Democracy, a Side Show Masking the Greed Which Rules the World

The United States is going to the polls.
The Ukraine is facing a snap election.
The world's biggest democracy, India, is voting next year.
Journalists, commentators, pundits and experts of all sorts are excited.
Indeed, the voting public, the electorate will be quite exercised by the votes in those countries and anywhere else on the planet where they get the chance to choose those who lead them.

Only it's a complete farce. A complete and utter waste of time. A sham.
Because regardless of who it is we elect, no matter whether the odious Sarah Palin gets to second biggest job in the world, no matter who rules the vast population of India, it will make not a shred of difference.
We now know, democracy doesn't work, doesn't even exist.
Sure, on paper it looks better than totalitarianism, dictatorships, ancient monarchies and the like.
But in reality, it's no different.
Leaving aside altogether the way 'model" democracies like the US cheat people out of their votes by challenging those with a legitimate right to vote.
Forgetting altogether the 'hanging chads' and the irrational impatience of the US Supreme Court eight years ago.
Dismissing the long queues for voters in poor (Democratic) areas and the lack of such inconvenience in wealthier (Republican) areas, it is quite clear that George W Bush doesn't and didn't rule the United States.
Maybe Dick Cheney does and did. At least, maybe he and his mates do and did.
Because that's what we know now.
Business rules the world.
Money rules the world.
Bankers, hedge fund managers, investors, speculators, weapons dealers, gamblers rule the world.
The greedy, the immoral and amoral and the uncaring rule the world.
The selfish rule the world.
Vote for whom it is you please, they have, it is so apparent, no control whatsoever over world affairs.
World affairs have been run by bankers and investors and will continue to be run by bankers and investors.
Democracy is a side show, a distraction.
Democracy just hides the evil and the greed on which everything is predicated.
A handful of people, be they in the US, Britain, Russia, China, India - even little Ireland - decide what's what and the politicians fall into line even if they don't know that's what they're doing.
Depressing?
It certainly is.
Because if the rich just gave up a tenth of what they have, we would eradicate hunger, much of the disease that ravages the poor world, lack of education and misery.
But they won't because that's why they exist. To accumulate at the expense of others.
And there is absolutely nothing we can do about it.
Nothing.
Except, maybe, pray.

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The Less There Is The More The Better

A friend of mine used to say, apropos absolutely nothing: The less there is the more the better. Or was it: The more there is the less the better? Not that it makes any difference.
He came from Northern Ireland which may or may not be an explanation.
And even though I haven't the foggiest notion what he was on about, I think he was right.
It is universally, agreed, I think, that the quality of television programmes is in inverse proportion to the number of television stations which exists.
It stands to reason, I suppose, that when available resources are thinly spread, the result is poor quality everywhere.
So these days, with hundreds and hundreds of television stations available on satellite and cable, we are more likely to hear people complaining that ‘there’s nothing on television.’
It is true too, that the more cars people buy in an effort to get from A to B more quickly, the slower it’s going to be. Our roads are becoming more and more clogged as more and more people can afford to buy cars and do so.

It’s the same with aeroplanes. There are now more of them flying than at any time in history. And the result is, that while actual flights don’t take much time, travelling by air does because of the endless hours we all seem to spend in airports due to security, delay and the sheer volume of people travelling.
We have more policemen on our streets than ever before. And, guess what? We have more crime than ever before.
We have more news outlets than ever before what with newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations. And the result is, we’re told more lies and subjected to more spin, than every before.
Science and research have ensured that we now have more medicines and drugs to fight disease and illness than ever before. We also have more people dying of disease than ever before.
The world produces more food than ever before. And more people are dying of hunger than ever before.
We produce more energy than ever before. And there are, world wide, more shortages of energy than ever before.
There are more countries in the United Nations than ever before. And there are more countries in conflict than ever before.
There is more recycling than ever before. And there is more waste dumped than ever before.
There are more species of animal being discovered than ever before and more being made extinct than ever before.
There is more knowledge about what food is good for us than ever before. And there is more bad and dangerous food than ever before.
There is more education than ever before. And there is more stupidity than ever before.
There is more reason to share than ever before. And there is more greed than ever before.
And here’s are a few corollaries.
There is less religion and more sin.
There is not as much faith in God and more evil.
There is less good and more bad.
There is less love and more hate.
There is less hope and more despair.

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I Wonder

DID you ever wonder about the way we treat our politicians?
Did you ever wonder why we pay them so much?
Did you ever wonder why we allow our taxes to be used to pay for big cars and chauffeurs to drive them?
Did you ever wonder why politicians are, generally speaking, applauded when they walk into a room?
Did you ever wonder why we pay for their pr consultants, their style consultants and the consultants they consult to decide what consultants they need to consult next?
I wonder. I wonder all the time.
And I wonder why there are so many charitable organisations in rich countries.
Look at Ireland for example.
It is a wealthy country.
That’s what they tell us.

