The Jungle Parable of Democracy

The current electoral democracy is like a hut in a deep jungle built by a man who was eaten by tigers. He was possibly mad to build the house there in the first place, and he's no longer there to maintain it. The wind, the rain, the rot, the insects, the monkeys: by nature, the house will be destroyed. Maybe next week some elephants will stampede into it; maybe it'll stand five more years. But, eventually, there will be what was there before from time immemorial, and what nature wants there: jungle.

In the history of the world, electoral democracy is just a wild experiment(a temporary modern religion,) a radical pendulum swing. It might take some time, but electoral democracy will fall, and everybody will remember it as a bad thing. Every month, every year: some new excess or incompetence of the Federal government becomes a major news story, or more importantly becomes known to the educated world. A President struggles to hang onto office because of a mistress: We invade a major country to destroy a massive WMD program that doesn't even exist. A majority of Fox-viewers still think Iraq was behind 9-11. Educated young people view our society largely as a terrible joke they don't quite understand... but they don't vote and they don't care.

Two years ago, I was the only person I heard saying democracy had to fall. Now you see it now and again even on national news networks. It's in the cards: it'll happen. And the sooner it happens, the less destruction this world is likely to go through.

But my concern is not just that electoral democracy falls but what should replace it? And that's where the questions get very hard, and the waters get murky. But, the more I think about it, I think the formation of new aristocracies is essential. Order has to be restored at virtually any cost. By the time these aristocracies are chosen, the world will probably have gone through some terrible plagues and famines, probably a nuclear war. The current rule of money will almost certainly have been called into deep question: most of our world's most savvy people don't even seek to get rich anymore. A moron can become a multi-millionaire if he'll just conform and conform, have no ethics, and punch a clock every day. Or, if they'd allow orangutangs to play basketball with Nike dyed in their fur, they could become billionaires.

That said, being rich, especially if you're also smart and educated and well-connected, will almost certainly play a role. But, to get back to the jungle metaphor, we're going to have silicon-age EVOLUTION. We're going to struggle it out: and the smartest, strongest individuals will emerge with the wealth and the power. And it's going to be done by the laws of the jungle, not democratic capitalism.. with a sprinkle of socialism. I believe that one class of people that could and should rise immensely in power is the current university professor, that is: the better sort. Basically, we'll end up wth a space age feudal world: the masters won't feel threatened by the serfs and will treat them pretty well. And they can keep on worshipping Mohammed or their Hindu elephant Gods or Joseph Smith... and it won't matter. Hopefully, there will be some way to identify higher intelligences among them and, over generations, raise them into the aristocracy. Some sort of Zonfucian civil exams might be an idea. LOL

But my place, assuming I survive, will be secure for two reasons. One: I'm one of the philosophers and political writers who actually knows what's going to happen, and a number of things that need to change. And two: I'm a very gifted and hard-working poet. Civilizations need literature, and my son and grandsons will find themselves in a very respected situation.

So that's my answer, Cyrylek, to how we'll identify the civilized and cultured people who need to lead society. blood, iron, silicon, and grey-matter. It might not be pretty, but it's real.