DEFINITION
Government
- The organization that is the governing authority of a political unit
- (government) the system or form by which a community or other political unit is governed
- The act of governing; exercising authority
Name: Alan Macmillan Orr
Sex: Male
DOB: 06/04/1969
Passport No: 203781469
Caution: “This passport remains the property of Her Majesty’s Government and may be withdrawn at any time”
I don’t know how long governments have been around, but there have always been people in power for as long as Man has tried to organise himself into social hierarchies.
Modern governments now look after social welfare, health, education, employment, public services like roads, oh and war if necessary, and they do it all for YOU. Well they say they do, because you pay for it (you know, through those little things called taxes, which are compulsory I might add).
But why do governments really exist? Can Man not look after himself? Is he not the most intelligent species on the planet, capable of great discoveries? Let’s face it, Man used to get on all right before there were governments. He made shelter, found food and water, made clothes, and managed to keep the species going quite nicely, thank you very much! But something changed, and that change came, when the groups began to get larger, and Man was able to specialise, thanks to the development of early agriculture which freed his mind to really start making mischief.
Of course the people need us!
What would they do without us?
They would be lost!
We provide security, peace…
blah blah blah
But anyway, we’re stuck with governments now, aren’t we? We might be lucky enough to live in a democracy where the people “vote” for the party who they want to be in “power” (usually the people who promise the individual the most, like lower taxes, etc.), but do we really know what we are voting for?
The parties all have manifestos (a public declaration of intentions, as issued by a political party or government), but most of us have never seen one, let alone read one, probably because they are not delivered to our door. So we vote for the party who stands for the things we think are important to us, like “law and order,” “immigration,” “lower taxes,” “bigger pensions,” or we just vote for the party our parents voted for. “My father always voted conservative,” or “I am a third generation republican” and all that nonsense.
The politicians campaign to get our votes, and on polling day we mark a cross on the ballot sheet, and our vote is sealed away in a box. On election night the media follow the counting, and we are told about swings to the left and swings to the right, and finally a winner is announced!
“Hooray! Our party has got in,” we shout, and the politicians have a wild party to celebrate. But tomorrow, it’s back to the same old business of counting the taxes, diverting the taxes and wasting the taxes.
Whoever got in, the roads will still be there, the hospitals will still save us, and electricity will still flow to our homes. Our cars will still start, and our favourite shopping malls will still have their doors open ready to welcome us.
If you are unlucky enough to be living in a country run by a dictator, or by a corrupt government diverting your money to their own personal swiss bank accounts, then my sympathies go out to you. The election was probably rigged, or you may not even have had an election, but life carries on.
You will still have to pay taxes for the government to control you and imprison you for speaking out, which is one thing we don’t have in a democracy! “No, sir, we have freedom of speech! We allow you to say what you want, isn’t that nice of us?” And nice it is. How thoughtful of the powerful to allow us, the meek and mild, to say what we want, to use our own vocal chords. They really are most gracious. We bow down to you, oh great ones, for being so generous.
But enough of the sarcasm, we are on a serious investigation here to find out what it is we can’t live without if we had no government.
Let’s go nuclear!
I don’t know what all those environmentalist hippies are going on about. Nuclear power is amazing. Thanks to some great physics by some of the world’s top scientists, we can generate power by some process called a nuclear reaction. Clean energy for all. No more digging for coal, or trying to tap gas or oil resources. We just dig up some uranium, do some clever stuff with it and out comes the energy.
Fantastic!
Sorry, someone is talking to me:
“What’s that?… Toxic?…What’s toxic?… No, they said it’s clean… Oh!… Really?… Oh dear…
Sorry about that, someone just pointed something out, that actually, although the nuclear energy is “clean” in that it doesn’t spew out pollution into the atmosphere, they have a teeny weeny problem, and that’s how to get rid of the waste.
I have been informed that the preferred method of getting rid of this radioactive (the spontaneous emission of a stream of particles or electromagnetic rays in nuclear decay) material, is “deep and secure burial,” whereby I guess they mean that they bury it in our earth, cover it up, and wait a few thousand years until the ground is safe again. I have even heard people talk about sending it into space or burying it in the ocean floor.
In fact, I imagine governments would do anything to get rid of it. You see, radioactive material is just a little bit dangerous to the human (oh and the planet). In fact, in many countries there are millions of gallons of radioactive waste and thousands of tons of spent nuclear fuel. But it’s ok, the environmental protection agencies are on to the case! I’m sure they will be thinking of how to pollute some other planet in the solar system with our waste.
“Yeah! Send it to the moon, that should do it!”
But if that wasn’t bad enough, some bright spark had the idea to turn the massive power that was able to be produced by a nuclear reaction into a bomb! “Hooray,” cried the governments, “no-ones going to mess with us now. We are invincible.” And indeed they were.
