The Problem of Impotency

Don’t get your hopes up. I am not here to talk about sexual impotency. The subject today, is political impotency.

Impotent is the opposite of potent. Both are adjectives. Impotency is the inability to take effective action. Potency is the ability to take effective action. To be impotent is to be ineffective. To be potent is to be effective.

Political impotency, my argument will state, is the father of most conspiracy theories. It is fueled by ignorance, inexperience and the failure to act. Like a dude who cannot get an erection when he’s desirous, this  also applies to people who would love to put it to their government, but can only get as far as talking the talk. The talk of the impotent is always about excuses. The number one excuse, in this current era, is about how one is conspired against by a “they.” The “they” of the number one conspiracy, is the World Economic Forum, aka, the “globalists.”

Avid readers of history have seen these sorts of situations many times. From Spartacus’ slave revolt, to the peasant revolts of the 14th century, to the American’s revolt of the 18th, win or lose, no revolt lasts. We find that the ruling class exerts its will again. And the bullies they hire to do their dirty work come round to make you pay for their fun.

Why does this keep happening? Especially now, when we supposedly have free speech, free association, and the vote? And we the people, still cannot make a go of it? We see our freedoms erode, as well as our bank account. What happened?

Life happened. And the context changed.

Spartacus was one courageous dude. In his context, the Romans, and the world at that time, was a brutal place. Slavery was a way of life for many, as it was acceptable in most places. When Spartacus took action, if he failed, it meant crucifixion. So only the serious need apply to a slave revolt. In our context, lately, we’ve seen protests in Canada, France, and the United States. None of these protesters faced crucifixion. We also don’t have slavery in those nations. Though many individuals think they are serfs.

I find it odd that moderns rarely refer to themselves as peasants. Peasants are freeborn. And back in the day, a peasant would tell you he was freeborn because it meant something. A serf, if he, or she, was potent, would run away from their plantation to find themselves work in a town or city. As long as they could hold out for a year, they became free. Such serfs were go getters. They didn’t believe in excuses. Like a conspiracy that could hold them back.

Historically, conspiracies were not about peasants and serfs, or even, the people. Conspiracies were about changing the political map. One of the most well known conspiracies was the murder of Julius Caesar. The group that conspired to kill him had sixty members. These were tight lipped guys, that Caesar didn’t hear a peep about them, or their mission. Calpurnia, Caesar’s wife, had a dream about it, and then there is the prophet who warned him about the Ides of March. So some rumors had to be floating around. Nonetheless, the act was well planned, and, shall I say, executed?

It was the aftermath that did not go as expected.

The conspiracy to kill Caesar is a good one to look at because it tells you something important about conspiracies: they must be tightly held within a small group. The Catiline conspiracy is one that failed. Why? One of the conspirators told his mistress what was going down, and that, as we say, was the end of that. Indeed, whenever someone blabs, the conspiracy can be ended. After all, conspiracies are all about the surprise. The Catiline conspiracy happened 20 years before Caesar. Catiline was not killed, but he did get out of town. He died a year later.

Aye, there’s the rub. To pull off a conspiracy is to pull off a major change. It’s all about taking action when the usual protocols have proven to be ineffective. If I were to compare anything today with these conspiracies of old, I’d equate Trump with Catiline, (the ineffective) and JFK with Caesar, (an effective assassination.) With the removal of both these men, politics has changed. The division that began decades back, has grown, and festered. As happened with Caesar, the results are not what people expected.

Many Americans complain about the politics, which makes pundits of conspiracy rumors, a growth industry.

Why is that?

Westerners, both conservatives and liberals, have gotten used to “government” doing things for them. What used to be private has turned public. Like social security and medical coverage, and bureaucrats who spy on us. This sector has grown, so that government is involved in our health, finances, the rearing of our children and how much money we get to spend, post retirement. All these bureaucracies have had a slow creep in their growth. Then we woke up one day and realized life is not so good anymore. We have been throwing money around like there is not tomorrow, but then tomorrow showed up anyway.

The mirror issue is that the small government folks have forgotten how to organize and carry through with action. Their call to action is to vote in the right people, and those right people will take action in their name. Not realizing that the action the politicians take, is to turn over issues to a bureaucrat. What happens, and it happens time, and time again, is that the bureaucratic state grows. And the taxpayers are holding the bag.

Can you see that there is the problem? That we have forgotten, and gotten out of the habit, of taking care of our own business? As the huge problems fester, because no real action is taken by the elected, the complaints take the form of helplessness. In other words, the people become impotent, thinking the politicians they elect are supposed to change things, for the better, for the people. So the people begin to look for a savior.

In the United States, Trump was the savior for the people on the right who wanted a potent president to represent them. Like so many saviors, the other side wants him crucified. Seeing one’s savior being whipped, the impotencies grow, because the government is the strong man here. And too many Americans made it that way.

One of the issues Trump did grapple with, was the globalists. The anti-globalists hate the World Economic Forum, the WEF, with a passion. The members of WEF is made up of some the world’s richest industrialists, along with cultural gurus, (Yo-Yo Ma is a trustee) and at least one monarch, the queen of Jordan.  There are critics a plenty for this group, outside of the conspiracy hacks.

