In place of one king or supreme executive officer, in a democracy there are so many quasi-kings: the president, the ministers, the deputy ministers, the secretaries, the assistant secretaries, the private secretaries, and the undersecretaries.
[Posted
Jul 12, 2010]The Business of Governments
Who these days is looking out for the interests of the governed?
Max Keiser Jul 9, 2010 - MAX KEISER and STACY HERBERT
Keiser Report No. 58: Markets! Finance! Scandal!
Partial transcript as follows: —
STACY HERBERT: Speaking of austerity, "Cost of Royal Family drops 7p per person" [The Daily Telegraph]. Yes, the Queen and the royal family in Great Britain cost the taxpayers 62p per person last year, a drop of 7p. According to Buckingham Palace, which has released their accounts. The total cost of keeping the monarchy has decreased by 3.3 million pounds to only 38.2 million pounds per year.
MAX: What can we extrapolate from this, where are we going with this information? Please tell us more.
STACY: You can extrapolate from this that there's deflation. But something else it inspired me to think about is that 38 million pounds a year for this royal family...
MAX: Yes?
STACY: ... seems like a better deal than the trillion pound government in Parliament. You know, we just celebrated 4th of July in America, and there's 14th of July coming up in France, when they overthrew monarchies. Maybe it's time to redo it, like overthrow the governments and replace them with these monarchies, who are groveling. You know, the Queen is there groveling to the people, saying, "I only cost you 62p per year. Please accept this." We want a government like that, that will grovel at our feet.
MAX: So the cost of the monarchy is now cheaper. So after 200 years, they've been kind of weaned off of their huge, empire-like tentacles and their overhead, and now they're the most cost efficient form of government out there. Especially in the UK.
STACY: Well, you look at that, okay, you see the Queen groveling. Now, look at the US, where you have a democracy. Two headlines: "Dean Heller: Is the government creating 'hobos' with benefit extensions?" [Las Vegas Sun] Dean Heller is a Republican congressman from Nevada. Here is "S.C. Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer Compares Helping Poor to Feeding Stray Animals" [CBS News].
MAX: Right, so you've got people in government now who are acting like the old monarchs and treating the people like peasants.
STACY: Exactly. Is that, is that "Let them eat cake"?
MAX: Right. They're demeaning to the people, and they're condescending to the people in the American government and elsewhere. And meanwhile, as you say, the Queen herself is groveling for a few p every year to keep Buck House afloat.
STACY: Because they are the hobos. The people who we finance with our taxes are the hobos. We're not the hobos.
MAX: Right. That's right. That's important to consider. This is welfare for, essentially, the ruling class that have abdicated their real, any kind of self worth in terms of working for a living, and they've gotten entirely into the business of basically taxing and warmongering. That seems to be the only real business left for these "powerful sorts".
STACY: That's of course why the monarchies of old had their heads cut off - because they had many wars and kept on taxing the people.
MAX: So you're saying history has come full circle, in other words.
STACY: History has come full circle.
MAX: So the people who rebelled against the monarchs have become themselves petty monarchs, and the monarchs are groveling for handouts. go to video clip
The Bhaktivedantas World Sankirtan Party and Inside Nam Hatta are hosted by Hansadutta das, a senior disciple of Srila Prabhupada and trustee of The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. Participate or learn more about World Sankirtan Party.
When the destiny of the people are to be controlled, there must be very, very intelligent man. That is Vedic civilization. There is standard aims and objects on which the people should be trained up. That is varnashrama-dharma. Vishnur aradhanam. Worshiping Vishnu. This is the ultimate aim. So the whole society is divided into brahmana, kshatriya, vaishya, shudra, and brahmachari, grihastha, vanaprastha, sannyasa—departmental —and they are trained up. But the aim is vishnur aradhanam [worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead]. But they have no idea at the present moment. Vishnur aradhanam, he has no knowledge. But the civilization begins on this point. ...Therefore they have been described as shva-vid-varahoshtra-kharaih samstutah purushah pashuh [Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.3.19]: all these men are exactly like dogs, hogs, camel and asses. So by their vote, by the votes of dogs, hogs, camel and asses, another big ass, big dog, will be on the government. So what does he know, how to govern? Do you think if you make a dog king, it will be good government? Or a camel king, it will be good government? more
One good monarch better than a corrupt democratic government
Light of the Bhagavata Verse 44, text and purport
44. In the autumn season all the reservoirs of water are full of lotus flowers. There are also flowers that resemble the lotus but are of a different class. Among them is a flower called kumuda. When the sun rises, all the flowers but the kumuda blossom beautifully. Similarly, lotuslike men take pleasure in the advent of a responsible king, but men who are like the kumuda do not like the existence of a king.
In this age of Kali the people want their own government, because the kings have become corrupt. Formerly it was not like that. The sons of kings were trained under the guidance of a good brahmana-acharya just as the Pandavas and the Kauravas were put under the instruction of the qualified brahmana professor Sri Dronacharya. Princes were rigidly trained in politics, economics, the military arts, ethics and morality, the sciences, and, above all, devotional service to the Lord. Only after such good training were the princes allowed to be enthroned. When such a prince became king, then too he was guided by the advice of good brahmanas. Even in the Middle Ages, Maharaja Chandragupta was guided by the learned brahmana Chanakya Pandit.
In a monarchy, one man sufficiently trained was competent enough to conduct alone the business of the state. But in a democracy no one is trained like a prince; instead, politicians are voted to responsible posts of administration by diplomatic arrangements. In place of one king or supreme executive officer, in a democracy there are so many quasi-kings: the president, the ministers, the deputy ministers, the secretaries, the assistant secretaries, the private secretaries, and the undersecretaries. There are a number of parties—political, social, and communal—and there are party whips, party whims, and so on. But no one is well enough trained to look after the factual interests of the governed. In a so-called democratic government, corruption is even more rampant than in an autocracy or monarchy.
Men who want to flourish in the guise of servants of the people do not want a good king at the head of the state. They are like the kumuda flowers, which do not take pleasure in the sunrise. The word ku means "bad," and mud means "pleasure." Persons who want to exploit the administrative power for their own self-interest do not like the presence of a good king. Although professing democracy, they want to be kings themselves. Thus they compete for votes by bad propaganda and take pleasure in having politics but no king. Thieves and dacoits also take no pleasure in the presence of a good king, but it is in the interest of the people to have a well-trained king as the head of the state.
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