Our crazy Western world without consequences-- suffering the kakistocracy

"Kakistocracy" refers to a government run by the least qualified, most incompetent, or worst individuals

When considering consequences becomes inconsequential hard times abound.

To be responsible is to be accountable is to assure consequences do not become ruinous chaos.

 Prelude to progress

Emerging from misspent times and sunnier climes,
Into the lands of sordid consequences,
Wrapped in lurid immoralities,
Futures shuttered,
History slandered, 
Caught in the twisted ecstasy of decline.
Where nothing rhymes,
Truths untold,
Drowning in the quick sands
Of haggard consequences.

Yet this is but a fleeting moment, 
A prelude to futures more sublime,
Where intrepid souls of greater vision,
Are already building a better world.
This is the simultaneity of life’s design:
As the old order wilts, parched and burning.
The new order blooms, vibrant and steadfast.

David is a well to do bachelor who loses 5000 dollars in a Friday night poker game. No real consequences. He alone is responsible and accountable to himself, nobody gets hurt. Zero vulnerability.

Estelle is a purchasing agent for a large chain store. She has bought a million dollars of stock that isn’t selling well. She is responsible, accountable and there will be consequences. Many factors will come into play as to decide how “serious“ consequences for her will be. She might get a reprimand or fired as senior management so determines. Some Vulnerability.

Stanley is the prime minister of a significant world power determined to wage war on a neighboring country. The war lasts for five years, a million people die with 3.5 million refugees. With the war over Stanley finishes his term of office and slides into a quiet retirement. For him personally no consequences, for too many others death and devastation. Zero vulnerability.

We can walk through any number of such scenarios and assess the vulnerabilities of the players and the consequences of their actions. In our private lives we all face consequences of every shape and size, some of our own doing, some arriving out of the blue, some coersively imposed on us. We do indeed live in societies that are increasingly authoritarian and coercive. Too easily we can suffer the “slavery” of consequences, especially when perpetual war prevails and hideously bad economic decisions are made.

Doctors can lose their licenses, lawyers can be debarred and we can sue our plumber if he breaks a pipe and floods the basement. We are all held accountable for our actions and try to maintain some civility. Then we have the lawless, contemptible kakistocrats who are hell bent on destroying the West. They live in their delusional world where they have no regard for human life, the rule of law or the consequences of their actions. They insist on sabotaging the “prelude to progress” and converting a transition period into the full disaster.

In Alex Krainer’s most recent Substack US Economy’s Gathering Headwinds he raises the question did Biden leave economic landmines for Trump? We know the Democrats and Republicans are vicious competitors so much so they will sacrifice the Republic to their partisan interests; just as they sacrifice the Republic to the vicious appetites of the Empire.

Western governments have become so infested with kakistocrats who have long forgotten they are mandated to serve their electorates, instead they are a demolition derby of political and social depravity.

Even as the US faces imminent bankruptcy it fosters war against Iran and China, while it has failed to bring peace in Ukraine in the allotted 24 hours.

Britain, France and Denmark want to continue the war in Ukraine even though it is reported none of them have the financial or military resources to do so. Britain is facing bankruptcy and determined to cut social programs to pay for endless war. The delusional Danish prime minister is convinced Putin is going roll over Western Europe when all he has wanted from the outset is security guarantees (Munich 2007)— after NATO was so cravenly stupid as to expand eastward up to Russia’s border. Eminent American diplomat George Kennan and so many others warned this was a catastrophic mistake on the part of NATO— but then America was suffering its delusional triumphalism when the Empire was at its apogee forty years ago. When the USSR collapsed the empire became the victim of its arrogant hubris and specious exceptionalism.

NATO like Europe is now shattered, the EU on the ropes, as they retreat into internecine fighting and the consequences of neocolonialism where they have lost the ability to effectively govern their own affairs. There is also speculation war in the Baltic states is imminent.

Governments of the West are staggering under the weight of decades of slothful thinking, lapsed democracies serving a corrupting empire and the devastations of poorly chosen ideologies— typically predatory capitalism, militarism and neoliberalism.

The first step forward is to establish a more peaceful global equilibrium. This means the US must renounce its imperialist ambitions and take its appropriate role as one of the world’s great powers. It is painfully obvious its existence as the world’s singular super power is long gone.

Secondly, the West must resurrect democratic values and processes and there must be rigorous reform to insure accountability, responsible and representative government. Key positions in government must be occupied by experts well trained in diplomacy, history and governance. Governments must take measures to check corporate power—as they have done in the past but allowed these measures to lapse and be subverted (eg The Glass-Steagall act for one)

The Roman Empire collapsed over 1,500 years ago, and countless others have since fallen in its wake. The nature of collapse is varied, taking on countless forms. Inevitably, looters and barbarians emerge, eager to feast on the spoils. Kakistocrats—the least competent, most corrupt leaders— steal power, descending into a state of delusional denial. Oblivious to the gravity of the situation, they plunder treasuries and amplify the chaos, and accelerate the negative consequences.

Kakistocracy is the final stage of collapse as we saw with the late Roman emperors. The kakistocrats plundered the spoils of empire with no regard for consequences driven by their dangerous delusions.

Only when kakistocracy ends, driven out by courage, integrity, and the will of the people, can healing and progress begin again.

History’s Parrot is read in 39 US states and 52 countries world wide.