To feel impotent when up against such an organization, is understandable. But the conspiracies fuel the impotent feelings people have. Why? Because it turns the WEF into a group of gods: they are untouchable, incommunicado, and wielding power over one’s life. It is easy to think of them in this light because the one truth about the WEF is that they really do think they know best, and they must run the world. In other words, the members do think of themselves as gods, and saviors.

How to get over this feeling? Go ahead and name them for the gods. Klaus Schwab can be called Zeus. What about Apollo for Bill Gates? And so forth. You can pray to them and offer sacrifices. Or, you can stop the pity party, and do something about these gods who could care less about you.

That is the difficult pill to swallow, to think one can make a difference. There are those that do reach for that pinnacle, to go out and struggle to turn a tide somewhere. The rest cry out in the valleys to hear their voice come back to them, or at them. The gods are not impressed. Like Zeus, they keep humans in the dark. There is no Garden of Eden with the Forum. Sin is already upon us and humanity must be made to behave, by accepting the monsters sent to live among us.

The question I have to ask, is this: why didn’t the humans of Zeus’ creation, strive to work themselves out of the dark? It took a god, a lesser god at that, to bring them the fire that gave them light. Prometheus was punished for his theft of fire. This bringer of light was, in a way, a savior. But like saviors everywhere, it lessens the responsibility of we the people, instead of increasing it.

I repeat the question. Why didn’t humanity find its own light?

Zeus’ purpose in creating human beings was to make a class of slaves for the gods. Whether or not he meant for them to die, and then he would make more humans, Hesiod doesn’t say. The question is an important one because Zeus created only men, not women.

Zeus, the philanderer, represents the typical guy who really doesn’t like women. Except to sleep with them. As in have sex with them. He lies and cheats his way across the universe. Is it any wonder that the Jews decided to have, as their god, an old man, with no women involved? Yet the human beings made by Yahweh, would have women. And light.

And still they messed it up, according to the story. So the old man god sent them his son, Jesus, to renew the light. And he was punished for it. Unlike Prometheus, Jesus’ followers started a new religion. It was inclusive. Until the Romans got a hold of it. Their rule was rigid in that the church became sexless, with their unmarried priests leading the married parishioners. Like the Jewish religion it sprang from, there were no priestesses. Nonetheless, the Romans could not be without a goddess. It just wouldn’t do. So Mary, the mother of Jesus, stepped into the room, giving Yahweh a goddess. Others followed. Except they were not referred to as goddess, but saints.

It was the same story, different version, that women were an afterthought. (More on this in another essay, and book.) It’s the idea of receiving the light, and trying to understand, did we deserve it?

I have mixed feelings on that one.

That takes me to another question that is argued among all sorts of people, religious and not. It is the issue about doing good works, versus having good intentions. Which is more effective?

Since, among the Abrahamic religions, God is the judge and only he can look into we the people’s hearts, we humans have a tough time answering the question, of good works or good intentions, gone wrong. Christians have the added conundrum of good works and faith, or faith alone will save the Christian. As long as you believe, you’re in.

That’s the question that turns people off to Christianity. That the serial killer who dies professing his faith in Christ, and asking for forgiveness with his dying breath, will make his way to heaven. It does not matter how many suffered under his hand, he’s good with God. And those that suffered can feel the impotency, to have that, “…what is the point?” moment.

Zeus and Odin, and the other ancient gods, got booted out of heaven. By the humans. Because, in the end, it was the humans who controlled the gods.

The humans need to relearn the lesson. To take control of the gods.

Nations do change when we the people, feel our power, and get loud and muscular.

Nonetheless, our actions have to go beyond playing musical chairs with voting for people who really don’t want anything, except to be in political office. Changing one

jerk for another just won’t do it. If your political party is the problem, change parties or change your party. You are not the only one who is dissatisfied. It doesn’t take a conspiracy. It takes a bad ass, in your face, result oriented group of people to say it up front, and personal like, to the out dated, dull, stale leadership, that is lying to you every time their lips move.

Party loyalty begins with the leadership being loyal to you. Are they delivering the results they promised? If not, time for them to go. And for you to withhold your money.

So many nations are nothing more than bloated bureaucracies, full of the mediocre, who push keyboards all day to document stuff. Is that where you wanted your tax money to end up? Paying for that bureaucracy? Do you like paying for more weapons, and generals, and spies, and payoffs to nasty people? Do those people know more than you do on how to live your life?

I ask these questions of you, my readers, because stupid people don’t read The History Desk. Thoughts and ideas in these essays, are based on ancient wisdoms, the tested things we know work well for all people. Because we’re different, we are individuals, that share a consciousness with others, that in our gut, we know it, that to hurt others, aggressively, is wrong. At the same time, to defend ourselves when attacked, is righteous.

To be fully potent is to search for the light yourself. Like Psyche, take up the tasks, no matter how difficult, with faith, that you can do this. You can organize, and act. Potency is there. Inside you. You only have to let it loose.