Mein Kampf revisited

To understand what is happening now in the USA we should read two books, Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler and any book charting the rise and fall of Ian Paisley.

This is not to say that these two men are like Hitler or that Hitler is like either of them. It is to say simply that these should be read so as to understand the process by which people are persuaded to vote for or approve their own downfall. Those of us who are oldest remember the nineteen thirties  and those who are young can read about it. Mein Kampf is Adolf Hitler's account of his ideas and intentions  that led to his rise to power. What is happening in the USA now is similar: the scapegoating of whole peoples - in this case the Mexicans, the Muslims-  attacks on the press, the building up of the military not  for foreign wars you can't win but for internal use - border guards, internal order, the fostering of popular hatred of what is called " the establishment"  which is proclaimed to have  betrayed the people for its own  profit (the French and Germans  between the two world wars were angry about their establishment having done the same thing ), the replacement of respect for establishment by what is named populism, the building up a cult of  personality leadership,  the insistence that the future holds immense dangers  from which only one man can save the people, America will be great again, America First.

This has been accompanied now by one more disgraceful happening. Many religious people, including Roman Catholics, seem to have voted for Donald Trump because whatever else he may do he is  better than Hilary Clinton on abortion. Once again Catholics have allowed themselves to be persuaded that their Catholicism can be  judged by their attitude to one issue. We did it in the nineteen thirties with Franco, Catholics in France  did it because they believed in the new world order Hitler was promising. One Issue Catholicism is one factor in the potential disaster that is America today.  Add to this that while we know  torture is done and approved by governments , now we have it authoritatively stated that the USA officially approves of torture because it produces results for the state.

The United Nations was, is and will be a useless instrument to hold in check those who want power at all costs, just as the League of Nations was in the old days. If the Washington regime decides that the Trump wall is not enough and invades Mexico, who will defend México's right to live ?

As the United States of America willingly and even happily shudders , look at the banners and the dancing , we see creeping along one item after another which together threaten the dissolution of the American Union. No Union is forever. The Third Reich was to last for a thousand years, it lasted less than fifty, the European empires dissolved , the Soviet Union  broke up. All were based on the demand for  power at any cost.  Deutschland uber alles, uber alles in der Welt.

America  First will be Great Again, Britannia Rule the Waves - not a statement of fact that it rules the waves but an imperialist populist demand to do so, "Britannia, Rule the Waves".

One voice may give hope - Pope Francis sees the awful writing on that Trump wall.

The American situation is dangerous and now is the time to say so, not when it is too late - which will be soon. 

Back Burner Again?

In the  present burning  crisis in N Ireland politics we may forget that in  N Ireland  inefficiency was purposely  built into the political, economic, cultural and other systems. So if in N.Ireland inefficiency occurs this is not because of a failure of  systems,  it is a sign that the systems are working admirably according to plan. Hence the present situation where every day is an Ash Wednesday and   great profits are made. 

When N Ireland was created as a separate political unit some unionists , possibly a small number, really wanted to give people a fair deal. Anyway let us  take for granted they did.  However, when plans were being made to govern this political unit the planners had one and a half million people from  whom to find the intellectual ability  to do it. It was a small number, but had potential enough  to give it a try, provided the planners recognised and maximised  the potential of the one and a half million. But they dealt with this reservoir of decision making talent by a kind of salami process.

First they eliminated nearly one third of the population , Catholics, from the significant decision making process.  This left two thirds of the intellectual pool. From the remaining two thirds they then eliminated the women from significant decision making. From the one third of the intellectual potential left they  chose those who belonged to the  masons and similar  orders and that reduced the intellectual pool further. From this , what one might unkindly refer to as the rump of the intellectual pool,  those who served in armed forces were  given preference over the rest, while  of course there could be reduction here also  if any of these had  to be eliminated on, as it were, the first count.

It was by this salami process slice by slice that the future rulers, including those who wanted to do the job properly and honourably  thought they might find  the intellectual vigour to run N Ireland efficiently .

Nowadays it is difficult to continue this salami system and so there is  a yet  untested pool of intellectual ability ready to emerge and indeed is emerging but not rapidly enough to meet the needs of the people. It is difficult because the  political unit was carefully  carved out so as to be governable  only by  by a single unchangeable  party, and emergency  patches have to be changed every few years or months.

Since  the sixties London has devised one pattern of government after another and all have failed because  the system was devised to be governed only by one unchangeable party .  You cannot do it any more than you can  make a wood pellet stove work by putting  paper and stones in it - it will flare for a while but  cost you lots of money after even a million attempts. During all the talks about political change no solution was allowed on the table except the one demanded by London , that is, rule from London with London-permitted devolution. No section of people in all Ireland had asked for that  solution. Unitary united Ireland, federal Ireland of two sections, united federal  Ireland with four sections, integration with Britain, Independent Ulster, return of Ye Olde Stormont, a resounding No was given to all of these , a resounding No for which Thatcher was blamed but  most probably quietly agreed to by Dublin just before Thatcher's  Fosterish OUTOUTOUT.

Let us  hope that this time neither Dublin nor London will be allowed to  put rational discussion  of all Ireland united -  within or without the EU-  to be put  again on, as it were,  another  back burner.