The Sovereign Letter

                    ... a current editorial commentary!

 

The following commentary is an editorial opinion on a

specific issue or event written by the author of the book:

 

"BEYOND OUR CONSENT"

"As our adversary's strategies and deceptions gradually become known to us, so are these devious ones delivered unto us.  As we come to know their ploys, they are weakened, made more vulnerable and fearful.   Slowly their temples and positions will begin to tremble and fall... manure for a new harvest of liberty." RHB-2000

POLITICS: THE ART OF MANAGING POLARITIES

by

Robert Harris Brevig

The modern hi-tech automobile has become a metaphor that is, perhaps, most agreeably analogous to our nations "eco-system" at present. A modern automobile is an almost completely self-contained, multi-functioning "eco-system" that performs the function of transporting its passengers to their particular destinations while providing comfort and safety along the way. By analogy, its passengers are, of course, its social groups; its interior designs and appearance are its culture; its heater, air-conditioning, radio, tape-deck, etc., are its services and entertainment; its engine, transmission, brake and fuel systems are its industrial enterprises. Finally, and most importantly, its electrical system, upon which all the other functions rely, is representative of our nation’s political system. The electrical system, of course, derives it’s operative functions entirely from its battery which in its turn derives its function from the polarity contained within itself. It is this polarity, this hidden, "invisible" force, which empowers and enables the automobile in its completed state to perform all its intended functions. Without polarity, nothing works!

That is correct! Were it not for the positive and negative polarity within the battery alone, all other functions within this complex eco-system would cease and the vehicle would become uselessly inert. So, we begin to see a number of previously unsuspected factors at work within our automobile eco- system, and also by analogy, within our socio-political eco-system. The battery becomes analogous to the power that energizes all the other systems. The electrical regulator becomes analogous to our political system and the ignition, coil and various other electrical distribution functions can be likened to our government, which of course, is regulated by those in politics.

If the battery fails and the polarity is lost, or if one of the regulatory or distribution functions fail within this particular system which governs all the other functions, the entire vehicle can be at risk of dying and becoming non-functional.

Such is the condition in our nation and in most of the world today. Our vehicle seems to be wearing out. Some vehicles that have been well cared for, well serviced and maintained, like the Greek, the Roman, and the British systems, their "vehicles" lasted for centuries. We Americans, on the other hand, have driven ours "hard", and we have failed, individually, to keep it "clean", to service and maintain it well so it is deteriorating quite rapidly. We are approaching a time when, if we cannot re-build it, we will need a new "vehicle". We may, as Americans, see this as an opportunity to recreate ourselves and our "vehicle" (our nation). Or, our "vehicle" (our nation) may find itself loaded upon the impending "vehicular transport train", the New World Order, as it absorbs, takes on and takes over all the individual functions of our traditionally independent "vehicles".

A nation like America that relies upon its fraternal two-party polarities for its dynamism, unlike a paternal or maternal monarchy, can seem at times to become an insecure, even dangerous place to live. Unless these polarities are managed wisely and appropriately - kept balanced and steady - by its politicians and its bureaucrats, these polarities can become volatile and unstable. If a political leader chooses to genuinely espouse the agenda embraced by one or the other of these polarities, he then unavoidably becomes disloyal and insincere to the agenda of the other. A statesman is one who avoids, as best he can, allowing this distinction between loyalties to descend upon him. Instead, he attempts to establish and maintain a stature which lies beyond the quibbling, competitive necessities of the political establishment.

Politics, especially in America, is the means by which this dynamic polarity is maintained. The volatility of it depends upon the political leaders skill, or lack of it, in orchestrating the correct measure of dynamism which results from this polarity. Ostensibly, a two-party political system produces this essential polarity. Each party is "ideally" intended to represent the needs and wishes of the two fundamental social, political and economic ideologies to which the citizenry aspire.

The function of a true statesman is to act as an "overseer" who guides the political maneuvering along lines that assure the preservation of the "state", without sacrificing the necessary dynamic polarities. His views are generally more universal than the politicians and certainly more so than the citizens of the "state" he seeks to preserve. He will be perceived as being a more neutral and embracing influence in the scheme of things.

There are times, however, when the clever machinations of the politicians and even the good sense and wise counsel of the statesman seem unable to control the volatility of these polarities, which when intelligently and skillfully controlled are good for the health of a nation, socially, politically and economically. We are experiencing an episode in America at present which looks bad socially, questionable politically and good economically, at least in terms of appearances. Hence, we seem to be caught in a mixture of forces; an unprecedented imposition of controls socially, deception and infidelity politically and lifting of restrictions and liberation economically. This mixture of forces, along with open competition and the process of polarization in business and industry has made America the most powerful and productive nation in the world. Yet, at the same time, while we have created the highest standard of living, our quality of life and our morality has observably declined.

When industries become, as they have in America, hugely profitable and powerful, it seems that overpowering greed and lust for advantaged positioning serves only to undermine the very ideals that allowed them to become so well advantaged in the first place. The processes they employ in facilitating their perverse, heavy-handed and deceptive styles are intended to eliminate competition that might threaten their profitability and industrial standing. Political and/or government influence is purchased as a form of protectionism and when this occurs another process is set in motion which is very resistive and stifling to the original dynamics. As the polarities gradually become more quiescent as a result of this static producing process of elimination, or "self-protection", it will be found that sporadic attempts to re-energize the dynamics only leads to confused priorities and chaotic conditions.