In 1945, the united states of america dropped two bombs on japan: One on hiroshima, and the other on nagasaki, killing many thousands of people on the ground through the first fireball, and then subsequently, many tens of thousands from the slow and agonisingly painful death of radiation poisoning (low doses cause diarrhoea and nausea and vomiting and sometimes loss of hair; greater exposure can cause sterility and cataracts and some forms of cancer and other diseases; severe exposure can cause death within hours). But it stopped the war!
“Hooray!” Shouted the people. “Hooray for us!” Shouted the government. Victory parades were ordered around the globe. “We are the winners!” Shouted the allies. “We have defeated them!”
What the governments were failing to tell people, was that during the second world war, sixty million people died. That’s nearly the entire population of britain now, and guess what folks? Over two thirds of the people killed, were civilians; that is people who were not actually engaged in the fighting directly.
After the victory parades died down, the big winners, russia and america split the world into east and west, and bored with the quiet that peacetime was causing, started the cold war (a state of political hostility that existed from 1945 until 1990 between countries led by the soviet union and countries led by the united states) which existed for 45 years! This was a war of ideology, of technical development and espionage, and provided the backdrop for many famous “spy” films and books.
They also spent a great deal of time and money, your money not theirs (it is estimated the united states spent several trillion dollars), developing nuclear weapons – you know, like the ones they dropped on japan, only bigger and nastier – and stuck them in strategic sites all over the world, ”just in case.”
They were known as deterrents.
“Look, if you fire one at us, we’ll fire ten at you,” and kept the world on the edge of their seats waiting for one of these idiots to press the fire button and unilaterally destroy the world and all that exists in it.
Fortunately, an american ex-movie star, and a russian president were able to sort out their “imagined” differences, and the threat of war went away, much to the army generals displeasure on both sides of the atlantic, I’m sure!
But still the nuclear weapons remained in place, and by now, more countries had developed the capacity to blow us all to bits (if you’ve got one, why can’t I have one?), including the united kingdom, israel, india, pakistan, china, and of course, those masters of diplomacy, the french, with each country “testing” (a euphemism for blowing up part of the ocean or earth) their weapons just to flex their muscles a little bit. You know, kind of like a children’s game!
So here we are in 2008. The cold war has ended, but there are still about 20,000 of these missiles still active, according to some sources, but who knows the real figure? All ready to blow up the world at the touch of a button. And now the countries with the weapons are trying to stop new countries from developing their own, because they’re not responsible enough to have them – like our governments are!
But the one thing you must remember about nuclear weapons, is that not only did we pay for them, but they were built to “protect us,” do you understand? These missiles were pointed at millions of civilians in other parts of the world, people we had never met, who didn’t care about us, people who were just going about their daily business. People who weren’t our “enemies,” they just spoke a different language.
So who do you think the government were really protecting?
You may remember that they built themselves nuclear bunkers which would save them from the bombs, whereas you and I could fry in the blast, or die a slow death from radiation poisoning.
So who were they protecting? Us? From who? People we had never met, who we had never quarrelled with?
What were they really protecting? The security of the country, that’s what. The system. The hierarchy of power – nothing else. They were not protecting our “way of life,” they were not protecting “freedom of speech” they were protecting themselves from other powerful leaders. To them it was just a game of power wielding. “I’m more powerful than you.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Yes I am.”
“No you’re not.”
Unfortunately, this game could potentially cause us to cease to exist! Some game. But well done for paying for it, because you, and everyone around you, are keeping the world in suspense over whether one day someone is going to come and blow us up. And your money is keeping everyone in fear. Thanks.
Can we trust you?
Of course you can trust us!
We’re the government!
So let me ask you the question again? Who is the government here for? Why do we need them? Why do we waste our hard earned money so that men can play power games? “But they give us roads, and healthcare, and schools…”
But let me ask you this, if we wanted to, don’t you think we could organise all of it ourselves? Could we not maintain the roads? Could we not school our children? Could we not train doctors? In fact with the money we were saving (trillions) on not developing weapons, or spying on people, or maintaining massive armies, we could build something pretty nice!
So how do we get rid of the government? Do we have to have a conspiracy (which is illegal, of course) or do we commit treason?
No of course not. We either stop voting, or stop paying taxes! What are they going to do, throw us in jail? All of us? But enough of that subversive talk! I’m not going to overthrow the government, and neither are you. We are much too happy in our little lives to do something which is, after all, “illegal.” Of course it’s illegal, they want to stay in power, and if you live in a democracy you put them there.
Let’s all spy on each other!
Governments are pretty jumpy at the moment, or at least, they tell you they are. They have “elevated” threat levels because of the new threat to the world – “the terrorist” (basically a soldier without an army or a country to back him). He is portrayed as an evil muslim generally intent on destroying “your way of life;” but like all government nonsense, we have found out that a lot of these guys were trained and paid by the central intelligence agency, and other lovely organizations whose (self-appointed) job it is to look after the interests of the country and the world.
