Bureaucracy, Kleptocracy and Democracy

["John Gelles" <johng@xxxxxxxxxx>]

    It is the ardent hope of writers and readers,
    (who constitute the progressive discussion
    forums addressed,) to reform commercial
    (so called free) markets and democratic
    (so called freedom seeking) governments:

        markets and legal structures and systems
        that to date have not delivered the pros-
        perity and/or freedom that politicians and
        scholars  have promised.

    Bureaucrats driven by and driving others by
    word games have forever been led by mandarins
    bogged down in trivia and avoidance of blame
    for inevitable failure of their rule based systems
    that shun feedback and correction of error, ad
    hoc application of common sense, and sticking
    to unselfish values:

        Bureaucrats align themselves with
        apparent forces to protect themsleves
        not those they are hired to serve.
        Government (that must rely on bureau-
        cracy) has not yet invented the means
        to manage it well.

    Commercial markets that we turn to, to
    magically and automatically find solutions for
    economic scarcity exhibit all the signs of klep-
    tocracy. Stealers play money games no less
    fatal to society's needs and hopes than the
    word games that waste government's time:

        Take the money and run--no matter that
        money is both fuel and lubrication for the
        system of production. You can take it and
        you can run; but it has to be replaced by
        more of the same--forever.

    Democracy is defined by word and money systems
    that serve the public interest and make sense of
    the ideal that there can be government of, by and
    for the people:  not bureaucrats or kleptocrats.

    Worse than the B's and K's are the fascists and
    terrorists who breed among us. They combine the
    worst features of B's and K's in their never ending
    struggle to kill democracy wherever they can.

    The war against them is in progress. Who wins
    will be up to all of us--but mostly to our leaders.

    Our leaders report they will do the right thing with
    Congress and allies beside them or a step or two
    behind them. The right thing last century was to
    desrtroy German, Japanese, Italian and Russian
    fascism by war and by cold war in their time.

        Islamic fascism's time is now. But when
        today's war is over, bureaucracy and
        kleptocracy will again be evident. The
        ingredients for fascist extremism will most
        likely not be uprooted.

        Economic science will be arrayed against
        kleptocracy and ignorance of money games;
        and political science will be arrayed against
        bureaucracy and ignorance of word games.
        But if the cointents of the addressed discussion
        forums is any indicator, the uprooting will be
        a long time coming.

        John Gelles