Plato Negro on the Diffusion of Power

Sutter County Jail
Yuba City, CA
10.4.08

In society power must be diffused. If not, the natural and usual result is corruption and domination, such as we see in the patriarchal, white supremacy society. In the family the father and husband must diffuse power to the mother/wife, making matters in the family more functional than the absolute patriarchy which makes the woman feel like a slave and the man a brute, since he has final say in all matters , with violence his ultimate weapon. Such a family construction can never be free and just because one person can never make the right decision all the time. The human mind is bound to make mistakes in judgment occasionally, and sometimes mistakes can be fatal, causing the destruction of the family, such as fighting a wild beast or confronting a stranger. As Solomon suggested, two are better than one, two that are in unity and harmony. If one falls, who can pick us up? If we travel and get lost, shall not the mind of another be an aid in getting us back on the right path?

It is the same in organizations such as the gang, the corporation and the state. Ultimate power corrupts absolutely. The gang leader wields so much power he begins to fear his friends because he knows they want to be the leader one day, even his closest friends, but in his ego blindness, he feels it is his divine right to be the gang king for life.

It is the same with the leader of the state, even the democratic state. Not only did George Bush win the 2000 election by voter fraud and the right wing supreme court, but once in power pushed aside the constitution to claim absolute executive power, negating the congress, declaring unilateral war against Iraq when that country was no threat and had committed no act of aggression. In a devil’s mind, what looks more lucrative: the oil fields of Iraq or the barren mountains of Afghanistan? Bush fantasized Iraq was the cause of 9/11, was associated with Al Qaida and possessed weapons of mass destruction. Two trillion dollars later, none of the above is true, but America is determined to acquire long term oil contracts before she exists Iraq.

To further the goals of the fascist state (communism for the rich), Bush came forth with the Patriot Act to curtail civil liberties, and contrary to his conservative principles, let the oil barons run free to earn 300 billion in profits. He allowed Wall Street to usher in the greatest pyramid scheme (sub prime loans) since the Great Depression. Suddenly the supreme capitalist free marketers became overnight socialists, i.e. state socialists, i.e. fascists!

The duped workers were forced to let free market forces play out, meaning they will get no bail out or substantial aid to reverse foreclosures caused by the sub prime loan scams. The people who gambled on Wall Street, lost their shirts and stand naked with their dicks in the hands and hearts racing! They are like a trick when the whore departs, telling him she will be right back!

The Wall Street bandits, in cahoots with the supreme ruler of the land and his international political cronies in conspiracy with the national banks around the world, have organized multi-trillion dollars bailouts of the banks to restore confidence in the capitalist system suddenly turned communist. Free market capitalism does not nationalize financial institutions and corporations—they let market forces play out—and the strong will survive. Those who lose in the capitalist games of chance—well, that’s life! The world leaders in political economics have defied their fundamental principles to save their buddies, yes, at the expense of the masses, the wage slaves, the working poor, the gamblers.

This debacle could have been avoided with the diffusion of power, with strident regulation of financial institutions, but with the executive hand in the cookie jar, there is no mystery why so many cookies have disappeared. With checks and balances out the window, the supreme leader does as he wishes with the body politic. With a three page letter, he requested the US Treasury deliver 800 billion of the people’s money to his brothers on Wall Street. In fact, he moved the headquarters of Wall Street to the White House.

We will shortly see if there shall be a legitimate transfer of power or will he connive to usher in another right wing regime to further the goals of the fascist state, again, depriving the democratic state the diffusion of power to maintain the just society.

In Stalinism, Nazism and now Bushism, we see how men seize power for personal aggrandizement. They will execute world wars to extend their power until checked by a people’s democratic revolution. Somehow, someday soon, our mental health experts must cast their digging rigs down into the oceans of our minds to decipher the meanderings of the wretched psyches of men whose egos compel them to execute power over people, to the detriment of society and civilization.

In making state violence their ultimate weapon, such men must be confined to the deepest spaces of our prisons until their consciousness evolves to the level where the diffusion of power is no more a problem for them than walking or jogging.

In conclusion, theatre is a model of diffusion. No matter how great the playwright, he alone cannot produce the finished product without the aid of others. Even the one man show needs a director, contrary to the thinking of most spoken word performers who have never heard of the director—the one man show needs lighting and sound technicians, set and costume designers, promoters, ticket sellers and front house people. The one man show needs music arrangers and choreographer, make-up artists,etc.

With such needs, the playwright and or the actor with the greatest egomania, should humble himself with the reality that he is not alone in the show business, that he is in need of a chorus of workers, designers, technicians—in short, geniuses like himself to get from process to product.

Certainly, this was true for me in theatre. And if it’s true for me, then it is true for everyman for all the world is a stage. And for everyman there comes The End, when the lights go down and all is quiet on the set. For the tragic hero, this is the moment of dred, especially when the torturer becomes tortured, falling into his own puke as he exits the stage of history.