if we can keep it

on elites

Noonan.

Popehat.

team krony

von der oberseite des reichstag

In ihrem gemeinsamen Mund
lebt ein "Kolibri"!

Mit jedem seiner Flügelschläge
dafür das Auge viel zu träge
Kulturen erblühen und vergehen
ganze Kontinente untergehen
Hier gibt es keine harmlosen Worte
alle viel zu gross . . . .

Wärend nur eines Augenaufschlags
haben sie geputscht!
die Regierung gestürzt
Parlament aufgelöst
haben Wahlen abgehalten
das Ergebnis annulliert

haben Wahlen wiederholt
sind letztendlich exiliert
von Geschichte ausradiert
Ich durch den Dreck bedeutender
Metaphern

Meta, Meta. Meta für Meter
mit Gesten viel zu breit
für die Imterimsliebenden

~ Blixa Bargeld, 1992

a natural history of the janus-faced party

When the great invisible hand of evolution first paired two single-celled organisms and made them one, its actions were inevitable. In particular, no conspiracy, no collusion on the part of the single-celled organisms was needed, in fact, in virtue of participating in a larger organism, their individual identities became lost ~ it is precisely that they continue acting as they had in isolation which nature intended in pairing them together. The cells' awareness of their cooperation is not only not necessary, it is impossible. And so it is also with The Janus-Faced Party. There is no need for its two faces to collude, or even to acknowledge that they are partners ~ their collaboration has arisen naturally through the inevitable momentum of government, and it is precisely the illusion of conflict in which they so sincerely believe which makes The Janus-Faced Party so successful. Wake-up "individual"! ~ only you can see the unity of the two faces, as a bacterium trapped inside the body of Janus, beset by its immune system, you can see Janus for who he is. Surely, now that even the same face of Janus speaks with two mouths ~ purporting "family values" with one while denying the most universally acknowledged moral principle with the other ~ his duplicity will become clear? The wise man says: "the common man buries his head in the sand of comfort and pricks out his eyes rather than see the chains that bind him."

the momentum of government

The behavior of a complex system can be characterized by broad generalizations, or rules. These rules capture correlations and trends, but are not necessarily causal in nature, they emerge. Just as the behavior of a gas emerges from the behavior of its constituent particles, so the behavior of a government emerges from its constituent agencies, officials, etc. And, similar to the case of gases, where the particular types of particles which comprise the gas are largely irrelevant to its behavior as a gas, there are regularities in the behavior of governments which can be predicted and characterized independent of the specific makeup of that government. In particular, governments grow.

Government growth is an observable natural phenomenon which arises from bureaucratic organization. In a bureaucracy, there is no metric for measuring the ratio between efficacy and expense. In a market, an equilibrium is reached which maximizes this ratio (one characterization of this equilibrium point is through the notion of pareto-optimality). The flow of money provides a metric by which distance from this equilibrium point can be measured in a market. Governments are necessarily bureaucratic in structure, and a bureaucracy is not subject to market forces, and thus money cannot serve this role of metric within a government. Without a successful measure of the ratio between the costs of actions and their efficacy, however, agencies and officials within the government will be alotted funding in accordance with principles irrelevant to their success at fulfilling their intended purpose. In general, it is the lack of a well-defined goal state plus the lack of a gauge of efficiency which ensure that funding will increase, power will accrue, and any particular agency will grow. As a corollary, government as a whole will, in general, grow.

This momentum of government is entirely independent of the type of government. Monarchies, oligarchies, republics, democracies, social republics, social democracies, anarcho-syndicalist communes, etc.: all governments comprise bureaucracies and, as such, are susceptible to this same growth, this same momentum. The difference between types of governments can be measured along two parameters: 1) the number of tasks that fall under government's purview; 2) the process by which additional tasks accrue to government responsibility. In a communist society, for example, all tasks fall under government purview, and thus all tasks are carried out in a manner governed by the properties of a bureaucracy, i.e. without an appropriate metric for measuring efficiency. This is why gross inefficiency has generally been observed in communist societies. A monarchy is characterized by the manner by which tasks accrue, i.e. via the decisions of the monarch. Thus, this characterization alone does not answer the question of how many tasks fall under government's purview. Democracies require majority agreement for a new task to accrue to government responsibility, thus the growth of bureaucracy in a democracy is relatively slow, but monotonic.

This perspective provides a different explanation for the progression through various social structures as observed by Marx. Marx characterizes the trend from the bottom up, from the perspective of workers. Conversely, we can also characterize the trend from the top down, from the perspective of governments. The progression from monarchies, to democracies, to socialist societies is just an example of the gradual accretion of power to the underlying bureaucratic structure. Backlashes, as have recently occurred against communist societies, are the result of the gross inefficiency of a bureaucracy finally being challenged by those subject to it. In general, such backlashes require violent upheaval to remove tasks from the purview of government. Bureaucratic channels generally develop such that it is exceedingly difficult to purge them of power.

Can this encroaching tide be stemmed? Can a great enough dam be erected? Through one small hole in the dike erected by our forefathers ("to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers"), a torrent has poured through and flooded most of the countryside. We sit calmly and quibble about this and that, while we are up to our necks in water. The wise man says, he who would not drown, must choose: either plug this hole, or build a raft!

the janus-faced party

We live in a one party system. With a single party there is no choice, and with no choice, no power. We call our party The Janus-Faced Party. Some men prefer one face and rally in support of that face with religious fervor. Other men prefer the opposing face and likewise rally in its support with identical enthusiasm. This illusion of conflict keeps the feeling of choice, the feeling of power and worth, alive in the common man. He stands too close to realize that the faces share a body. But if he took but a few steps back, and viewed his "democracy" with perspective, he would realize the unity behind these opposing masks. Oh, what then Janus-Faced Party, what then! Might he rally in the streets against both faces and stem the oncoming tidalwave of government "progress" with sheer collective force of will? Or would you, a colossus, merely crush him beneath your heel (as you have done so many times before)? In the safe warmth of my bed, late at night, before drifting into tortured dreams, I like to imagine you feel just a smidgeon of fear at the prospect. This is the wise man's palliative.

the election

The election is a nationwide exercise in delusion. The common man thinks: "in the election, I have a choice; by voting, I can effect change!" But the common man does not understand the momentum of government. This momentum is teleological in character, and any real change in government must be a change in this momentum. The petty issues which will determine the outcome of the coming election ("the war in Iraq," "abortion rights," "drugs for seniors," . . . ), these are but pebbles on the inevitable road of government "progress." The near-sighted man will be the death of democracy, and the hero of slavery.

bees

Social order everywhere is disintegrating, even in primeval matriarchies! Or is this war: first they deprive us of the sweetness of our honey, next the beauty of our flowers? Perhaps the hive mind is superior to the democratic mind. It recognizes that this beggared lump of rock has served its purpose: the future lies in space! We too should follow the bees' example. Abandon Gaia and seek solace in the cold comfort of the vast emptiness! Only there can we begin anew; only there can we find a "fresh start."

the honest dictator

The dictator who hides behind supposed democratic process, the dictator who feigns the role of elected official, the dictator who denies he is a dictator: this is the dictator to despise. The honest dictator proudly announces his status; the honest dictator dictates simpliciter. With such an honest dictatorship comes responsibility, responsibility acknowledged and accepted. The covert dictator, the secret dictator, absolves himself of responsibility; he hides behind the pretense of popular support to implicate the people themselves in their own oppression. Better a dictator who accepts responsibility than one who cowers behind his subjects. Dictatorship requires strength, confidence, and honesty; only then can we judge a dictator, only then can we know his quality.