Thursday, June 11, 2009

We need a failure Czar

The US government has 15 "Czars" in the executive branch ("Car Czar", "Compensation Czar", etc.). I would much prefer "Car Pope" or "Compensation Pope" so we could presume some degree of infallibility when they speak Ex Cathedra.

Speaking of infallibility. If "we learn from our mistakes", don't you think that failure is too important to leave to chance?

If I am "too big to fail"; does that mean I am "too big to learn"?

And speaking of education, wasn't it Benjamin Franklin, that great British separatist who noted, "The only thing more expensive than education, is ignorance"!

But I disagree. Ignorance is the domain of the innocent (ex: little children). We are really talking about stupidity and stupidity comes with experience.

This is why "History Repeats Itself" or better-- People repeat history.

So now I offer you some history about what happens when there are too many Czars with too much power, who answer to no one:


  • In January 1905, an incident known as "Bloody Sunday" occurred when Father Gapon led an enormous crowd to the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg to present a petition to the tsar. When the procession reached the palace, the national police force opened fire on the crowd, killing hundreds. The people were so aroused over the massacre that a general strike was declared demanding a change in government. This marked the beginning of the revolution and the country was paralyzed and politicians grew desperate to keep their positions of power.
  • Rumors where then circulated that food and fuel would soon be in short supply and inflation was mounting. Strikes increased among formerly self-sufficient citizens who were forced to take low-paid, government jobs mostly in the military. The media, typically friendly to the government, feared for their existence and spread public distrust of the regime so that they would be seen on the side of the people who, by now, had organized themselves into well-armed regional militias.

It didn't go well for the Tsar; so what can we learn from his mistakes:
  1. Don't allow the people to arm themselves,
  2. Maintain control of the media,
  3. Get the bankers on your side by giving them lots of money,
  4. Don't leave community organizing to chance, fully fund it so you can control it,
  5. Make sure the people are less afraid of you and more afraid of something else (like pensions, flu, healthcare) -- maintain "rock star" status if you can (see point 2 for help),
  6. Find your semi literate, mystic Grigory Rasputin equivalent before it is too late.

3 comments:

  1. When will the citizenry catch on to what is happening? Why is the obvious so oblivious? I'm not paranoid, but that doesn't mean POTUS really isn't out to impose his radical world view. Scary stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey Ted Bits, I had lunch with a guy today who said, "you know, there are two kinds of people in the world....." I started laughing before he completed his sentence.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey-Anonymous,
    Make-sure-you-laugh-next-year-when-you
    can't-find-any-food-to-eat.

    ReplyDelete