In this piece I am still trying to convince that continuing to do that which has not worked makes no sense.

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We often get deep in the weeds of words defining the exercise of power. These weeds and words have exposed and described in great detail how the few have ruled the many over centuries and these methods are many and varied. What these varied means of rule have in common is/are subjects who always defer and submit to that power. What this means is that what we, the unwashed masses, do is that which is allowed and little else. This is true for us as well, of course, with our version of power--undeclared fascism that requires the illusion of democracy if it is to persist as undeclared. So here, what is allowed is still limited, not allowed to meaningfully challenge the real power hierarchy, yet provides the possibility of hope for fairness and justice and decency until it is slowly reduced to being essentially, again, disallowed. I suggest that all bottom-up efforts fall within this overview of the nature of power. If this were not true the struggle for fairness and justice would be over.

Even though power and money are not the same thing they are so interconnected that within the frame of most discussions we can deem them the same thing. Therefore, when Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren and others here on this venue suggest we need eliminate billionaires from our sociopolitical and economic reality it is another variation of progressives whining and sniveling mostly with impunity about what is wrong--much like gerrymandering, corrupt voting machines, two-tiered justice for rich and poor, and all the rest.

Sometimes the powerful few allow the illusion for change, fairness and justice but always regain for themselves the temporary self-empowerment gains by elements of the many. I say hell yes to limiting the power of the powerful--yeah! We have been complaining about this for 240 years and if money and power are the same thing do note that complaining has resulted in the most obscene concentration of wealth (read power) imaginable. I ask: are our chances for change any better today than throughout our past? Is not suggesting change mostly ho-hum?

So again, what is the nature of power and what role do we, the subjects of the powerful, play in aiding and abetting this dynamic? Saying we want fairness and justice in economic and other clearly does not bring results. We need to learn how to understand these things in ways that much, much better clarify what is wrong, the role we play that holds this in place and what we can do to fix it. To date we have been limited in our capacity to do so.

Don Scotten

scotten6@gmail.com

Authors Bio:

I am an ordinary citizen who for the first sixty years of his life was mostly disinterested in politics. Then George Bush and Dick Cheney intruded into my consciousness and I realized politics is important and determines who lives and who dies.

In recent years I have written a series of letters to newspapers expressing my concern for my fellow man and this beautiful planet. I truly appreciate the OPEDNEWS forum as opportunity to help find a way to a better future.