On Election

We struggle to elect a group of deeply flawed individuals to Parliament, whether of Left or Right: the Right can hardly come by a Leader definite enough to protect from the bath of anxieties wherein their followers float, while the Left may peer through windows of rosy glassiness distorting a landscape littered with dismaying realities. Do we get the politicians we deserve?

            In antiquity, you got the rulers you got. Mad Roman Emperors, corrupt hegemons, warlords, demagogues, ethnic strongmen, ruthless religions, relentless kings, unquiet queens. The word ‘demagogue’ comes from the ancient past, the original democracy.

            Preachers of ethnic election, universalism, internationalism or the narrowest aspirational nationalism: we’re not ruling you, we’re representing you. Many feel misrepresented, unrepresented or overrepresented, with consequent divisions, confusions, compulsions, implosions. The deeply corrupting influence of money lies over most historical events.

            That most idealistic form of governance, the Kingdom of God, was hijacked by the Roman state in the fourth century and has never been the same. It was a time not unlike the present, with massive changes in boundaries, nations, economies, and naturally, rulers. All the nations of the world were shown to Jesus at his Temptation: ‘To you I will give all their glory and all this authority,’ promised the devil, ‘if you will worship me.’ The deal is still the same.