Deus Ex Machina (aka Dem)

 
Deus Ex Machina (aka Dem)

Nul ne peut servir deux maîtres. Car, ou il haïra l'un, et aimera l'autre; ou il s'attachera à l'un, et méprisera l'autre. Vous ne pouvez servir Dieu et Mamon.  - Matthieu 6:24

By J.M. Hamilton  8-20-2016

Paris, France - Greetings from the City of Light, the City of Enlightenment.  Paris is gorgeous, singular in its wonder, decadence, and depravity.  The city’s beauty is only exceeded by the women who live and visit here.  Her streets are teaming with youth and life, and a noticeable number of men and women carrying machine guns; the latter to be expected, in light of recent terrorist events, and accepted and appreciated by the former.

Around Paris’ every corner seemingly exists a monument, icon, or castle:  Arc de Triomphe, the Hotel de Invalides, and the Tuileries Palace, et al.  Around every corner a stunning work of art, in the flesh.   

And of course, the most jaw dropping monument of all:  Versailles.  Versailles symbolizes a Rococo age, where a disengaged, oblivious, and debauched elite facilitated a revolution that shocked European monarchies and ushered forth a democratic age.  As a student of economics, power, and politics I am often amazed at how often history repeats itself.   Several generations may come and go between history’s great events, sleep covers our eyes, and tombs enclose indispensible women & men – who might lead us away from the folly the human race often repeats ad nauseam.

It’s worth remembering then the women of Paris (yes – the women), who massed and invaded a rococo Versailles, and dragged Louis the XVI and Marie Antoinette from their gilded cage.

Versailles has many lessons… perhaps applicable, here and now, in real time.  To wit, some of the direct causes of the French revolution:

The French kingdom was overextended financially as a result of two wars: the Seven Years War and the American Revolutionary War (both wars fought – largely – against French rival the British).

As a result of these wars, and the excessive living of the nobles and the royal family (see Versailles), the French kingdom was bankrupt.

As a result of the debt and the debt service load, the royal family piled on the taxes, which were carried by the proletariat and the merchant classes.  The nobles, the clergy, and the royal family were, conveniently, exempt from paying taxes.

The Justice system was two-tiered.  A system was in place for the elite, and for everyone else – there was no adjudication means.

Louis XVI' reign saw the rise of a new economic system called laissez faire, whereby the sale of wheat and bread – a French staple - were deregulated.  As a result, merchants and speculators hoarded wheat, and sold into areas where there was a crop failure for the highest prices.  This created shortages and famine.  Prior to laissez faire, the French kings were known for intervening in the wheat marketplace to protect subjects from predatory behavior.

Culturally, the proletariat - French citizens and soldiers -were exposed to new ideas of  “equality” and “freedom.”  Some of these ideas were picked up or learned fighting in America’s revolutionary war.  Reason and enlightenment said the King and the Church were no longer infallible.

Laissez faire, an oblivious elite, and a highly unfair tax system pushed the lowest rung of French society up against the wall.  With the proletariat’s very survival at stake, the aforementioned events launched a perfect storm, whereby the aristocracy and the monarchy were ultimately purged.

Does any of this sound familiar?

The times are not entirely dissimilar to events leading up to the French revolution.  In short, the U.S. political elite – co-opted and owned by the financial aristocracy – have become entirely desensitized to the needs of the 99%.  Our courts are two- tiered and a train wreck.  Laissez faire economics has enjoyed an unprecedented run, whereby free trade agreements have exported the 99%’ jobs, daily bread, and the tax base offshore.  Laissez faire also led to the banking deregulation that crushed the world economy.  Two nation building exercises/wars have bankrupted the U.S. government (along w/ a Wall Street bank bailout); and since a purchased U.S. government will not raise taxes on the wealthy, austerity has been enforced, resulting in cuts to education, social services, and welfare for those most in need.  The remains of the middle class and upper middle class pay at tax rates considerably higher than our true rulers, the billionaire class and multinational corporations (aka the aristocracy). 

The U.S. government for a brief shining moment, post WWII, used to look out for the proletariat, but now politicians mainly look out for themselves and the aforementioned aristocracy.

Entre one Madam Hillary Clinton, who despite many self-inflicted political wounds, appears – as of this writing – to be destined for the White House.  What exactly she’ll accomplish as the first woman POTUS remains to be seen, as she will likely be under investigation for the next four years.

Madam Hillary, despite her many glaring deficiencies, has declared herself to be something of a deus ex machina.  That it to say, HRC is: a “progressive who likes to get things done;” a friend of billionaires & the Wall Street banking cartel; a War Hawk; a friend of the proletariat, and a mass incarceration queen.  She’s also a philanthropist, whose foundation is presently being probed by the IRS.  Madam Clinton has supported free trade agreements that have gutted the American middle class, and yet, she’s now, allegedly, against such agreements – at least in their present form, currently.

Hillary and her husband have told so many lies about her email server, that the Washington Post has in a matter of weeks awarded Madam and Slick four and three Pinocchios, respectively.

In short, Madam Clinton is all things to all people, but above all – if we are to be believe our current POTUS – she is an extraordinary politician with unprecedented capabilities.

And therein lies the problem.  Now, perhaps more than ever, we need a President who can tell the elite, the special interests, and the rich, who have robbed this country blind, where exactly to get off.  The U.S. doesn’t need a fantasy literary device; the nation does not need a deus ex machina.  If Hillary is a servant to all special interests, her Presidency, if elected, is doomed to failure.  Given the state of the nation, HRC just might take the nation with her.

HRC does not appear to get it… her aristo sponsors & the U.S. political establishments, like the Royals & aristocracy of pre-revolutionary France, have run the United States into the ground.  Therefore, if Madam is to be an effective President – and start cleaning up the mess neocon-men, Wall Street, and the billionaire class have wreaked upon the nation – she’s going to have to start by telling some very privileged nobility something they haven’t heard in a very long time, if ever:  “NO.”

An interesting side note, the French revolutionaries who took out the monarchy were somewhat distrustful of democracy, so they formed a republic and a great terror ensued.  After a period of years, and with the State of France’s affairs in great disorder (much of that disorder inherited from a highly corrupt monarchy), a strongman and a military leader came to power.

That dictator, later the Empereur des Francais, was Napoleon Bonaparte.

 

Brave French police & soldiers outside Notre Dame de Paris, Mid-August 2016

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2016