But let’s get back to our evil terrorist, who, funnily enough, started appearing more just as the cold war ended (funny that). Now I’m not saying that governments like to be engaged in some kind of conflict at all times because it is good for business; nor am I saying that having potential “threats” to our “national security” is a good way to exert more control on the people by introducing identity cards, biometric (using human physical characteristics (face shape, finger prints, etc.) for identification) authentication, and more random checks on “civilians.” No, no, I wouldn’t ever want to suggest such a thing.
So in this state of heightened security, after 9/11, or 7/7 (an attack in london), the governments have put up more surveillance cameras (to protect us), and they have sent even more spy satellites into space to observe what we are all up to (of course to add to all the other thousands of bits of metal up there doing such dubious tasks as checking how much we are destroying the planet and relaying the data back to us).
You see, we must keep a watch on what everyone is doing; the terrorist is a slippery customer. We must have the world under surveillance at all times. We must protect national security, we must protect the system. We must protect the powerful (oh, sorry, I mean, we must protect the people). So we spy and we spy on each other, and the poor old terrorist is getting the blame for everything!
I’m sure more civilian people have died during the “liberation of iraq” than ever died in the world trade centre or in the london explosions.
Now, I never condone loss of life, but people die, all over the world, every minute of the day, for all sorts of reasons, but unfortunately the united states and the british/australian governments (among others) think their citizens are more important than others. Or is it really the citizens they are concerned about? What do you think?
We must protect the security of the country
We must protect the system
We must protect the power structure
I don’t know about you, but I’m not paying for this anymore
I’m pretty sick of this whole fear campaign spread around the world by powerful men in their powerful positions. But I must remember I put them there. I just won’t pay them to control me and the rest of the world anymore. They can throw me in jail if they like, and I won’t vote for them anymore.
Ok, maybe if a party of people were trying to be elected on a ticket of love and compassion for all beings, and gave a guarantee they would disband all power structures, weapons and demobilise (get rid of) all military personnel, then maybe I’d think about it. In fact maybe I’ll start my own party. But then again, I’m easily bribed, so maybe it’s not such a good idea! But do you understand what I am trying to convey to you?
People have managed without government before, it’s not such a big step.
“But there will be chaos in the streets! Who will run the country?” I hear you cry, but we are not talking about reform (a change for the better as a result of correcting abuses) here, nor am I talking about replacing the government in some coup! You only have to look at what has happened every time some “freedom fighter” takes over. He becomes just like the man he replaced – maybe worse!
I am talking about a non-existent government, where Man takes responsibility for his own planet, where he works together, not like a world government, but with no government.
“But who will control the violent, who will stop lawlessness?”
But that is just fear talking. The man who is free from fear, needs no government, and you know, we are supposed to be the most intelligent species on the planet! Out of chaos there is a natural order that exists. But I am not talking about new ideas for a new world, as ideas come from thought; and as we have discussed many times, thought is limited.
We need to get rid of the spy satellites and the nuclear weapons. We need to dismantle the power structure, not by force, but through insight.
Hey mr national security! Come get me!
If I were a leader or a government official or secret service agent reading this, what would I think? Would I think, we should bring this potentially dangerous individual in for questioning? Would I have me “bumped off” for daring to question the power structure of the land? Would I charge him with conspiracy? What would I do? I want to desperately keep power because I like it. I like the excitement of having control over others. I like my status in the society. I will not give it up for anyone.
Or would I think: “This is no one’s planet. We are all human and we have to co-exist with everything from the trees to the birds and the animals not forgetting six billion other people. What right do I have to impose my will (whether it was voted for or not) on someone else? What right do I have to decide the future of the planet? Who am I? Am I not just human like everyone else?”
Or would I think: “This writer has to be stopped before he starts a revolution and we can’t have that because it will destabilise the country, and we can’t have that. The people must be controlled at all costs.”
Or would I think: “It is I who is destabilising the country and the world by my desire for power, domination, and control over the people.”
Or would I think: “They need us, how would they organise themselves, how would they manage their healthcare and their pensions and how would they protect themselves from foreign invaders?”
Or would I think: “Man has always looked after himself. He needs no control. If he has managed to survive for millions of years without identity cards, biometric scanning, and nuclear weapons, I’m sure he can survive without me.
So, mr president. mr prime minister, mr dictator, mr official, or mr national security, what do you say? Will you choose a different path to the one you have chosen? Instead of controlling the world to feed your desire, will you work with all of us to bring compassion, understanding and love to everyone, without your symbols of power? You will? Fantastic!
We, the people of the world, thank you with all our hearts. Oh, and you won’t be needing your limousine anymore.
I know we shouldn’t look to the past, but I can’t help wondering where we went wrong, where desire took hold in men’s minds, and gave them a lust for power? But if I could, I would travel through time and have a serious talk with Man. You see, we are all responsible for the world today. We help create it every day.
NOW is the time we must create a new path. One that leads away from power and fear, but along the path of the universal towards love. Can we do it? As long as we stop thinking – Certainly!
I welcome you on a new journey, all of you. And be kind to each other. There is nothing better you can give.
