Politics, Allies & Loyalty

I kind of think I have figured out how the world works, but putting it into words is another matter. Here is one more attempt.

There are two levels of politics in the USA. One level is the public show put on for the population as a whole. The other is the wheeling and dealing done behind closed doors by the powers that be. Half of the wheeling and dealing is done to finance the public show. All the stuff that is written on the web and published in newspapers and magazines is basically irrelevant. It gives those of us who are concerned with the issues something to do, which keeps us from having enough time to go out and make real trouble. TV is pretty much the only thing that counts.

Some people like to throw their weight around. People like that are unpleasant to be around so if you have options, you will avoid them. People who can't avoid them might look for someone with a bigger throw weight and ally themselves to him/her for protection. A quick indicator of throw weight is physical height and mass, which explains why leaders are often taller. Other indicators are intelligence and the size and substance of their personal network, but those are harder to evaluate.

Allies are your best protection against trouble. This is why people became social: to defend themselves against trouble from other groups. Protection is still people's number one concern. Food, water, housing, even money are of no concern when there are maniacs chasing you with pitchforks/machetes/rocks/missiles/what have you.

This is why fear mongering can be such an effective method of gaining followers: you and me are the same, those other guys are different and they are out to ruin and/or kill us. Join me and we will defeat those agents of darkness and live happily ever after!

Fairy tales. Loyalty is ephemeral, a fantasy if you will. Family members are generally loyal to each other, but not always, and loyalty outside of the family is hard to come by. Groups who have endured harsh situations together, like combat troops, apparently develop some loyalty to their comrades. Of course, harsh circumstances can also engender enmity, which is pretty much the opposite of loyalty.

There is little to no real loyalty in business. People will continue to do business with each other as long as it is to their advantage, either short term or long term, but business is based on money, and if there is no money, there will be no loyalty. Some people are ruthless and will feign loyalty if they can gain even a slight advantage. I'm not talking about them. They are scum and will end up floating face down in the bay eventually.

I am talking about people with the best of intentions, who would never give up on their fellows. Except what does the employer do when there is no money to pay the employee? What does the employee do? How about the supplier who isn't getting paid? Occasionally there are cases where people will continue in a business relationship even though they are not getting paid (most famous of these are the secretaries of the private detectives in the trashy murder mysteries). But if the business is not viable, all those relationships that were built solely on that business will eventually crumble.

That is all I have for now.