Nothing ever really changes

Do you believe in democratic governance? Ayn Rand didn’t. Her followers don’t. They are not unique in that regard, but I want to focus on them. Given that central fact, we might be able to predict that if they succeed in the electoral process, they will quickly set that process aside and rule according to their own dictates. Godwin be damned, didn’t Hitler behave that way?

OK, I apologize for that. It’s not an unwarranted comparison, but might serve to confuse the issue. Let’s focus on Scott Walker in Wisconsin – he’s doing everything in his power to institute “reforms” that are wildly unpopular and for which he never explicitly campaigned. That’s true to form for a follower of Rand – the opinions of the majority of people might be interesting, but are irrelevant. Randians might pander to majority opinion as they seek power but otherwise have no use for democratic processes.

Do I believe in democracy? Not really, I suppose. I don’t seek power, and think it important to be able to remove tyrants from office by peaceful means. But I don’t have any great respect for the intelligence of the average voter. C’mon now – says what is real! It’s a stupid country. Here in the U.S., and probably in other places too, we are seriously lacking in critical thinking capacity and are far too easily manipulated by propaganda.

So it appears that our choices are rule by tyrants, or rule by idiots. False dichotomy? I hope so. My thinking does not go much deeper on this subject, so I’ll defer to Bertrand Russell:

Democracy was invented as a device for reconciling government with liberty. It is clear that government is necessary if anything worthy to be called civilization is to exist, but all history shows that any set of men entrusted with power over another set will abuse their power if they can do so with impunity. Democracy is intended to make men’s tenure of power temporary and dependent upon popular approval. Insofar as it achieves this it prevents the worst abuses of power. (Unpopular Essays, 1959).

We are right to be horrified by Stalin’s ruthlessness, but we are wholly mistaken if we think that, given opportunity, we should be any better. It is only democracy that makes us better. While the English upper class had a monopoly of political power, it was just as bad as Stalin. Democracy is to be valued because it prevents such large-scale atrocities. This is its first and greatest merit.

Where there is no democracy, if any large section is discontented, it has no remedy except rebellion. Democracy gives a legal method of redressing grievances, and makes possible a respect for law which can hardly exist in an autocracy. (Fact and Fiction, 1961)

Democracy is desirable, not because the ordinary voter has any political wisdom, but because any section of mankind which has a monopoly of power is sure to invent theories designed to prove that the rest of mankind had better do without the good things of life. This is one of the least amiable traits of human nature, but history shows there is no adequate protection against it except the just distribution of political power throughout all classes and both sexes. (Mortals and Others, 1975)

Enough of that – Russell wrote so much that others were able to condense his writings by subject, and I only needed to refer to “democracy” in an index of his selected writings. I don’t want to pretend some great scholarship here. I only put up those words to show that our current environment is not new – nothing ever is. All of the right wing, the followers of Rand, the “Objectivists” and “Libertarians” and whatever else they call themselves, have done what Russell says they always do: They have set out to convince us that most of us are better off doing without the good things of life. Those things should be reserved for “them,” and part of the beauty of Rand was her ability to convince the most mediocre minds and limited achievers among us that they are deserving of the good things that the rest of us should not have.

Take one important aspect of our lives, access to health care: What do Rand and her minions tell us? It’s not a right. We don’t deserve it unless, and by their standards, we are worthy of it. The vast majority of us want access, and do not want to deal with the power brokers who have roped off the health care system and charge extortion and royalty for entrance. We have tried to change that by voting, but the ruling monopoly, which controls “both” of our outlets for democratic governance, the two parties, is denying us. They leave us but one choice – rebellion.

The United States is not a democratic republic. It is not a republican democracy. It’s a country ruled by a monopoly – we call them by names like “the wealthy”, “the oligarchy,” “the corporations,” and the “upper classes.” The intelligentsia are merely the “bought priesthood.” The economists, the think tanks, the financial class, are mere servants of wealth. The Randians, objectivists, libertarians – those who really believe that philosophy, are the useful idiots.