[ExI] The twists & turns of politics & idealism

Dan dan_ust at yahoo.com
Wed Oct 5 21:08:32 UTC 2011


On Wednesday, October 5, 2011 4:17 PM Amon Zero amon at doctrinezero.com wrote:
> So no arresting politicians, then. Now *bankers*, on the other hand...   ;-)

No time to follow all this discussion today, but I think people are missing that political power -- the kind politicians actually wield -- is far more dangerous and is at root the problem. The bankers power is derivative and relies on politicians and the government to enforce their position. In other words, were it not for the power of politicians and government, the bankers would be able to do very little damage. In fact, they would be reduced to the level of any other business that needed to cater to customer, attract investors, and worry about competitors.
 
In today's world, for instance, banks have highly favored positions, including subsidies, regulations to protect them from competition, legal tender laws to prevent alternative monies (in effect, coercing customers to use them), and even a revolving door between their executives and those of regulatory boards and central banks. It's all one big happy family.
 
On another list -- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LeftLibertarian2/ -- George H. Smith quoted Bakunin today. I think it's relevant to this discussion:
 
'No one put the point better than the anarchist Bakunin in his critique of socialists and Marxists:

'"They are enemies of the powers-that-be only because they cannot take their place. They are enemies of the existing political institutions because such institutions preclude the possibility of carrying out their own dictatorship, but they are at the same time the most ardent friends of State power, without which the Revolution, by freeing the toiling masses, would deprive this would-be revolutionary minority of all hope of putting the people into a new harness and heap upon them the blessings of their governmental measures...."

'"If there is a State, there must necessarily be domination, and therefore slavery; a State without slavery, overt or concealed, is unthinkable -- and that is why we are enemies of the State."

'(*The Political Philosophy of Bakunin,* ed. G.P. Maximoff,  Free Press, 1953, p. 284-5)'
 
Put another way, it's as if we live under a absolute monarch and he hands out favors to certain bankers, businesspeople, clergy, professors, etc. and you're worried about arresting the latter, but would never ever contemplate questioning, much less arresting or overthrowing, the former. Don't you find that a bit strange?
 
Regards,
 
Dan




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