22/1/02 

The Monster that is Government

France "People who make off with large sums of money escape justice or get insignificant sentences, while the thief who steals a handbag on the subway gets six years. We have a two-speed justice system." - and this is a judge speaking - Alan Bock

Corruption within the self-serving governing elite is rife throughout most of our so-called democracies. 

And always remember that it is in the interests of governments the world over to stir up trouble both among, and within, their respective populations.

It is not that all these government folk, as individuals, are necessarily evil in any way, but, in the same way that an individual's brain is directed by impulses, orientations, directions, wants and motivations - all popping up from various parts of the brain to further the organism's best interests - so it is that a government department (e.g. the police department) is made up of people who, collectively, form one great brain, and who pop up from various parts to further THEIR OWN best interests

The whole collection becomes a monster of an organism whose directions and goals are governed by the hundreds or thousands of individuals behind it - but with the individuals being motivated by their own PERSONAL aims.

But it really does have a life of its own. And it pursues its own interests - power, enrichment, survival - as does a human brain.

The problem is that these monsters are often driven to pursue interests that are detrimental to the rest of us, and they are so powerful that they are hard to oppose.

The war on drugs is probably one of the best examples of one of these monsters crashing around and causing harm to MOST of society simply because it caters for the needs of governments, businesses and law enforcement agencies all over the world. 

And it is only thanks to the internet - and to the OVERWHELMING evidence that can now be put before the public through it - that people are becoming aware of just how much corruption and self-serving deceit it took to maintain such a war on drugs.

Forty years ago, for example, high-ranking law enforcement officials in the USA were stating (and testifying) that marijuana caused people to go mad, to kill, to behave like crazed beings, and to become Communists. And they were arresting hundreds of thousands of people solely for the offence of possessing it - and so tens of thousands of law enforcers KNEW that their bosses were LYING. They could SEE that those who took marijuana were not going crazy, were not killing people etc.

But the war still went on. 

And it is still with us today.

Think of how different things would have turned out if the drug problem had initially been seen as a medical one, rather than one that should concern the law.

A medical and scientific monster might have grown into being instead of what we have today.

Wouldn't that have been wonderful - to have had so many extra billions of dollars poured annually into a monster that thrived on medical and scientific research instead of into one that caused nothing but damage, violence, corruption, criminality and destruction?

As another example of a monster, the same sort of thing has been happening here in the UK with regard to the educational system. Indeed, many of my personal friends in the teaching profession KNOW that the public is being lied to about the current standards of education. 

But it's the same problem. They are part of a monster which has to survive and to claim successes where none has taken place, or the monster will be diminished in some way. 

And, ashamed though they are, they are a part of that monster, and they must protect and empower it - for their own sakes. And they cannot appear to seek to damage it. 

After all, they have no real power within such a beast anyway - and they have mortgages to pay, and colleagues to deal with.

Individually, their little lies are only little lies. 

And there's no real imminent harm from them.

And, anyway, what is the alternative for a humble teacher?

She can say, "Oh yes, the kids in our school have a fabulous record of achievement," or she can say, "Well, I'm sorry to say this, but I just don't know how the kids are really doing in our school because the exams seem to have gotten easier?"

What can a teacher say?

As a humble teacher, you cannot undermine your own school, your own staff and your own pupils by admitting that exams have gotten easier.

What the hell do you say to the kids who are so full of pride that they are positively beaming, and whose parents are overjoyed because they got a Grade A? 

"Well done John and Martha, but, you know, the standards were easier this year. Your Grade A isn't really worth a Grade A."

You just can't say these things!

And so all the little lies of the humble teachers add toward the mounting conspiracy (and it is a 'conspiracy') that aims towards reducing the standards of exams.

And as the exams get easier, the government also benefits!

"Look at our kids. See how well they are doing. They've all got Grade A's!! Thanks to your government!"

And so in the government department of Education, of course, exactly the same type of thing happens. The little lies and the little pursuits of self-interest mount into yet another conspiracy all designed to keep quiet about the easier exams.

And, of course, there will be many others who stand to gain a great deal by making exams easier without letting the public know.

And politicians who have to stand for election spring to mind!

Here, in the UK, the now Home Secretary David Blunkett once pledged that he would resign unless x% of UK children reached such and such a grade by the age of 11.

Well, they achieved it all right. But there is not a teacher whom I know who has not confessed that the exams were, mysteriously, made significantly easier in the year that counted - just before the election.

Well, none of the individuals involved in the world of education has to be a bad person for these things to happen. But, in this particular case, the end result is a massive drop in the standards of education - which is a very, very, very bad thing!

And this, of course, is another example of where huge 'organisms' are at work.

The individuals that comprise these organisms are not necessarily bad, but the result is massively bad. 

And, unfortunately, these organisms are so big, so powerful and so difficult to see, that they can continue on their merry way causing a great deal of badness, while we, the people, are unable to stop them!

Now, the war on drugs and the educational system have one thing in common. They are both run by government. And we need to wake up to the fact that our governments - or, if you prefer, the organisms that they have created - are serving themselves.

And, indeed, in just these two areas alone - our educational systems and the war on drugs - the costs that we have had to bear over these past few decades - as a result of government workers serving themselves - have been truly astronomical; easily measured in trillions, not billions.

And there are other areas (e.g. to do with social and family policy) where, if you can believe it, the costs have been even greater.

All in all, therefore, we really do need to open our eyes to what is going on out there.

And we need to put a stop to it.

This we can do by insisting that governments are not permitted to hide information, and that government workers who attempt to deceive the public are booted out of their jobs.

UK The news that hundreds of teachers cheated in last month's standard attainment tests illustrates with dreadful clarity two of the main criticisms levelled against the test. The first is that they put schools and pupils under intolerable pressure, the second is that the results can't be trusted.