Without our social traits we would have never been able to leave the forests of East Africa, most likely becoming one more failed species to become extinct. The ability to live in and interact with social, tight-knit groups in our infancy as a species, even if the group was divided by tiers of importance was, therefore, a monumental leap in our evolutionary path, allowing us to thrive and expand to all corners of Earth. For millennia this human socialized behavior has been ingrained into our existence, becoming part of the human condition, a vital reason we are who we are today.
Evolutionary wise, the hierarchy pyramid has served mammals, as well as humans, in minimizing the competition between rivals inside the same group, whether male or females, for the power and control that instinct naturally tries to attain. Hierarchy gave structure to group dynamics, a sense of normalcy for a species all too comfortable with violence and aggressiveness. Evolution worked allowing our ancestors to thrive in group synergy, with divisions based on hierarchy serving to prevent civil war among peers, for it is when two power-hungry, greed-mongering rivals are on equal standing that jealousy, selfishness, conniving, competition, backstabbing and political unscrupulousness are at their most intense levels. Division based on domination and submission has been an evolutionary bedrock for millions of years, serving to maintain the delicate balance that exists within groups.
In the world of our ancestors, the lack of a hierarchical pyramid, meaning equality among all, would probably have resulted in the complete disintegration of the group dynamic and as a consequence, of the individual selves as well. For without the group individual apes, wondering in the natural world, no matter how intelligent, would not survive. Indeed, it was the separation of powers and the division by hierarchy that allowed the first human groups to work so well, just as it does in the mammal world of today, enabling the human species to expand instead of cannibalizing itself through the emotions and psychology we are so familiar with today. Millions of years living with this linear dominance hierarchy, deeply embedded in our psyche and behavior, thus cannot be made to disappear in ten thousand years of civilization, much less overnight. Evolution does not work as fast as a scalpel, nor as fast as anti-depressants.
With the arrival of kings and the growth of the tribe into the village, town and then the city-state came the appointment of underlings, lackeys and the creation of separate state agencies. Bureaucracies were developed, agriculture emerged, different industries were spawned, entire armies were organized and overall, the ego of man combined with the selfishness and love of power and comfort to begin creating class divisions. The various state institutions and enterprises were usually given based on nepotism or favor - much like today's corporate media - with many selections coming from within the ruling family or between its closest acquaintances. These in time were themselves given again and again to members of that bureaucrat's family, thus cementing wealth into the family. This way, nobility, royalty and the upper classes were formed. Meanwhile, those not lucky enough to win favor with the royal family, comprising the majority of the growing city, became compartmentalized servants of the state, working in agriculture, the military or in the various state institutions and enterprises. The rise of the lower classes was thereby fomented. After a few generations the state was the sole domain of the royal family, with all other members of the city-state stratified based on delegated roles or according to relation with the royals, relegated to serving under the direction of and in the interests of those now in power.
With the arrival of fiefdoms, kingdoms, empire and the nation-state the dynamics of the tribe and city-state can be magnified. The levels of class division only continued to grow, the gaps between rich and poor expanded and the masses were, as always, ruled by an alpha male, with the occasional female at the helm, and, as always, based on a linear dominance hierarchical pyramid which assured the dissemination of stratified social structures. The interesting phenomenon during our long and oftentimes brutal history is the fact that a constant pattern of being ruled by tyrants and totalitarian emerges the more we study our history. From Mesopotamia to Persia, from Assyria to Egypt, from Greece to Rome, from Genghis Khan to Hannibal, from the Holy Roman Empire to the Ottoman Empire, from the kingdoms of Africa and India to the dynasties of China, from the empires of the Inka and the Maya and the Aztec, from those of Spain, England and France and Russia and everything in between, humanity has always, with few notable exceptions, been ruled by tyranny.
