THE RETURN OF THE KING
WITH all due deference to J. R. R. Tolkien, in this day and age it is, at best, dubious if the return of the King is something to which anyone should look forward. The USA has had its fling with Elvis and King Trump. Now it’s time to get back down to governing democratically.
You might be surprised, when I say I’m not uniformly against kings, queens, royalty or aristocracy. Not scientists or religious leaders, either. They all can serve a higher purpose acting as examples of moral rectitude, searchers for the truth, watchdogs, foils, even influencers, spoilers and sponsors. And one can rationally argue that in times of war, democracy isn’t necessarily the most efficient way to run a nation. These days Japan has it all: a monarchy with royalty; a diet with prime minister; and in times of war, a military shogun.
But democracies aren’t as inept as some would have us believe, in peace or war. It all depends on the people and their representatives. If the representatives represent the needs, wants and desires of those who vote for them, and are able to compromise for the good of all and in the spirit of progress, then it works grandly. Without a king, kingly president, or a president unable to self-confine to effectively and humanely administering the many departments necessary to govern, democracy can become one of the most ineffective and, most importantly, inhumane forms of governance. That behooves strictly maintaining the division between administrative, judicial and legislative (and not blurring their boundries), and strictly maintaining the attributes of a good representative as mentioned above. The idea of sowing chaos may be good for business (though I personally think it not), but it has no place in enduring democratic governance.
At the moment, it may seem all of Trump, by Trump and for Trump, but I believe that logic and rationality, the cornerstones of truth, will eventually prevail and return our nation, as that most famous of Republican Presidents, Abraham Lincoln once said, “of the people, by the people, for the people” once again.
Still, I would make two “predictions” for the coming year:
First, COVID-19 won’t be gone by this time next year. From a strictly “business” point-of-view, there’s no reason. There’s too much money to be made yet from the pandemic and, sadly, the infrastructures necessary to insulate government from a future disaster aren’t any closer to being in place than before.
Finally, the problems resulting from business trying to run a government won’t go away. They may even, like COVID, amplify, become a pandemic and issue forth new, even more destructive variants. There’s just too much money floating around as a result of the first and second (and possibly a future third, even fourth) necessary COVID recovery bills. Business, like flies, is irresistibly attracted to honey and feces. The critical point will be when citizens tire of paying for “getting the business” done to them, and demand a return to a better and brighter future “service” economy and all it reapresents.
Of course, I could be wrong. Predictions are, after all, notoriously 50-50, gaining strength only when what’s predicted just happens to happen. I would argue, however, like with TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2016) by Raymond Gaynor and William Maltese, and its sequel, THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor, the value is in hearing or reading the prediction, so that voting citizens can choose more consciously and wisely.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
You might be surprised, when I say I’m not uniformly against kings, queens, royalty or aristocracy. Not scientists or religious leaders, either. They all can serve a higher purpose acting as examples of moral rectitude, searchers for the truth, watchdogs, foils, even influencers, spoilers and sponsors. And one can rationally argue that in times of war, democracy isn’t necessarily the most efficient way to run a nation. These days Japan has it all: a monarchy with royalty; a diet with prime minister; and in times of war, a military shogun.
But democracies aren’t as inept as some would have us believe, in peace or war. It all depends on the people and their representatives. If the representatives represent the needs, wants and desires of those who vote for them, and are able to compromise for the good of all and in the spirit of progress, then it works grandly. Without a king, kingly president, or a president unable to self-confine to effectively and humanely administering the many departments necessary to govern, democracy can become one of the most ineffective and, most importantly, inhumane forms of governance. That behooves strictly maintaining the division between administrative, judicial and legislative (and not blurring their boundries), and strictly maintaining the attributes of a good representative as mentioned above. The idea of sowing chaos may be good for business (though I personally think it not), but it has no place in enduring democratic governance.
At the moment, it may seem all of Trump, by Trump and for Trump, but I believe that logic and rationality, the cornerstones of truth, will eventually prevail and return our nation, as that most famous of Republican Presidents, Abraham Lincoln once said, “of the people, by the people, for the people” once again.
Still, I would make two “predictions” for the coming year:
First, COVID-19 won’t be gone by this time next year. From a strictly “business” point-of-view, there’s no reason. There’s too much money to be made yet from the pandemic and, sadly, the infrastructures necessary to insulate government from a future disaster aren’t any closer to being in place than before.
Finally, the problems resulting from business trying to run a government won’t go away. They may even, like COVID, amplify, become a pandemic and issue forth new, even more destructive variants. There’s just too much money floating around as a result of the first and second (and possibly a future third, even fourth) necessary COVID recovery bills. Business, like flies, is irresistibly attracted to honey and feces. The critical point will be when citizens tire of paying for “getting the business” done to them, and demand a return to a better and brighter future “service” economy and all it reapresents.
Of course, I could be wrong. Predictions are, after all, notoriously 50-50, gaining strength only when what’s predicted just happens to happen. I would argue, however, like with TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2016) by Raymond Gaynor and William Maltese, and its sequel, THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor, the value is in hearing or reading the prediction, so that voting citizens can choose more consciously and wisely.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
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