Guest post by Mike
Darklords, Dunces and Dictators! Truth oftentimes mirrors or is stranger than fiction, this article will compare history to fiction to illustrate the similarities both in motives and actions between historical and fictional darklords, dunces and dictators.
An interesting commonality when examining evildoers is the theory that evil may start out with fair motives before the all consuming desire for power to exert their will and control and dominate others eats them up and becomes the sole objective. Now keep in mind when I say "fair motives" I DON'T mean benevolent or good intentions that benefit society as a whole, what I do mean is that originally the motivations were more likely self serving and megalomanical in nature such as seizing power to do what these people felt was right or beneficial to themselves rather than genocidal or nihilistic. Hitler for instance most likely didn't ORIGINALLY intend on committing genocide by throwing people in ovens and gas chambers but the quest for total power lead him to those twisted actions eventually.
Lets examine this theory first by looking at one of my all time favorite authors Tolkien. Tolkien states that the Darklord Sauron was not wholly evil in his beginning, in fact Tolkien states that at the beginning of the second age Sauron's motives, the rehabilitation and reorganization of Middle-Earth were indeed fair, however his arrogance and desire for the power to control and effect how that change and reorganization were carried out eventually consumed him and metastasized into something very different, the desire to exert his will and control and dominate other's.
I think this is a very common theme, for the rise of dictators/darklords, although we will likely never KNOW definitively I would speculate that Bush, Cheney and the Neo Con's original intentions weren't to torture, destroy the US Constitution or get bogged down in an almost 5 year and counting unwinnable quagmire in foreign lands............
I think they were energy men who KNEW peak oil was fast approaching, they also KNEW our economic and military dominance is predicated on cheap oil, and that Iraq and Iran were just about the ONLY countries with relatively untapped oil and gas reserves that could be increased significantly. In fact Iraq probably has the cheapest oil reserves in the world and Iran has enormous natural gas reserves and could probably almost double oil output with significant investment, all that was needed was the implementation of the Neo Con plan to overthrow the USA hostile governments and install puppet governments loyal to them and we not only would we have cheap oil to keep our economy humming for almost 2 decades, but American oil companies and those in league with them could reap vast fortunes developing and buying those reserves and rewriting the laws to give our oil companies favorable contracts. ........problem is it didn't go as planned and now the desire to dominate and exert our will in ANY way possible has superceded the original plan.
The original plan was to usher in another 20 year economic boom by insuring our access to cheap oil, they also wanted to continue Reagan's work to maintain our military dominance, and continue the erosion of safety nets and regulations protecting the working class, and permanently rig the system in favor of the wealthy. Essentially they wanted to undo the NEW DEAL, abolish Social Security, destroy unions and neuter regulatory agencies like the SEC, FCC, FDA, EPA, OSHA......etc.
Similarly, although we will never truly KNOW, although Hitler despised the Jews I think in the beginning, his original plan was not the nihilistic and genocidal extermination of a race, but rather to restore Germany's former economic and military power and pride and extricate it from the yoke of harsh, punitive war reparations. I think his seething hatred and racial prejudices combined with his megalomanical obsession with exerting his will and dominating and controlling others consumed him and transformed him in to the monster we read about today.
Lets move on to the movies, in Revenge of The Sith, when Padme is witnessing the rise of the Empire, Palpatine who manipulated the republic into war to seize and cement absolute power via dictatorship, triumphantly proclaims himself emperor and Padme says "so this is how democracy dies with thunderous applause" . It chillingly reminded me of how people cheered as the heinous Patriot Act was railroaded through Congress to give the "DECIDER" special "war powers" that further eroded the checks and balances and started the transformation of our country to a police state and dictatorship.
Another "interesting" Star Wars comparison is Dick Cheney stating he is President of the Senate and thus does not fall under, nor is he subject to Executive Orders and oversight.............kinda reminds you of Emperor Palpatine shrieking "I AM THE SENATE" or cackling "unlimited power" as he implements his coup to hijack the republic and seize ultimate power.
Anakin Skywalker is another perfect example of fair motives being corrupted and replaced with the all consuming and nihilistic obsession for the power to implement the desired changes. Anakins original desire was for the power to protect the ones he loved, end the war and restore order and justice to the universe...........eventually his obsession with power transformed him into the very thing he despised and opposed.
Fortunately if we follow this theme to its logical conclusion evil always turns on itself and defeats itself, its arrogance often blinds it. Sauron never imagined any one would even attempt to destroy the ring, the irony here is that it wasn't one of the good guys that actually destroyed the ring, it was evil that turned on itself that destroyed the ring and laid the mighty Sauron and his evil empire low, it was Gollem's greed and obsession that led to Sauron's demise. Same for Hitler, it was his arrogance that caused him to overextend himself in Russia, and hastened his demise. similarly Evil once again turned on itself when Darth Vader turned on the emperor and destroyed himself and his master. Arrogance and the megalomanical perception of omnipotence and obsession with unrivaled and untouchable power led all of the previous dark lords, and dictators to the same ruinous path to the void and the nothingness and irrelevance that awaits them.
Now that we covered the darklords and dictators its time to focus on the dunces...........GWB and the Neo Cons will be brought down by their own incompetence, pompous arrogance and perceived omnipotence, exactly WHAT will bring them down is the question of the century........lets see we have attorneygate, Iraqgate, Spygate, Libbygate, and most recently Commutationgate, that is clearly a plan to further obstruct justice by providing Libby an EXCUSE to not have to testify and likely implicate GWB and Cheney in the Plame civil suit while his appeal is going on etc..............too many more to list! I'd like to hear your opinions on what will bring about the demise of the Bush Administration
Image by Stephen Pitt Cartoons