It seems that humanity is incapable of extricating itself from being ruled by alpha males, with these men oftentimes complete authoritarians, whether as emperors or kings or dictators or prime ministers or presidents. It is almost as if our nature demands the leadership of a Machiavelli type despot to rule over us. It is almost as if we demand to suffer, to never enjoy peace or tranquility, to always be ruled by totalitarian elements. This might be, perhaps, why democracy has only worked in spurts over history and why the world is still saturated by tyrants, whether disguised as warlords, dictators, emirs, kings, prime ministers or presidents, and why, after two centuries of so-called democracy in America, the nation threatens to succumb to the forces of authoritarianism.
If in fact humankind suffers from a preference for authoritarian rule, whether conscious or subconscious, then perhaps the battle against ourselves has truly just begun. If we are our own worst enemy, perhaps it is prudent to know and understand ourselves better before marching on to war. Only by knowing who and what we truly are can we defeat our most potent enemy: ourselves.
Illusions and Delusions of Democracy
With the arrival of comfortable yet brisk autumn air comes another election cycle, yet another voting mirage the elite perpetually exploit to impress upon the electorate the belief that the democracy of their dreams - the kind nurtured since birth from the bosom of brainwashed conditioning - is indeed the democracy of reality. In truth, however, the myth of American democracy is a carefully orchestrated charade that only serves to perpetuate the idea in the minds of citizens that the interests of the people are being satisfied through the election of chosen representatives.
In reality, American democracy, a systematic dance of deception, relies as much on manipulation and conditioning of voters' minds as it does on the financial backing of a candidate. In this day and age, where television is the new worshipped god, the apparatus that will convince the voter which candidate to vote for, elections are about the image of the person running, the psychology of the voter, hiding truth from ever emerging into the conscious of the electorate, and smears directed to decimate an opponent's reputation.
The subtle ways of manipulating the masses into voting for corporate and elite interests and away from those serving the people continues to be perfected by a corporatist cabal expanding its understanding of the American citizenry, as always aided by a populace consumed both by the myopic vision resulting from unfettered ignorance as well as by a comatose indifference spawned by materialistic addiction. This is America's "new normal".
Predictably, the interests that control the nation are maneuvering those instruments that affect the financial condition of the electorate as well as the emotional psychology of the citizenry, hoping the mental manipulation stimulates the voting energy as well as the myopic, short-term attention span of the average American citizen. In what will again be a case of the masses voting for the wealthy so that the wealthy can make themselves richer and more powerful at the expense of the masses, the mid-term election will not amend many of the problems affecting the nation and the populace, instead only succeeding in bringing in to power a new generation of charlatans and miscreants.
Elections in America - outside the state level - and most other nations purporting to espouse democracy are but a game of revolving musical chairs where only the most unscrupulous, cutthroat and backstabbing elite get to retain their seat, using the comforting hymns of seductive promises and the harmonious tunes of idealistic diatribe to hypnotize the citizenry into the voting booth. Like the Pied Piper, politicians play their magical flute, captivating the rat race into a frenzy of deluded belief and gullibility, capturing the emotional fragility, the wishful thinking and psychological needs of the population until that time when the rat race's vote is no longer needed. Once the mighty leaders of the so-called democratic state are securely fastened to the seat of power the rat race can thus be lead down the precipice of indifference, falling into the raging waters of inconsequential invisibility, left to drown and be forgotten, the interests promised them vanishing with the morning fog.
There are, to be sure, a few honorable exceptions of scrupulous men and women whose virtue and principle favoring the interests of humankind cannot be denied, though unfortunately the honest observer of politicians must acknowledge that rotten apples are the rule, not the exception, for politics, especially at the highest levels of national office, are highly contested and coveted positions, a place where a ripe apple is a dead apple. When power, influence, wealth and control are up for grabs, becoming the rewards awaiting the victor, only humans possessing the most vile levels of morality end up in triumph, for to win an election of such sort, with so much on the line, one must be willing to sell his or her soul to the evil's of human nature, becoming the corrupt tornado sweeping over rivals and one's own principles, becoming the worst in the human condition.
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