HOW DOES TYRANNY END?
A tyrant has been defined as any person in a position of authority who exercises power oppressively or despotically. Hmmm. Now who does that remind me of? But the real question in my mind is how does a tyrant’s time end? Not well, I suspect based on history and current events.
First, however, I want to congratulate our nation in being one of the first democracies I know to actually vote out a tyrant without a civil war. So far, at least. That’s really something. Our new president-and-vice-president-elect deserve kudos for letting the American democratic process do it’s work and not resorting to popularism. Not an easy task given the last four years.
Now I want to return to the question of how a tyranny ends. At present, it doesn’t look entirely peacefully. Challenging the election results, well, that’s a privilege politicians have in the USA, and we’ve a month or so for the current president and his followers to do just that. Try to use the Supreme Court to overturn the election through favoritism? That’s not so good, though hopefully, the judges will exercise diligence, relying on their morals rather than “payback” favoritism, should that happen. If not, our nation will once again descend into the throes of chaos, something that seems historically to accompany the end of tyranny.
But what I’m really interested in, is what a tyrant does when he or she sees the end of his or her reign. Especially if it’s been a contentious one that has energetically polarized people. From a historical perspective, tyrant’s can’t lose. It’s a narcissistic thing. And if such an unthinkable thing were to happen, there’d be retribution to be exacted for “disloyalty.” It seems to come from placing oneself above the very reason for one’s being in power to the point of believing that power is “God sent” and either fated or at the least immutably “chosen” to wield power. Permanently. Forever. Just look at our contemporary world tyrants. From the tyrant’s viewpoint, however, dealing with the “humilation” of an impossible defeat rather than the good of the people, a nation or a political system would be unbearable.
Having said that, I’m going to make a really “crazy” prediction: I suspect the red party will sooner or later become known as the party of organized crime and, with the passing of its tyrant of choice, slowly meet it’s demise. When that happens, I can see the blue party filling the void, becoming the new “conservative” party, requiring the green party to become the new progressive party. Same old, same old, yes, but with differently constructed visions following the “shakeup.” I say this because so much of this election was about “getting rid of a tyrant” rather than fixing the failing infrastructures that plunged our nation into disarray following the COVID-19 pandemic, our “warning shot” across the bow for the future. Will there be more sparks to light the fuse? I don’t doubt it for a moment. The key to survival is whether our governmental, social, political, ethical, transportation, environmental, health care, educational and religious infrastructures are able to survive such insults. I’ll be the first to concede that my prediction could easily not come to pass if we as a nation can come together, address and fix these infrastructures for the future. It’s okay, you can call me “crazy” if you like. I’ve felt like it sometimes during the past four years, haven’t you?
My newest book, THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor isn’t a “political” novel. It does, however, address some of the underlying factors that I believe have made the current president and party, as well as COVID-19 so powerfully destructive [see my and William Maltese’s pre-quel, TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009)]. It’s all about Sci-Fu — Science-based Futuring — giving ourselves a peek at what infrastructures need to be changed and how. Try it, you might like it (I predict).
The Edge of Madness
Total Meltdown: A Tripler and Clarke Adventure
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je6CC...
First, however, I want to congratulate our nation in being one of the first democracies I know to actually vote out a tyrant without a civil war. So far, at least. That’s really something. Our new president-and-vice-president-elect deserve kudos for letting the American democratic process do it’s work and not resorting to popularism. Not an easy task given the last four years.
Now I want to return to the question of how a tyranny ends. At present, it doesn’t look entirely peacefully. Challenging the election results, well, that’s a privilege politicians have in the USA, and we’ve a month or so for the current president and his followers to do just that. Try to use the Supreme Court to overturn the election through favoritism? That’s not so good, though hopefully, the judges will exercise diligence, relying on their morals rather than “payback” favoritism, should that happen. If not, our nation will once again descend into the throes of chaos, something that seems historically to accompany the end of tyranny.
But what I’m really interested in, is what a tyrant does when he or she sees the end of his or her reign. Especially if it’s been a contentious one that has energetically polarized people. From a historical perspective, tyrant’s can’t lose. It’s a narcissistic thing. And if such an unthinkable thing were to happen, there’d be retribution to be exacted for “disloyalty.” It seems to come from placing oneself above the very reason for one’s being in power to the point of believing that power is “God sent” and either fated or at the least immutably “chosen” to wield power. Permanently. Forever. Just look at our contemporary world tyrants. From the tyrant’s viewpoint, however, dealing with the “humilation” of an impossible defeat rather than the good of the people, a nation or a political system would be unbearable.
Having said that, I’m going to make a really “crazy” prediction: I suspect the red party will sooner or later become known as the party of organized crime and, with the passing of its tyrant of choice, slowly meet it’s demise. When that happens, I can see the blue party filling the void, becoming the new “conservative” party, requiring the green party to become the new progressive party. Same old, same old, yes, but with differently constructed visions following the “shakeup.” I say this because so much of this election was about “getting rid of a tyrant” rather than fixing the failing infrastructures that plunged our nation into disarray following the COVID-19 pandemic, our “warning shot” across the bow for the future. Will there be more sparks to light the fuse? I don’t doubt it for a moment. The key to survival is whether our governmental, social, political, ethical, transportation, environmental, health care, educational and religious infrastructures are able to survive such insults. I’ll be the first to concede that my prediction could easily not come to pass if we as a nation can come together, address and fix these infrastructures for the future. It’s okay, you can call me “crazy” if you like. I’ve felt like it sometimes during the past four years, haven’t you?
My newest book, THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor isn’t a “political” novel. It does, however, address some of the underlying factors that I believe have made the current president and party, as well as COVID-19 so powerfully destructive [see my and William Maltese’s pre-quel, TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009)]. It’s all about Sci-Fu — Science-based Futuring — giving ourselves a peek at what infrastructures need to be changed and how. Try it, you might like it (I predict).
The Edge of Madness
Total Meltdown: A Tripler and Clarke Adventure
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je6CC...
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