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Balancing Power: The Fight Against Partisan Blindness and Kleptocratic Rule [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-02-14
We need to be less partisan and more political—that is, less overly identified with a party platform or a charismatic politician and more aligned with a well-defined civic principle. The secret to staying "nonpartisan" is being able to articulate what constitutes "Western interests" (which I will define) and then assessing whether the institutions, offices, and titles sworn by oath to protect those principles are actually doing so.
What has made this nation great in the post–World War II era (setting aside the colonial and covert aggression era) is adherence to the greatest idea in the Constitution:
The checking and balancing of all unaccountable, selfish powers so that inclusive, compromise-based self-governance can happen—e.g., representative democracy. Along with that comes the liberties of economic self-determination and equal opportunity—e.g., free enterprise (not to be confused with unregulated capitalism). The projection of "soft power" in the post–World War II developing world was a major factor in stability and peace—building alliances through economic aid, trade, and the protection of borders.
Some party platforms and politicians are closer to "Western interests," but others have definitely drifted from that core idea. They have been sold the notions of isolationism, identity purity, imperialism, and authoritarianism by propaganda and spin news targeting a critical base. The other parties have been overly concerned with derivative injustices of diversity, inclusion, environmentalism, or other pet peeves, leaving no energy for the fundamental injustice that fuels bad outcomes.
What is frustrating to all is that kleptocratic elements exist in most nations on Earth—elements that seek to diminish comprehensive checks and balances so they can impose their economic, theocratic, technocratic, or philosophical interests on the rest of society—rule by edict. These kleptocratic authoritarian elements share a common goal within their respective nations, allowing them to form fragile alliances with one another to pursue self-interested deals, regardless of national boundaries. Multinational corporations and their CEOs are notoriously disloyal to nation-state boundaries and social justice constitutions. But they do have kleptocratic process divisions. Instilling loyalty or subservience in the citizenery requires a mixture of carrots, sticks and distraction. Our allegiances are no longer limited to geographic borders and governments.
Thus, allegiance to any nation must come with a healthy dose of doubt—doubt about whether the government is actually fulfilling its social contract with its citizens, as outlined in its Constitution. Countries without a formal constitution (like Israel) must rely on custom, tradition, and implicit expectations. Fortunately, we do have one—albeit flawed and faltering as we speak—but one that could be strengthened around its greatest principle.
We could specifically check and balance the collusion of Party and Corporation, which has usurped the equilibrium of political power in the U.S.—if we could only recognize the greatest idea: checking and balancing all organized selfish powers and their agents.
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