Category: Political Ideologies

Let me first say that I consider the US Constitution a superb piece of political craftsmanship. Its language is partly a bit antiquated but the issues with which it deals are the eternal problems of how to organize human life in a just and free manner.
These problems do not change, and the number of available solutions is limited. The US Constitution emphasizes individual liberty and aims to limit and reign in the power of the governing in wise recognition of the eternal temptation to abuse power. It is based on the idea that we are all “created equal” but not on the idea that we are all equal.

In 1977, I performed anthropological field research among the Yebámasa Indians, who live along the Piraparaná River in the Comisaría del Vaupés of Colombia, South America. I had two co-researchers, one German, one Colombian. My German co-researcher’s name was Karl, but in Colombia, everybody called him Carlos and I ended up calling him Carlos, as well.
We were planning on arranging an ethnographic exhibition after our return to Germany at the Rauthenstrauch-Joest Museum, Cologne’s main ethnological museum. So, we were always collecting artifacts. The utensils and tools the Indians use in their daily life, their weapons, their canoes, their adornments, their musical instruments. After a while of living with the Indians, we managed to put together a representative collection, which was to show German Museum visitors how the Yebámasa Indians live.

On May 1, 1776 (yes, you read right) Adam Weishaupt, then 20 years old and professor of Canonic Law, founded the “Order of Perfectibles” (Bund der Perfectibilisten) in Ingolstadt, Bavaria. It was later renamed the “Illuminati” society. Its symbols were Minerva’s owl of wisdom and God’s all-seeing eye – not of the God of the Christians but of some undefined higher being, which the Illuminati recognized as the creator of the universe. May 1st also happened to be the day of “Walpurgisnacht”, the ancient German celebration of witchcraft.

There is an affinity between the concepts of “illumination” and “Satan”. ‘illuminare’ from the Latin ‘lux’ = ‘light’, is Latin for ‘to make light’ or ‘enlighten’. Satan’s name is ‘Lucifer’ = ‘the light carrier’. It has often been claimed by Satanists that Satan was the first ‘illuminatus’ or intellectual (Saul Alinsky). Not sure if the same claim was ever made by the Illuminati themselves.

‘Democracy’ is a word made from the Greek words ‘demos’ and ‘cratein’, ‘the people’ and ‘to rule’, meaning that the people should rule. The Greek philosopher Polybios believed that forms of government follow each other and develop out of each other in a cyclic pattern.

Looking at the American experiment today, it seems that Polybios had a point. We seem to be at the point where the rule of a legitimate elite (the best) has turned into the rule of the worst and we are headed toward mob rule again, all the while officially calling our system “democratic”.

Recently, I had an opportunity to listen to a presentation by Ms. Krone Schmalz, a German Putin enthusiast, who attempted to defend Putin’s war against Ukraine. Ms. Schmalz, as do many Pro-Russia people in Europe and the USA, did not say that she condoned Putin’s war of aggression. She did say, however, that we must “understand” where Putin is coming from and what his psychological and political motives are that motivated him to attack Ukraine. I have heard this from many people who listen to Russian TV and TicToc. Goebbels said that for propaganda to be credible, one must mix lies with truth and make the mixture sound plausible and reasonable. The way Ms. Schmalz sounded, she could be a Russian disinformation propagandist. But let me assume for the moment that she is not and that she really means what she says.

I am a life member of the NRA. Every month I receive the NRA periodical “American Rifleman”. Every issue contains an article by Wayne Lapierre and every one of his articles invariably contains the words “law-abiding citizen”.

The argument is always that law-abiding citizens are entitled to owning and carrying firearms because they do not constitute a danger or threat to other citizens, as potential criminals, or to the government, as potential insurgents. I often wondered what we, the law-abiding citizens, would do, if the laws were no longer just. What if the government made a law that ruled that citizens may no longer own and carry firearms? Since gun owners are law-abiding citizens, would we then all abide by such gun-prohibiting law and surrender our firearms to the government like the British and the Australians did?