Cui Bono?

                                                                   Cui Bono?

                                                           by Marco M. Pardi

“Men are so simple and so ready to obey present necessities that one who deceives will always find those who allow themselves to be deceived.” Machiavelli (1469 – 1527) The Prince, 18, 1513. (By the way, Machiavelli was a relative of mine on my maternal grandfather’s side)

All comments welcome.  To those readers who have been hesitant to comment, please be assured you may do so freely. In recent days several new people have signed on as followers, enabling them to comment freely, and it is hoped they will. Reader participation keeps this site vibrant. MMP

——————————————————————-

To what purpose? To whose benefit? These are the common rendering of the Latin cui bono phrase.  It is an applicable question in a wide variety of contexts.  I will explore some here.

If you Google the phrase Why people vote against their own self interest you will find a long list of entries and discussion going back several years. You will also note the majority, if not the entirety, focus on “working class” self described Conservatives.  Since the 1970’s, as the ultra conservative religious (and very wealthy) demagogue Jerry Falwell anointed Ronald Reagan as heaven sent, Conservatives have had an increasing overlap with science rejecting – even logic rejecting religious fundamentalists.  Indeed, the nation began moving toward election of Minister in Chief.

So as the two candidates from the dominant political parties have emerged and the United States enters yet another grueling cycle of ads and speeches to influence the voters in November, it is again appropriate to ask, Cui Bono?

While there are some disparities between the Democratic upper echelon cabal and the base from which that party usually draws,  the contrast between the Republican upper echelon cabal and its base is even more striking than it has been in the past. Moreover, the disparity between the avowed positions of the Republican cabal and the good of the American people, even the entire planet, has arguably never been as wide and as clear as it is now.

One of the consistent platform overlays of the fundamentalists (Catholic and Protestant) and the Republicans concerns reproductive rights.  Let’s look at a bit of history to place this in context.  Since long before the formal appearance of Protestants the Catholic church banned contraception and abortion – yes, abortion and contraception were possible and practiced.  For centuries the Church effectively ruled Europe as a theocratic dictatorship – Holy Roman Empire; the Church anointed kings, not the people.  It is practically impossible to visualize society then as having a consciousness of separation of Church and State; the two were one.  The “Church Militant” saw itself as spreading throughout the known world. So how did bans on certain reproductive decisions benefit the Empire?  The theologians of the time would say they were bringing more souls to God.  In fact, coupled with an archaic system of inheritance, they brought more souls to abject poverty.  As all property flowed solely to the eldest son,  entire families were left to choose between effective bondage to that son or striking out as homeless people.  Needless to say, the monasteries and convents swelled with young people driven not by religious fervor, but by the call of “three hots and a cot”. 

As the population grew more young people turned to brigandage both in urban centers and rural surroundings.  Travel between villages became life threatening adventures. Ultimately, a solution presented itself in the rise of Islam.  As Islam spread up through the Levant, the Church declared the long defunct territory of Israel to be the Christian Holy Land, completely ignoring Muslim claims to holy sites in the Levant embedded in their own religion.  The solution to crippling overpopulation and poverty in Europe?  Rethink reproductive choice? No. Declare a holy Crusade against the Muslims, granting heavenly indulgences to all who partook.  While some participants may have had an eye for indulgences, their more pressing interest was in the slaughter of whole populations from whom they could plunder as they pleased, return to Europe with booty, or stay on the lands they had stolen from the centuries of inhabitants. Huge numbers answered the call.  In fact, the most egregious of the many Crusades was the Children’s Crusade; untold numbers of children perished in various ways or ended their lives in slavery when captured.

How does “ancient history” apply today?  A population is most servile when it is dis-empowered.  And how to accomplish that?  Ensure that measures to stabilize or reduce expenditures, such as school comprehensive sex education, contraception, abortion, are severely restricted or banned.  Lower levels in the power pyramid are sold the idea this is a moral issue.  Notice the Republican party is a staunch defender of the “unborn child”; yet at the very same time it is a staunch opponent of any and all social safety nets for the decent survival of that child. The highest echelon understands it as a control issue and religion as a formidable tool toward this end. Ensure there are just enough social programs, jobs that pay enough for distracting toys, and credit traps, and the riots in the streets are averted.

Multiple studies have found: 1. the abortion rate is hugely higher among the economically disadvantaged and, 2. there is a directly inverse relationship between abortion and crime.  Since Roe V. Wade the number of abortions has gone up and the crime rate, including violent crimes, has gone correspondingly down.  While the overall abortion rate has been declining for the past several years, States which have imposed the strictest barriers to abortion are seeing their crime rates increase, especially in drug related crimes.  Why do drugs have such a hold on so many Americans?  It may be that for far too many Americans, the American Dream is available only through a pipe, or syringe, or pill.  It seems appropriate that the Republican Convention is being held in a place called the Quicken Loans Arena.

