To truly understand the way of the world. One could understand the way power works.
As a political player for some ten years now, I have begun to understand, that what drives the world is the METHOD people use to gain their say.
There are different approaches.
The most base is the way of violence. Some call it war, some call it “the rule of the strong”. At this very basic level people use fear to push their agenda.
That is why we have law. To suppress the rule of the strong, and protect the weak.
At the next level, we have the method of leverage. This method is usually used in criminal organisations and secret services. They ensure that they “get something on you”, and then pressure you to bend to their wills.
This method is off cause basically criminal and corrupt, and it does not work on people who are ethical and want to change the world to a better place.
That is why it is extremely annoying to be at the hard end of the secret service here in Denmark, because they insist not only on their urge to control, but more insidiously on applying their METHOD on my life. If and when I accept their ideas, they have corrupted me. That is a danger.
The third level of power brokering is networking. That is how politics works. You are as powerful as the extent of your network. The closer you get to the center of the network, that is the prime minister, the more powerful you are.
The political players, they give you access to the network at the level of your perceived power as such. Or rather, you get power the more you succumb to flattery and other types of sycophantic behaviour. That is why you see all the most disgusting intellectuals in represented in the media and other places of intellectual interest. They are there because they are good at “networking”.
The most powerful method of power brokerage is however neither of the above. The most powerful player of all, is the person who fights for a cause.
The political player that wants to do good, and has a righteous cause.
Ethics is at the bottom of his political warfare.
Usually these creatures are rare. They are one in a million, the other players succumbing to the other means of power brokering.
Nonetheless, the thing is, only if the few idealists truly survive and thrive in a corrupt environment will democracy survive.
The more corrupt a state is, the less breathing room is there for the enlightener.
G-d bless democracy.