By Vishwamithra –

“Remember that the best and greatest among mankind are those who do themselves no worldly good. Every successful man is more or less a selfish man. The devoted fail.” ~ Thomas Hardy

Sociopolitical phenomena do not occur in isolation. History has proven time and time again that such occurrences crowd its corridors with similar and uncannily analogous timelines; the unwise attempt to explain such happenings through the invisible and inscrutable ‘god’ concepts while the learned and wise burn a copious amount of midnight oil in order to analyze scientifically the real and factual arrangements of natural and man-made social tapestries. They would experiment, observe and arrive at realistic deductions. And then, they will explain the real and hidden reasons behind universal phenomena.

One would notice, when turning the pages of history, at the time Buddha was traveling along the ancient Indian promenades, teaching his sublime and enlightening verses of Dharma, Confucius in China and Socrates in Greece were preoccupied with the same onerous task of illuminating their own respective societies. Philosophical thinking and composed, rational schools of thought that were not overly preoccupied with ritualistic, religious beliefs came of age with the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha and his relentless pursuit of ‘truth’- four noble truths: Suffering, cause of suffering, cessation of suffering and the path to cessation of suffering.

These three great thinkers, at the time of their teachings were all called philosophical rebels; with the passing of many centuries, this stream of thought assumed a new definition and a name: Liberalism. Any person who advocated a stream of teachings contrary to the prevailing course of thinking and dogged adherence to the status quo which assumed the term conservatism later were called liberals. The very measure of degree to which one swayed away from the conservative thinking pattern and ways of life, however much that diversion enriched and enlightened the current ways of human conduct, the polarizing dynamics of society tried to overwhelm them and that duel has currently taken society hostage thanks mainly to power hungry politicians. Progressives are now occupying the uppermost tier in the ladder of liberalism.

The ancient concepts of family bandyism and nepotism are still being perpetuated and in order to extend family power, those who currently hold power would always tend to pass the baton of potency on to their own kith and kin. Long after monarchical rule, human society has advanced to reach more accommodating governance designs and methods in which active participation of the majority of the general public is taken into serious and crucial consideration. Democracy in the twentieth and twenty first centuries differ dramatically from what was called democracy in ancient Greece. But the general and a broader concept of governance which responsively addresses the wishes of the majority of society and its wants and desires keeps broadening further.

Evolution of such sociopolitical movements were instrumental in the rise and propagation of fundamental human rights. Clashes between dictatorships and its primary antagonistic philosophy of broad-based representative democracy have been shaping our history since the dawn of civilization. The human condition has provided for this fundamental conflict; in that conflict many have been tortured and killed; a well meaning society may have been brutally done away with by dictatorships. The primary cause for the birth of dictatorship is not the wile man who climbed the ladder of power through whatever means; it dwells inside those who kept quiet in the presence of harsh torture and insufferable suppression. Apathy is the main enemy of well meaning democracy. Those who identified this elementary weakness of man have succeeded in subjugating the majority in order to extend their power.

It has been said that there are only two kinds of people who live today. One who is pursuing power and the other who is after money. Those who seek power are brought into the category of politicians and the other fall into the corporate circle. In modern Western capitalist states, albeit their  pronounced commitment to democratic principles, the greater majority are being perpetually subjugated by those who control the commanding heights of the economy. Conversely, proponents of modern Western capitalist democracies would argue that democratic institutions, the rule of law, social mobility, and various social safety nets work to protect the majority and provide avenues for political and economic advancement, thereby preventing long-term suppression of the average man.

Nevertheless, birth of debate on basic human rights and its sustained  attraction to electors is the current dynamic that provides acceleration and its own acceptance by the masses as a whole. Providing power to the powerless has always been a magical electioneering slogan. Those who seek election to political office resort to the most alluring language and taglines so that it becomes easy and effortless for those who listen and watch ‘election commercials’ to make up their minds. A good political strategist would invariably select a talented and skilled team of advertising group to market their given message. And the people at large will be the niche-market they would launch their campaign to.

