointed out that of the 20 top private exporting companies, at least 13 had been created by CORFO [a state agency created to promote industry]. For a while under the dictatorship, it seemed that CORFO’s mission was nothing more than to sell off all the state-owned firms, then disappear. But the agency still exists, and after the 1982-1985 recession it became more active in the funding and development of new resource-sector firms.”

Whatever the fairy tales encouraged by the FT, they understand the problem just as We do, even if they don’t want to admit it. The Preservation Society recognizes that, unfortunately, government has value. In Our system, government is not only important, it is the only possible counterbalance to higher order indulgence. Only it can clean up the disasters brought on by the “private sector”.  Only government can fill some of the “gaps” in society not accounted for by capitalism.

What happens to a worker when they’re too old to work? We never thought of that! As long as you are working and earning your wage you have nothing to complain about, We thought. But the masses taught Us. Such “entitlements”, as social security, soothe the beast of revolution and real paradise. We gain the respect of the masses because their government “respects” them.

A retired senior with a small pension, a little social security and cat food is a happier senior than one in the workhouse. And what does that cost Us? We are still billionaires.

This is what We are letting crumble before Our eyes. It is worse for Us, for We have the power to stop it. The masses don’t know the agony of pushing your agenda forward while knowing it destroys Our world and artificial paradise!

Our allies know what’s happening (see here and here). But it’s not just the sensible one-percenters. But so does the whole of the ruling class. The masses need to put down their video games and celebrity worship, and get their respect for the ruling class soon, for without such leadership, the Supreme Executive and his Deep State — understanding better than anyone what they are doing with their free markets, austerity and environmental negligence — will lead the Great Institution and society to disaster, where force will replace respect and the rule of law.

From an internal Pentagon video: