Dear Dirty America

MICHAEL J BLAIR
Perthshire, Scotland

There are times when we all think, wouldn’t a revolution be the answer to our government’s incompetence, corruption and naked greed?

I mean any government in any country, not just the useless shower of yes men and career boot lickers we have to suffer.

The idea that a popular revolution will solve anything in this day and age is optimistic in the extreme. Plus, anyone who joins a revolutionary movement, wants to lead the revolution. That is a recipe for disaster. There can only be one leader.

There are too many vested interests involved. At the first sign of unrest, any major country pouring in money and aid, will quickly and covertly make sure this is nipped in the bud.

Most recent revolutionary attempts have been in countries where democracy hasn’t ever been established. Any past attempts have been miserable failures, because the people who have been controlled by a dictatorship want bloody revenge on the supporters of the toppled dictator.

In these countries, democracy is never going to happen in any kind of recognisable western form. Elections have been tried, but if corruption is rife and your polling station is likely to be blown up, people are going to be put off.

A good revolution should result in a good democracy.

Going back a few hundred years, revolution did actually achieve a democratic society. The American War of Independence from the British Empire was a success up to a point in time. That time being around 1960. Thereafter it became open to abuse and vote rigging. Although I’m sure there had been plenty of chicanery prior to that!

The reason for its success is simple. The founders were all educated men, who understood how a free society should work. Subdue the natives. Take their land. Push them into enclaves. And keep them away from a ballot box.

This left an entire continent to be governed by the people for the people. Except the aforementioned natives.

The French Revolution was different in many ways, but a real and lasting democracy was the result. Well, as long as the people colonised by the rapacious French behaved themselves and stayed put in their own countries. Any sign of revolution amongst them was to be brutally suppressed.

Yes, democracy is hard. No one is ever entirely happy with whoever is currently in charge of political policy at any given time. But as far as I can see, the leadership of most revolutions are as bad as the people they replace.

The Russian Revolution was the “people” rising up against the Tsarist royal family. But as horrific as the Tsars rule was, the replacement with a “communist” regime was equally vile and disgusting. The mass murders continued, with the poor suffering much as before.

The following seventy years or so, saw a variety of despotic leaders take the proud Russian nation on an ever downward spiral of poverty and war. Of course the leadership didn’t suffer any hard times. Not for them was a diet of potatoes and turnip, laced with homemade vodka, with a dash of antifreeze to sweeten the dish.

Many Russian people died of hypothermia and malnutrition. But not the leaders. Oh no. The Politbureau had fancy cars, big Dachas in the wooded outskirts of Moscow, and heat. The revolution for the people, as usual, ended up with the people actually no better off than they were before, and in many cases, worse!

The late Fidel Castro, was another example of a revolutionary leader completely divorced from the reality of the lives of his people. He loved to give the impression of being one of the people, but his life was one of wealth acquisition and luxury.

In order to keep the country from overthrowing him and his band of thugs, he tortured and murdered thousands of people he saw as a threat. He imprisoned and tortured anyone he thought was gay. He was just another odious paranoid control freak dictator.

Right wing dictators are hated by the left and vice versa. But the reality is, that they are one and the same. General Pinochet in Chile, was the mirror image of Castro. Left or Right? No difference. They all kill to stay in charge!

Leaders of what are euphemistically called “popular revolutions” are just power hungry murderers. They have no desire to care for their nation’s people. They love the idea of everyone bowing down before them. They want money, and will happily rob their own country of any wealth it ever had, and leave a destitute population.

On the African continent, there have probably been more revolutions than on the rest of the planet. Very few, if any, have lasted long, before some other faction comes along and takes over the country.

Because of the vast mineral wealth of many African countries, revolution is usually about money and less about democracy. And this is the reason for a continuous trail of upheaval and violence blighting this wonderful continent.

Some countries have had successful revolutions, and became democratic, but not without huge amounts of death and destruction.

Other countries can never be truly democratic, as we have seen in Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, to name just three. In these cases, especially Iraq and Libya, it was the despotic leader who held the country together, because of an authoritarian rule.

Once Saddam and Gaddafi had been overthrown, the different factions took  revenge on the people who had been their oppressors, and the result is anarchy!

So, sometimes a dictatorship is the only way to have “peace.” But this can only work under certain circumstances.

If you feel tempted to join a revolution, make sure you are the leader. Otherwise you might as well leave things as they are.

This democracy we have, it isn’t perfect, but for the moment, if we’re aware of its shortcomings and flaws, it is better than the alternative.

And at all times, think independently!