So what becomes of the children born against the wishes or capabilities of their parents, born into families unable to help or support them through college?  George W. Bush’s “slip of the tongue” when he labeled the Iraq invasion a Crusade was impolitic, but accurate in the larger sense. Contrary to the propaganda of a military devoted to and driven by patriotism, the military services have become the new monasteries and convents of the 21st Century. They absorb thousands in search of 3 hots and a cot.  For those unable to pass the not-so-strict military entrance standards there is the multitude of low paid service and quasi-technical jobs. We have driverless cars, but not driverless garbage trucks.  Again, just enough returns to avert riots, enable people to buy lottery tickets (known in Texas as the “Mexican income tax”), attend sporting events, and watch “reality” and meat market shows on television.  Bread and circuses.  Where have we heard that before?  And overarching it all is the conflation of religious values and State (Elite cabal) values, subsidized by the tax payers since religious institutions can run their businesses tax free.  Of course they can. They are agents of the State, purveyors of morals (social order), and generators of cannon fodder and cheap labor instilling the farthest reaching ethic of delayed gratification yet – accept your life, heavenly reward is to come.

The 2016 presidential election cycle brings cui bono into one of its sharpest profiles in decades. Americans are looking (those who are looking) at the two candidates and the question, Of these two evils which brings me the better benefit.  And, there are those still holding out for their favored but defeated in the primaries candidate.  In the background are various factions supporting Independent, 3rd Party, and several issue candidates who have never, and likely will never get a chance of election.  Where is the benefit in voting for someone who has no chance of winning?  Simple.  It is in the completely self centered immediate satisfaction of having “stood on principle”.  And, it is most often to the benefit of the far worse mainline candidate.

Although a few die-hards still assert George W. Bush, a man who plunged America into an invasion of Iraq and a concurrent huge transfer of public money into the private hands of his colleagues, was a great president, most now admit his initial election was a huge mistake, most notably the invasion of Iraq.  Of course, in the same breath they dredge up the fallacy of “bad intelligence”, not knowing or ignoring how Bush political appointees at the top of the intelligence pyramid cooked the books to disguise the contrary information coming from the career operatives who had gathered it.  In the 2000 election George Bush and Al Gore were so evenly matched a recount was begun. The Supreme Court, stacked with Republican appointees, stepped in and stopped the recount, effectively appointing Bush as President.  But why was it so close to begin with?  The majority of the “also rans” were far closer to Gore than to Bush, but the people who voted for them simply could not or would not understand the political process and voted for their narrow interests. One also ran in particular, Ralph Nader, drew many thousands of votes away from Gore.

Now anyone with an I.Q. higher than their pulse rate “knows” what an economic, political, military, social, environmental, and humanitarian disaster the default appointment of Bush brought to the world.  Nice of them to discover it now.  Have a walk through the graveyards, the displaced persons camps, the environment dying from fossil fuel (House of Bush – House of Saud) pollution.  There are no second thoughts in Nature, just as there is no Second Nature. 

A large, homogenous, narrowly educated, dis-empowered and servile underclass is the font of cui bono for the elite rulers of a society.  Immigration, the influx of new ideas and new perspectives on long cherished ideas, especially religious ideas is a direct threat. How would some address this threat?  Spread a false narrative: “They are rapists, murderers, terrorists….”. Build a wall. Ban certain religions. But what about those already here? Deport them. Conformity test them: “All Muslims should be registered and tested to see if they sympathize with Sharia.”  The Jews of Nazi Germany were forced to wear yellow Star of David badges.  Can a red Crescent badge for American Muslims be far behind?  And while at it, demonize transgenders in restrooms as predatory pedophiles.

I happen to be in a demographic which would financially benefit immensely from a Republican oligarchy.  My financial cui bono.  But more importantly, I care more about the lives of my daughter and my grandchildren.  I care more about stopping the personal greed destroying this planet.  Each of the two current and likely Presidential candidates, not considering the others who would only split the vote, presents problems for me.  But I have always looked behind the candidates at the shadows to whom they will be beholden, at the powers they will have to appoint to the Supreme Court.  As a child born into a Fascist regime and witnessing the lifelong effects it had on family, I feel I recognize those currents again.  I hope every reader who is enfranchised to vote in the American election will apply the concept of cui bono in its largest sense and exercise the discipline to act on the undeniable realization.