BIRTHRIGHT TO POWER

By Jorge D. Lomboy
May 9, 2015



There should be no doubt that power is too broad and too strong a word.  There should be no question that power is attractive and a majestic magic word.  There should be no dispute that power can be used constructively or destructively, to build or ruin.There should be no question that power relates to authority and command in every government, enterprise or organization, public or private. 

There should be no reservation that power is what makes a way where there seems to be no way with the wonders of miracle growth and ill-gotten wealth.  There should be no regret that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.  I have to conclude that in addition to all of the above, power is to include jurisdiction, control, sway, dominion, force, energy, strength and might.

With these introductory statements, government is the epicenter of sovereign power for being immune from suit.  It is the only establishment in a country exclusively enjoying the power of taxation, eminent domain and police power.  The machinery of government spins quid pro quo as it is the biggest supply of power that is traded by policy-framing politicians to the policy-buying plutocrats of corporate America.  It is the body of persons in authority classified according to the distribution of power hand in hand with checks and balance. What is legal and what is a crime is defined by government.  Our rights and duties, liberties and inhibitions come and go with politicians.  Government confiscatory power is so intrusive as it impacts on our way of life and frame of reference.

Government functional power and authority is divided and distributed to three branches.  The Legislative dealing with lawmaking is the seat of reason.  The Executive dealing with law enforcement is the seat of will.  The Judiciary dealing with disputes is the seat of interpretation. To put it simply, the Legislative has the power of the purse, the Executive has the power of the sword and the Judiciary has the power of the pen.  There is power in reason, power in will and power in interpretation.  There is power in the purse, power in the sword and power in the pen.

If business mixed with pleasure is a bad combination, we have to admit that business in politics and politics in business are likewise a bad mixture. There should be no politics in business, no politicians in private companies and no political parties in business administration.  Every business is out to make profit for money is the name of the game and the end product. The love of money is what business is all about.  It negates compassion and abandons social conscience.  The greed of business dehumanized our relationships with others. The business community is a necessary evil of free enterprise for even as we could not stand its deceptive practices, we cannot live without it.  We depend on business as a supplier of our wants and needs, and in that regard money rules the world.

Unlike business, government is preoccupied with politics, occupied by politicians and managed by political parties seeking by peaceful means the control of government to carry out its ends.  It is in government where business mixed with pleasure appears to be a good combination.  It is in government where money and power are a good mixture as they are commingled.  Government is out to govern, and to that extent, power is the name of the game and the end product.  Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, and this comes to fruition in a government of politicians whose love of power is the reason everyone is claiming a birthright to power.  People power could hardly demolish birthright to power for it is never easy for anyone to relinquish a system under which they flourished.  Birthright to power is a tradition that has ignited and continues to ignite power struggles in oligarchy.

Politicians dominate our national pastime and they set the standards of our political culture.  But politics had vandalized public service with probes and more probes from here to eternity.  The political party menu of public service consists of blame game, fault finding, finger pointing, name calling and mudslinging.  People need to know the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.  Politics had made graffiti of democracy with party list candidates behaving like high school valedictorians.  Governmentalism burglarized our homes for the grip of power in our personal lives is anything but police power.  The destructive power of politics made it difficult for anyone to overcome the evolution of constructive paranoia.

Politics has taken its toll on public business because our politicians persevere in claiming a birthright to power.  Birthright to power is a successional right that will never end without cessation of power.  Birthright to power is what made government look like a piece of life estate to be handed down to descendants, ascendants and siblings.  Birthright to power made government power inheritable by will or by law. Birthright to power is a claim based on love of power; a love that goes up, goes down and spreads out.  Because of birthright to power, political families had made government a trading center of power and money and a training ground for deals done under the table. Birthright to power stretched the power of eminent domain to include power grab, nepotism and clout all repudiating the merit system.

Time and time again we hear the dogma that all men are created equal.  I agonized over this until I had come to realize that children cannot choose their parents. This dogma is a fiction, a falsity often repeated to be accepted as true.  The truth is, not everyone has a birthright to power and popularity, not everyone has a birthright to fame and fortune, and not everyone has a birthright to intelligence and eloquence.  Not everyone has a birthright to legitimacy and prestige. Only politicians and their kindred have a birthright to power. A birthright to power is incapable of pecuniary estimation as it is the most coveted interest bequeathed to a child born to affluence.  A child to born to destitution has a birthright to charity while a child born to affluence has a birthright to security with a golden parachute at birth.  These innate differences imply inequality at birth.

One clan, one tribe, one family tree holds power for as long as they survive because of birthright to power. One clan, one tribe, one family tree preaching democracy but practicing oligarchy is evidence of hypocrisy and insincerity simply because actions speak louder than words.  One clan, one tribe, one family tree holding on to a birthright to power denigrates democracy and demonizes spirit of service.  One clan, one tribe, one family tree is a classic example of an oligarchy in a democracy brought forth by a birthright to power. 

One clan, one tribe, one family tree runs counter to anti-trust laws as it subscribes to monopoly in restraint of trade.  One clan, one tribe, one family tree with a birthright to power is the stimulus for greed and infatuation for licentious lifestyle.  One clan, one tribe, one family tree in pursuit of the birthright to power bedims the future of the unborn. One clan, one tribe, one family tree clinging to every branch of government calls us to surrender democracy into the hands of families with a birthright to power.  Polarized by nepotism, homogenized by family dynasties and mesmerized by power struggles reflects the wonders of a birthright to power.These are the consequences we suffer and the price we pay for maintaining, sustaining and justifying a democratic system where power is lodged to those who have a right of survivorship with a birthright to power.