The Consciousness of a Politician

The following article was first presented at the Ethics Symposium on Tuesday, April 20.

In this short article we’ll reflect whether the wrong doing–doing evil–is necessary for the good of the people. If violence is justified to bring peace and order among people, and lastly, whether our elected representatives have the moral consent and freedom to act recklessly.

I would like to start my article proposing what to me, as a foreigner, seemed to be the American Dream, but after living in the US and studying some politics at Dickinson College I came to realize that it’s simple propaganda and such promises have not, and are not kept by our government.

It goes as follows:

We, the people of the United States of America—citizens and non-citizens, native or foreigners, are aware of our country’s history, regardless of origin, and with faith in God and / or other universal values, with determination to build a state of comprehensive law, democratic and social, to guarantee human rights and fundamental freedoms, in the spirit of tolerance and religious coexistence, the commitment to protect the human dignity and personality, and for the prosperity of the whole nation, for peace, welfare, culture and social solidarity, with centuries-old aspirations of people for national identity and unity, with the deep conviction that justice, peace, harmony and cooperation among nations are among the highest values of humanity.

But in order to achieve these goals we must submit to a form of government which I, myself, I dislike all forms of government due to the fact that there has been no government not ruled by the elite. Ruling, or leadership as western democracies call it, is power—political power. Power is a form of opposition and alienation from the people. Political power is therefore a set of rules imposed upon the people, but our “leaders” say they have been consented by the people themselves.

Do you really think free speech exists? Or free enterprise? Or freedom of travel? How many of you would like to start a business? I do, but am I able to compete with the monopolies, with the corporations and / or the globalized chains? The answer is obviously no! Corporations are the plague of individual rights, are the cause of our limited freedoms and are the cause of a corrupt leadership.

Let’s takes as an example atomic energy: instead of investing in nuclear energy we invest in nuclear bombs thinking of the best way of wiping out civilization and destroy our planet. We’re looking for other planets while keeping ourselves busy in destroying our own. We think that nuclear is the solution to every problem and every war and we leave it as our last resource. A power, this one, given to our politicians.  We have given them too much power, and every time we give them too much power, history tells us that the government, our stability, our society will collapse. Power itself is the main danger to freedom, degrading an individual, if today we can even say we have individuals. There is no such thing as harmony today, we no longer show love, we’re taught to hate. Dignity of human kind must be restored.

We are alienated from our families, from other man but most importantly from ourselves. We are the product of our own labor. The origin of the estrangement prevails on the workers’ performance: while the [proletariat] labor is cheaper they also produce more wealth and create more commodities, generating a contrast between the wealth produced and them getting poorer. The only factors that hinder political economy are “greed” and “war among the greedy—competition”. The machines take on an increasingly important role in replacing the workers, which will be added to the mass of unemployed available to be exploited in order to survive. But how did we get to this? There is a distinct split between “subject” and “object” of production and, consequently, of any aspect of life, with a tyranny of objects on individual personality. This phenomenon first occurred in the late nineteenth century with the industrial revolution of the United States, transforming the American worker from a subject into an object of production. Workers today are largely alienated from the human and material output of their work and are therefore little more than cogs of the machinery of the capitalist society. The average European worker, works eight hours with rare occasions of overtime—unlike the United States. The workers are expected to complete their task within the eight-hour period, giving them time to enjoy the rest of the day with their families.

It is important to ask ourselves, how did we get here? The reason is simpler than what we think. It is because we have no choice. The people have no say in the nominating process and therefore left with little or no choice at all. If we take the case of ex-Secretary Clinton or President Trump I’d say there is no difference at all, there is no choice—by definition. It is choosing between the less evil, the less corrupt. We have fundamental evidence that show the never-ending corruption activity by both parties. What can we do to change? I once thought that we had to enter the system, learn it and change it. I was wrong! The system is too strong and if we want to change we must change it from the outside. It is us, the people, my generation, that needs to stand up and lead a revolutionary movement. This is the on of the main reasons Sanders was not given the opportunity to run. A threat to the elite, a threat to the ruling corporations cannot survive in American politics, therefore it is necessary from them to shut down any possible insecurity. The election fraud within the DNC is a perfect example. Marx said revolution is inevitable, I say revolution is indispensable! We need it to change our system, we need to bring back dignity of human kind, and the only way is to pursue a revolutionary movement that will bring back the power to the people.  We are nothing but pawns of the corporate rule, we’re taught what to do, what to think, how to behave and what to believe in, but most importantly we’re taught how to “fight” each other. We fail to understand that we, the people, are on the same side, and we split ourselves by affiliating with political parties or political ideologies while the ruling elite, the parties themselves are cooperation and passing policies that will benefit themselves. It is time to wake up! It is time to Act! Revolution is indispensable and we can create the freedom to lead one.