The most terrifying poem ever.
"Man's sacred rights and every holiest thing, Are but the counters at a desperate play,Flippant and reckless what the end may be,So that they glitter, each his little day,..."
The Modern Politician
What manner of soul is his to whom high truth
Is but the plaything of a feverish hour,
A dangling ladder to the ghost of power!
Gone are the grandeurs of the world's iron youth,
When kings were mighty, being made by swords.
Now comes the transit age, the age of brass,
When clowns into the vacant empires pass,
Blinding the multitude with specious words.
To them faith, kinship, truth and verity,
Man's sacred rights and every holiest thing,
Are but the counters at a desperate play,
Flippant and reckless what the end may be,
So that they glitter, each his little day,
The little mimic of a vanished king.
“It is a well-known fact that those people who most want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it…. Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made president should on no account be allowed to do the job.” —Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Canadian Poet Archibald Lampman (1861- 1899) lived a short brutal life as many did in his era. He was a man of letters as he had a university degree and was part of the intellectual community where he lived and worked in Ottawa, the nations capital, as a postal clerk.
Oddly enough this poem is drawn from a book of his poems entitled “Comfort of the Fields”. It is pastoral poetry celebrating the wonders of nature, much in the spirit of Henry Thoreau an American confrere.
The Modern Politician is clearly out of context with the rest of the poems. Its presence over powers all the other poems as it is terrifying in its revelation about the nature of politics vs the idyllic world of nature— a world threatened by the advent of the industrial revolution in all its rapaciousness and how completely it was about to redefine humanity and our priorities the world over.
It is equally terrifying when he so aptly portrayed the politics of his time, but also our own. Our own are much worse and the decadence on an monolithic scale unimaginable in his time. In 130 years the world has gone from local cultures to a global culture with little change in how we govern ourselves, especially in the west where the massive failure of governance is so profoundly revealed. The scale of our atrocities and the frequency of them have raced out of control as there have been two world wars. The third is ongoing. Dare we count the number of genocides in that same time period?
Might we conclude we have lost the ability manage our affairs as civil societies as our “modern politicians” glut themselves on power, privilege and despotism. In our rush to embrace the modern and post modern world we have committed an atrocious oversight, as the world changes so must update how we govern ourselves.
History is the great calibrator and whistle blower. This is why it is shunned and mutilated as the great truth teller on the mountain. Truth is the sworn enemy of despots and they, most of all, must ruthlessly suppress it; along with those who are content and morally suicidal to accept the endless bilge of reassuring lies.
Canada is but one example. Prior to 1837 it was a British colony run by the Family Compact. The Compact was an anti-democratic power clique serving business interests. Its despotism ended with the Rebellion of 1837.
Canada went from colony to country in1867 and after WW ll reverted to being a colony of the USA; even though we like to flatter ourselves as being a progressive liberal democracy. Our governance has many alarming similarities to the Family Compact as there has been zero progressive change in how we govern ourselves.
For over a hundred years Canada’s Liberal party has been promising a conversion to Proportionate Representation (PR) and failed to follow through. The reason being PR would serve to re-democratize the country. Our narcissistic prime minister in his queasy candor has openly stated the present archaic system favors his party and he isn’t about to change it.
If Canadians want to see how pitiful our government has become Brent Rathgeber’s book Irresponsible Government is readily available.
Canadian politics is all about perks, pensions, job security and the pack mentality.
An MP serving two four terms, making almost a 1/4 million dollars a year is entitled to a golden pension in later life. The PM makes $400.000. So that a short stay in Canadian politics yields a generous level of financial security for life. With such generous remuneration available politics becomes a gravy train where the pack mentality prevails.
Neoliberalism has created a conspicuous redundancy in the role played by government and their legislatures, and this holds true in other western countries.
As the US holds its presidential election this year Canada will be holding a federal election in 2025. Both are stalemate elections, where there will be no real progress, no real choice for electorates; just a lot of sloganeering, where hoopla and yahoo politics prevail.
Both are dead heats in a sack race. The principle of the lesser evils no longer applies. Democracy is on the rocks in both countries and too much dirty under wear is being worn on the hustings actual and forth coming.
Canadians have finally woken to see the prime minister for what he is, a narcissistic imposter unworthy of leading the country or anything else. Voters and the Liberal party have considerable culpability as they voted for a name and an empty suit, when they should have been looking at his credentials. In the 2013 leadership race a more qualified candidate dropped out as he saw nothing more than a famous name was going win the game.
Parliament’s determined Opposition leader is desperately practicing Trumpish fake populism trying to convince Canadians his party will do better. It won’t. The integrity of political parties is shot to hell and the fix is in.
The government you elect is the government you deserve.”― Thomas Jefferson
Lampman’s poetic memo from 130 years ago is a timely shock doctrine reminding us, along with everything else, how we govern ourselves is a matter essential to our survival.
Poets speak with thundering clarity from their graves.
Required Reading:
Senior American politician Tim Walberg has called for the nuking of Gaza.
Read more here:
It seems to me that today the 'social media' is the present-day 'bible'.
Robert:
I have been looking for my "election Manifesto"(!) that I posted to one of your articles.
I can't remember where!
It would be good to have Diana peruse that and see where the alternative 'may' come from.