These advertising experts cannot be ignored. They have succeeded in their respective fields by introducing compelling messaging systems and methodologies to persuade the ultimate voter to vote this way or the other.

But what is frightening is the rise of extreme ‘right-wingers’ getting hold of this machinery and launching a particular man or a group of men to win at a democratic system of elections. In the final analysis, the voter could be an utterly gullible customer. Given the right economic circumstances which would demand a ‘strong’ man at the helm of power, the voter can be easily persuaded  to vote for a dangerous narcissist to power. Election of Adolf Hitler in Germany is one glaring example. Narcissism, although being a frightening quality of excessive interest in one’s own importance and self-assessment, could have its own alluring character to the voter. Being frustrated by the failure of the status quo which has brought the plight of the voter over successive election cycles, his vulnerability would be receptive to a narcissistic leader whose notorious ‘brown shirts’ (January 6^th rebels) could create chaos and fear.

It is indeed a chilling circumstance, to say the least. The current US President is one example of such a dangerous narcissist whose near-obscene public conduct and the very language he brandishes to insult and disparage his opponents should be critically examined. Trump did not come to power through undemocratic means. He was very legitimately elected by the majority of American voters. One cannot blame the voter. He is  at the electing end of the stick; while Trump and the resultant social milieu also elected some of the most insensitive men and women who deduced that their positioning in the current American backdrop is seen to be weakening in comparison to their predominance in the period prior to the birth of the American Civil Rights movement.

The so-called White-supremacy movement which was in hiding like ember beneath the ashes found its opportunity with Trump’s rise. America is a great country. Its vast majority of European migrants who initially formed the United States of America worked incredibly hard and produced the most successful capitalist economy and most lethal and powerful military in the world. When the American Constitution was authored in the latter part of the eighteenth (18^th) century, there was no civil rights granted to the Blacks of the country. On the contrary, they served their White masters as slaves. But the evolution of American society from 1770s to date has been a remarkable journey of a young nation. Increasingly migrating global men and women began occupying the various corners of this vast continent. From the far eastern Maine to the west of California, America became a land of entrepreneurs, pioneering many human invention and becoming the leading light of human advancement in the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty first centuries.

Yet, America of today has become the epicenter of fear and disgust all owing not to one man; the sum total of the thinking, the power and her very makeup, has been instrumental in her being, as Dwight Eisenhower described, the ‘vast military industrial complex’. Profit has become the driving force of the American economy. Yet, all human family scattered all over the globe, from the tiniest of states to the mightiest, profit, financial or otherwise, is at the core of its birth, sustenance and growth. One cannot legislate morality; no legislation can deter or eradicate human greed, ‘thanha’ as Prince Siddhartha, the Buddha taught us.

In such a saddening context, what can the average man do? What can the mundane person resort to when the so-called educated, erudite and wealthy persist on accumulating more and more precious treasures, even at the expense of the poorest of the poor, whether they are subjected to destruction by natural disasters or man-made wars? It is an utterly maddening state of human affairs. The seats of the US Senate and the House of Representatives are being warmed by educated and balance-minded men and women; but the fashion in which the country’s Commander-in-Chief is conducting himself and subjects the very intrinsic layers of the nation to complete shame and questioning is mind-boggling.          

America has had her great politicians, writers and philosophers. Men of the caliber of Waldorf Emerson, Benjamin Franklin, Paul S Buck, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Martin Luther King Jr and present day Barack Obama, we may never be blessed with again. You may not find suitable alternatives amongst the current occupants of the legislature, the judiciary and the executive. But such factual findings should not impede our search for other feasible substitutes. A nation that was primarily responsible for landing a man on the moon cannot be bereft of men who are intellectually superior to the present crop of lotus-eaters.

The next move is not on the court of the right-wing extremists; it is way within the liberalist boundaries. The task is to find them.

*The writer may be reached at vishwamithra1984@gmail.com