We’re the richest country in the world, some say.
Others put us third or fifth or eighth.
Few suggest we are outside the top ten.
I wonder why, then, that our telephone book contains pages and pages and pages of number for charitable organisations.
I wonder why it's something that doesn't seem to bother politicians.
I wonder why they think it's important they're seen at the opening of new buildings and roads and equally important that they're not seen near the homeless or the addicted or those in dire need of official help.
I wonder why so many people, so many of the disadvantaged, have to rely on charity to get by.
I wonder why politicians, who in Ireland gave themselves 22 pay rises in ten years, do nothing to help those who need help most.
I wonder why the St Vincent de Paul society has to run breakfast clubs for kids so that they get a decent breakfast every day.
I wonder why it has to provide resource centres in so many
Neighbourhoods.
I wonder why it has to provide education grants to those who cannot afford education, even at primary level.
I wonder why it has to provide holidays for poor children.
I wonder why it has to provide shelter for the homeless.
I wonder why those who look after children with Down Syndrome and Autism, have to beg the public for money to provide a service the government should provide.
I wonder why Americans allow George Bush to stay in the White House he having spent $800 billion killing Iraqis and the young men of America based on a lie.
I wonder why people buy products knowing they have been made by slave labour, sometimes even child labour.
I wonder why some people who are worth hundreds of millions want to be worth hundreds of millions more.
I wonder why African leaders applauded the despot Robert Mugabe a couple of weeks ago.
I wonder why, in the heel of the hunt, nobody is actually doing anything about Darfur.
I wonder why Muslim clerics don’t simply say that murder is wrong, that suicide bombing is wrong and that those who do such things offend Allah.
I wonder why doctors who swear to protect life, thing that killing fetuses, viable fetuses, is a good thing.
I wonder how the parents of whatever little boy it was who killed Rhys Jones in Liverpool, think they’re doing the right thing by not going to the police.
I wonder how governments, just about everywhere, can lecture about drug abuse, can pour millions into the frontline fight against heroin and cocaine and ecstasy and fail, utterly, to provide medical support for those addicts who want to stop.
I wonder why people hurt children.
I wonder why I never seen policemen on the streets anymore.
I wonder what politicians think when, as they sit in the back of their chauffeur driven cars, they see homeless people slipping under their cardboard sheets for the night.
I wonder why some wealthy people are generous and some are plain greedy.
I wonder why people throw litter on the street.
I wonder why gazillions of euro/pounds/dollars aren’t diverted from making things that kill people into discovering ways of keeping them alive.
I wonder.
I wonder.
I wonder.
But most of all, I wonder why, when you think of all the solvable problems there are in the world and in our countries, we treat our politicians the way we do, why we pay them so much, pay for their cars and applaud them when they walk into rooms.

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From riches to RAGS

IF there is one thing more depressing, in this world, than witnessing the suffering of the poor, the sick and the hungry, it is witnessing the growing greed and excess of the rich.
There is nothing wrong with rich. Rich can be good. Rich can be inspirational. Rich can lead by example.
But, increasingly, the wealthy of the world seem, not just to ignore the plight of the poor, but to trample on them in their quest for more and more money.
The fact is, there is enough food in the world to feed its population.
There is enough land in the world on which its people could live.
There is enough water in the world for us all to drink.
There is enough wealth in the world for everyone to share.
And there is still enough money in the world for the rich to remain rich.

There are those today who will tell you, with some degree of certainty, that there is no God.
But unfortunately, many have them have replaced belief in God with a belief in self. It is comforting to them, to believe that they will not have to account for themselves, that the accumulation of wealth, the pursuit of pleasure and the mistreatment of others have no consequences.
It is beyond the understanding of many, that there are people in the world who can look at suffering and poverty and disease, and not care.
It is beyond the understanding of many, that those who have been blessed with the power to change the world for the better, seek only to change it to better themselves at the expense of others.
It is beyond the understanding of many, that man, who believes himself to be God’s most intelligent creation, would spend more on weapons to kill his fellow man, than he would to spare his fellow man from suffering.
Sometimes, the behaviour of the rich betrays their shame at the things they do.
Take, for example, what they call ‘outsourcing.’
Outsourcing is a name industry and business dreamed up to disguise what it really is.
And that is, an effort to find, somewhere on earth, the people who will do a job, for the longest hours, in the worst conditions for the least return.
Of course industry must make profit.
But when profit is the one and only goal, the sole purpose of a business, then it is a failed entity.
Profit and decency can go hand in hand. Profit and generosity can live together. Profit at a belief and trust in God, are not mutually exclusive.
When loyal and valued employees are thrown away without a thought, when long serving workers are treated like something on the bottom of the managing director’s shoes, when those who worked for years to build up a company are discarded without any care for their well being or the well being of their families, profit is no justification.
We are going from riches to RAGS.
Rich can be good. Rich can help mankind.
But Rich Arrogant Greedy and Smug never will.

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