Dear Friends,
It seems to me, we live in a world where the most insane, even psychopaths, are in charge. That isn’t even a debatable statement, although sadly, it should be. A cursory glance at historic “leaders” of nations shows us the truth of that statement. Of all the historic figures you can think of, how many of them didn’t have deep psychological issues? Not one! I contend that any historic leader you think of will have been, by most measures… insane. Now, there are people elected as representatives that are not insane, but they are not the majority. There may even have been a President or Prime Minister who wasn’t crazy as a bedbug… but they also didn’t amount to anything historic either. The top dogs, the Stalins, the Churchills, the Hitlers, the FDRs, they are the ones who I am addressing here.
History is made by insane people doing insane things. Because, lets face it, peaceful times with a high standard of living are just not that interesting to write about. It is the sweat shops, child labor, wars, genocides, forced migrations and all other manner of human suffering that is interesting. Consider this, how many novels, documentaries, etc… have been made about the early 1800’s in the US? 1815 to around 1835 was a time where the US actually followed our Constitution, and shockingly, the economy was gangbusters, the standard of living constantly rose, the attitude of the people was entrepreneurial, they were deeply Christian and lived as examples of their Christian faith, and had zero school shootings although everyone had guns, in short… boring. Nothing “Great” happened.
The excitement was in Europe at the time. The early 1800’s saw many wars in Europe and around the world. The storied Russo-Turkish war, the French Revolution that led to rivers of blood, civil wars and imperial wars, all were very exciting and much has been written about them. One thing they all have in common is they are the results of insane and evil people running nations. Can anyone say with a straight face Robespierre was sane? How many Tzars do you suppose could hold down a regular job? The people who lead civil wars and revolutions are almost always crazy. History is merely the record of how insane people have broken the world, over and over, and the rest of us refuse to wake up and stop it. Sadly though, when offered a choice between crazy and sane… we usually choose crazy.
The reason it is so difficult to think of a historic time and place, that was peaceful and prosperous, is because they are both so very rare and never written about. What would hold someone’s interest when reading a novel about good harvests, neighbors helping each other, no crime and happy marriages? Nothing. More importantly however, they are rare because they require sane people to be in charge, and sane people are never in charge. Now and then there may be enough sane people to moderate the lunatics, but more often than not, the lunatics run every asylum. Look at the US. With such nutters as Bernie Marxist Sanders, Corey Spartacus Booker, Pocahontas, Hilary E Mail Clinton, Bill Rapist Clinton, John Warmonger McCain, etc… it is clear that in the US, crazy is politically advantageous.
Almost every time we get to vote we get a choice, between a lunatic and a nutter, Kang and Kodos. Universally, those who live in public office, suckling at the public teat, know nothing else. They are like parasites that claim we cannot do without them and their wise leadership. In the Dark Ages, doctors believed that redness and swelling was a sign of healing… rather than infection. Today’s political elite tell us a similar story, that the wars, economic collapses, famines, crime, school shootings, drug addiction, gang violence, random violence, political violence and the breakup of the nuclear family, would be a lot worse, if they were not in charge. I say, get the nutters out of power and society will fix itself. On the other hand… having lunatics run the asylum, provides diversion.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
