This is a subject to which I will turn again and again.
Firstly what is anarchy?
To most of us it conjers up pictures of gangsters roaming the streets an shooting anyone at a blink of an eye. Or, maybe, some suicide bomber in Iraq blowing himself up with no care about the innocents that may be caught in the devastation he causes.
The best definition probably comes from Wikipedia:
“One who practices anarchy does not believe in political or moral authority, but may believe in voluntary leadership.”
Using this as a kick off point, before I try and redefine the word, let us consider the some of the basic precepts of our capitalistic society. When someone achieves riches we accept him regardless of the means that were used … to whit Abromovitz the current owner of Chelsea Football club. Do we question the means that were used to gain the wealth that enabled him to buy his way to fame? Hell no, “this guy has taken Chelsea to the top of the table, why do you want to cast aspersions. As long as he is buying the best players in the world … why worry”. Alas this is the way of our capitalist society. Fundamentally we believe that might is right without a question as to how the might was achieved.
For years we have looked on the “third world” as corrupt, but who are to blame? The politicians who granted favours to the bribers? or perhaps those who offered the bribes in the first place!
If we stop for a moment and consider the “Peerages for soft loans scam” perpetrated by the current “whiter than white” government in the UK, we can only smile, they are no different from the “blackest of black” governments of Africa which grant favour in return for being given the wherewithall to maintain their power base.
Oh!, you might say, “they put the money in their pockets, ours guys only used it to gain re-election”. Poppycock, your politicians have simply used the power they gained to grant themselves an increase in wealth through parliament by way of increased salaries, allowances and pension rights. Will Tony Blair ever need to do an honest day of work again?
What difference from the African politician who simply puts it in his pocket? At least the African politician is shrewd enough not to trust the electorate … they could take away any privleges I grant myself!
Returning to who are to blame … the bribers or the bribed?
I will return to this subject again at a later time.