"I distrust all systematisers, and avoid them. The will to a system shows a lack of honesty."
— Nietzsche
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An honest system managed by honest people will honestly achieve the results it's designed to do. Nietzsche, in this case and others, shows a lack of connection to the lives and needs of real people, as it seems does the American system of government. It appears that the system is broken. Perhaps irrevocably. If the will to a system shows a lack of honesty, as the German philosopher of the Ubermensch and the will to power would have it, then compassion itself is dishonest, especially compassion for the weak, the helpless, the disenfranchised. The personal will to power is not, by definition and practice, and, most importantly, intent, in league with the larger, compassionate world of non-Supermen, that is, the common man for whom a functional, reliable system of government is the difference between dignity and degradation.
The American system of government is broken, or more precisely, has been broken by a will to power unprecedented in American history. If there is a lack of honesty showing, it is not in the will to a system of government that applies to all citizens and is not subject to the whims of a few demented Ubermensch who distrust all systematisers. A lack of honesty is and has been on parade by any number of people who have sworn to, are responsible to, and are being paid with your money and mine to uphold and honor that system. That lack of honesty among people who, remember, work for you and me, is breaking and has broken the system.
A few examples:
George Bush, the president of the United States, is writing a new chapter in history on the perils of duplicity. His lies about Iraq—which has thus far taken the lives of tens of thousands of innocent people and destroyed the lives of hundreds of thousands more, and wasted (a different matter than used) hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars, and made America a symbol of imperialism, torture and militarism in the eyes of the world—are reason enough for impeachment. He has failed, betrayed and subverted the system he so distrusts and so obviously disrespects.
Dick Cheney, the vice president of the United States, who some call the de facto president and whose intelligence, experience, ruthlessness and calculated dishonesty overshadows those of his purported boss, is well known as a man who doesn't shoot straight. His ongoing lies about Iraq, Halliburton, torture, energy policy, Valerie Plame and even his daily physical/mental/ethical whereabouts makes everything we think of as Machiavellian seem sincere. He has failed, betrayed and subverted the system he so distrusts and so obviously disrespects.
Donald Rumsfeld, U.S. secretary of Defense, famously said of the Iraq's famous non-existent weapons of mass destruction, "The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." His lack of honesty about Iraq, armored (or, rather, not armored) military vehicles, the military "stop-loss" policy, torture, Abu Ghraib and his insistence that no mistakes have been made in Iraq is, when one thinks about the difference between reality and the words of one of the most powerful men on earth who has destroyed the careers of any military professional with the spine to point out the flaws in Rummy's shocking and awful arrogance, breathtaking. He has failed, betrayed and subverted the system he so distrusts and so obviously disrespects.
And a few lesser examples:
Karl Rove.
Alberto Gonzales.
Jack Abramoff and friends.
Randy Cunningham.
John Bolton.
The Congress of the United States, which, when all is said and done, has supported and acquiesced to all of them.
Those citizens who voted for those who were elected and supported those who were appointed by those who were elected.
Those citizens who didn't vote at all.
They have all failed, betrayed and subverted the system they so distrust and so obviously disrespect.
The system is the common people, their well-being and happiness and the honest (and lawful) means by which they are cared for. The system is the difference between a tyrant's will and a people's freedom, and the system is broken.
Nietzsche had it wrong. Trust the system and make it work. Distrust the liars within the system and throw them out.
Dick Dorworth