Take for example the game of golf, and it is not being implied here that one should not attempt to improve ones game...not at all! But, when one chooses an artificial means of doing so, i.e., hi-tech golf balls and computer designed and fabricated golf clubs, it simply becomes a "game of numbers" and no longer a sport. The same would be true of using steroids to increase ones stamina and performance in a number of other physically demanding sports. The use of artifice to enhance performance will ultimately erode the raison d’etre for endeavoring to perform the act in the first place. It will result eventually in un-fulfilling, possibly even disastrous consequences, depending on the methods and the circumstances.

This may not seem an apt analogy at first, but it does allow us to give some consideration to the types of reactive defenses we create in ourselves when confronted with an alternative and possibly disagreeable perspective on a generally accepted ethical practice. This would be especially true when such a practice became acceptable in spite of unethical qualities influencing it which we had previously not been aware of. This sudden awareness of something previously unobserved, if seized upon, can however, serve to illuminate and facilitate the creation of a new paradigm, thus liberating the mind from a mindset influenced by preconceived, and possibly incorrect, ideas we did not even know were there. A polarity is discovered.

So, it should become clearer to us that the skillful maintenance and management of healthy polarities, socially, politically and economically, is not only desirable, but essential to the dynamic growth and progress of a nation. However, if this healthy polarity becomes eroded by perversely motivated elements at significantly influential levels within that society, its balance and stability, its ability to properly function will become threatened. The causes of such conditions can be difficult to perceive. Unless the political leaders in such a situation are apprised of the danger they are courting to the society they represent and introduce appropriate corrective measures, there is an eventual danger of complete social, political and economic collapse.

It is a very delicate balance and a constant effort of brinkmanship to keep the dynamic equilibrium at an optimum level. When politicians fail to recognize their unique responsibilities to the whole of their societies and begin instead to favor certain factions, or seek to advantage themselves by means of their positioning, the entire dynamic polarity begins to crumble, and change of the undesirable kind becomes inevitable.

History has shown, more often than not, in the ensuing conflict and chaos, political leaders who lose grip on the tillers of their ships of state will abandon ship. They will let it founder and sink while they, and the booty they’ve collected, drift off into exile aboard the life boats they have prepared for such eventualities.

Ex-president Franklin Delano Roosevelt made one of the most straight forward remarks about politics ever made and it applies whether for good or for ill. He said: "Nothing in politics ever happens by accident. If it happens it was planned that way." A nation either has a workable plan, or not. There are no accidents!

Citizens of a nation who have no interest in their country’s political functions, social mores, or its economic policies, at home or abroad, are like witless, pleasure seeking passengers aboard a dangerous pirate ship. Over time, any sense of integrity, duty or loyalty, either to ones country or to ones neighbors will become displaced by attitudes of avarice, treachery and survival of the fittest. In other words, in the absence of any virtuous leadership qualities, the members of society often degenerate to their lowest instinctual natures. They end up destroying their own cultures, their own comforts and their own conveniences...they become self-destructive - they lose their character and individuality.

We have witnessed this self-destructiveness evidenced in regional pockets of our society, if only briefly, in isolated instances, already; i.e., the devastation of the Watts district in Los Angeles several years ago; the more recent L.A. riots resulting from the Rodney King incident; the Chicago Democratic Convention riots, and the even more recent rioting in Seattle in protest of the World Trade Organization conference held there.

It was evident from the start that there were politically and ideologically charged factions present as well as the anticipated agents provocateurs.

 

A simple, barely noticed comment made by our cunning and duplicitous Commander in Chief regarding the conference delegates obligation to honor the concerns of the protesters was another example of brinkmanship at its best. What would have been better left unsaid was, in fact, a veiled means of inflaming the protesters with a false sense of righteous empowerment thereby inducing a premeditated confrontation that might have been avoided with a bit of prudent silence. Mobs are easily manipulated into media spectacles by clever agents provocateurs who are well versed in the arts of the deception, better known in our "intelligence community" as "psychological operations", or "fun and games".

Polarity swings from predominately positive to negative depending upon the political bias. As it is presently, any city in America can be turned into a battleground overnight by means of a well-placed remark, by the right person, at the right time. Any time there are political or ideological issues present which tend to charge the emotions of divergent factions in society there will also be found richly impressionable territory that is easily influenced and aroused by the predominate and "controlling" political agenda. The direction in which such mob-like factions are influenced to react become the media spectacles the rest of the nation are witness to.

And, of course, what they witness on the national television news is what the general public is influenced by, is impressed with, and is what ultimately molds and shapes the public mind set. We witness this occurring daily on all the major network stations, especially MTV, which is aimed at conditioning America’s adolescent youth, CNN, which is directed at broad, middle-spectrum America, and C-SPAN, which focuses upon preoccupying what is purported to be the American intelligentsia. All these influences are fabricated by skillful political spin-doctors and it has the effect of occupying our undivided attention and doing all our thinking for us. This is how our thought processes and mental attitudes are impressed upon us and we, of course, believe that our responses and reactions to these fabricated influences are the result of truthful reporting and informed, independent thinking. In fact, we are responding and reacting like Pavlov’s dogs, in an prearranged and anticipated manner.

So, sleep well tonight, America...everything is under "control" and your minds are in the hands of your political leaders.

RHB-Jan. 2000

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All Written Materials Copyright, 1997,1998,1999  Robert H. Brevig
All Rights Are Reserved, Without Prejudice.
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