Tiger Woods vs. The Toxins of Power

This blog is of course primarily focused on how the toxins of power infect people in government.

But posts also touch upon the expanded territory of those toxins.

For example, see the post Power Toxins Limited To Government?

Even Lord Acton, who is quoted on the About Page, expanded his theory beyond governmental power itself to other realms of power:

'Popular power may be tainted with the same poison as personal power.'

(Lord Acton, quoted by Sir Harold Butler in his foreword to G. E. Fasnacht's, Acton's Political Philosophy, London: Hollis & Carter, 1952).

Tiger Woods had power in the form of celebrity and money, had popularity as a father, family man, and world class golfer.

That structure he inhabited was seriously rocked and is still being rocked by behavior outside the bounds of that structure, which this blog attributes to the toxins of power getting to him.

The Power That Counterfeits

The Wizard of Id cartoon brings up an interesting mechanism used often by the Id of power.

How would it effect your behavior if you could print money from your computer with a quality that could fool merchants?

The toxins of power have corrupted government officials in the past, causing them, when the infection is strong enough, to become official counterfeiters in the sense that there is nothing of value to back up the currency they are pumping out.

Yes, the government can print money from its computers, however, if you or I do it is called counterfeiting.

On the other hand, it is called "fiscal management" if the government does it.

In such scenarios inflation can run wild to rob the people of what they have worked for.

Both scenarios are robbery, it is just that it is a "policy decision" if the government does it and a "crime" if you or I do it, even though the results are the same.

The problem we can identify here is the institutionalization of non-accountability.

When no one is accountable the toxins of power are at their strongest, while their victim is at their weakest.

In the United States system the doors and the windows of the treasury of the people have been accessed by the banksters secretly.

This is the worst case scenario for the toxins of power to be able to do their work of infection.

It is like drinking water contaminated with faeces and other toxins, which as we know is certain to spread an epidemic that will eventually do severe damage to the populace.

Besides counterfeit money, one of the other symptoms once toxins of power corrupt a society, is counterfeit information from the government, which is called propaganda.

Deceiving a society with propaganda can be compared to an individual losing consciousness, or losing memory to suffer amnesia or dementia.

That loss of the grasp of reality is a form of corruption that is always damaging to that society.

The Greatest Source Of Power Toxins?

This is an ancient question, but a question with one very clear answer.

An answer from the sages in our past who we are very fortunate to have had, but sages which we have ignored to our great demise in recent times.

An answer that seems today to be totally and completely at odds with the conventional wisdom-hype and propaganda, which is composed of the glorification of the greatest source of the toxins of power.

Our founders were well aware of the question and the answer hundreds of years ago.

They spoke the answer with unmistakable words and with certain clarity:

Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied: and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manners and of morals, engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare. Those truths are well established.

(James Madison, emphasis added). The visionary who made that statement was the 4th President of the United States, Bill of Rights author, Congressman, Cabinet Member, and who was also called the "Father of the U.S. Constitution".

The above quote is from his "Political Observations," April 20, 1795, in Letters and Other Writings of James Madison, Volume IV, page 491-492.

Notice, in the quote above, how Madison equated or associated the toxins of power with disease epidemic concepts, saying that the war toxin "develops the germ of every other" anti-freedom toxin.

War enhances the spread of corrupting toxins.

Clearly, he is saying that war is a corrupting toxin that generates other corrupting toxins, which will eventually destroy what he called "public freedom".

Further, war, the greatest source of toxins of power, is the province of the military, therefore, what Madison said about war applies without restriction to the military.

It is no wonder that President General Dwight Eisenhower warned us, with great concern, about that very dangerous source of the toxins of power we always face.

That is also why war is given the highest number in the tables of toxins on this blog.

You Id What You Id

Can we say that there is a national "Id"?

Nations are said to have national characteristics.

National characteristics are composed from the characteristics of the nation's citizens, so why not a national Id?

Freud theorized that there was such an individual mental construct, which is described as:

The id is an important part of our personality because as newborns, it allows us to get our basic needs met. Freud believed that the id is based on our pleasure principle. In other words, the id wants whatever feels good at the time, with no consideration for the reality of the situation. When a child is hungry, the id wants food, and therefore the child cries. When the child needs to be changed, the id cries. When the child is uncomfortable, in pain, too hot, too cold, or just wants attention, the id speaks up until his or her needs are met.

The id doesn't care about reality, about the needs of anyone else, only its own satisfaction. If you think about it, babies are not real considerate of their parents' wishes. They have no care for time, whether their parents are sleeping, relaxing, eating dinner, or bathing. When the id wants something, nothing else is important.

(All Psyche, emphasis added). Perhaps it is time that we formulated a theoretical construct that toxins of power infiltrate the Id of individual officials in government, which through corrupt behavior then works its way into our system of government.

Perhaps the individual Id is a weak spot for some types of toxins to grow into systemic corruption?

Beware of The Military Oil Complex

One of the most popular US presidents, Dwight D. Eisenhower, in his farewell address told us to beware of the military-industrial complex:

Now this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources, and livelihood are all involved. So is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.

(Eisenhower Farewell, emphasis added). When he used the word together he said the notion that defense ("security") should push out liberty when there was conflict between them was not an American notion. He saw it as a false comparison.

Things have changed since then. Industrial output has weakened since then. Oil influence has come from the shadows to the forefront.

Thus, as Eisenhower warned, we must not only beware of the military industrial complex as a source of toxins of power, but also as a carrier of the toxins into every corner of American life.

The "industrial" part of that complex, if you look closely, has been replaced with the oil complex. What is more dangerous and ominous about that change is that foreign nations control oil. General Eisenhower was warning about the dangers of American industry controlling too much. Imagine what he would have said if foreign governments owned that much control of America!

We spend more of our tax dollars on the military than all of the rest of the nations combined spend. When we add foreign oil to that mix the beware morphs into be horrified of the military oil complex.