Not many of us are ‘Mad Dog’ dictators who control the life and death of those around us but we can all learn from the death of Gaddafi. He had ultimate power over everybody in Libya and could have done anything he wanted to but ultimately his end came because he ignored the wishes of the people and thought he could kill everyone who got in his way.
There is something in nearly all human beings that makes us relish power over others. Very few of us have the power of life and death over others but many of us enjoy the feeling of power enjoyed by being the boss or a manager in a company. There is something in our psyche that relishes power.
How we choose to use that power can decide both how successful we are and how long we can enjoy the power and authority we have earned or been given. Gaddafi lasted over four decades but he made few friends along the way, apart from those who made enormous fortunes through corruption and abuse of power. How much is their wealth worth to them now though? I would not want to be in their shoes now with the man who protected them from the public, gone.
The lesson must be that no matter how much power you have you must keep the people under you on your side. They may not love you and they may at times resent you but you need to keep them on your side to a degree even when times are hard and life is difficult.
The collapse in the banking system in 2008 led to the banks being bailed out which has in turn led to nations struggling to find the money to fund all those things they were previously able to pay for. Ultimately the people are being asked to pay the price and as this has dawned on people they have begun to rebel at the way this has been done and the people who have benefitted from a biased system.
There are protests all over the world at the way rich bankers have been enjoying high salaries and huge bonuses while ordinary people have to cut back on the essentials of life and go without help and assistance from government because the bankers want all the money for themselves.
The people are beginning to wonder why they should suffer when we see so many wealthy people continuing to enjoy a life that most of us can only dream of. Most of us support the idea of rewards for being successful but judging success in simple monetary terms is no longer enough.
It is all too easy to look back to previous times through rose tinted glasses. Business and politics have always been tainted by dubious and corrupt practices, They always have benefitted some more than others but there was a trickle down effect that produced jobs and benefits for the whole of society. What seems to have changed since the 1980s and the widespread freeing up of markets and financial dealings is that money has become the most important thing in the world. Profit always was the ultimate motivation but now people and jobs have become a far less important consideration.
The banks care only about money. The financial markets care only about money. Even governments seem more focussed on money than people these days and the people are beginning to sense they have been forgotten.
Perhaps this is the ultimate fate of capitalism. Perhaps it becomes so incestuous that the original purpose of money as a tool to simplify trade has been forgotten. When money is the only motivation and dealing in money can be a very profitable enterprise it is all too easy to forget the people who are the only reason the system can work. When those ordinary folk at the bottom of the food chain have no work and no prospects the system begins to break down and the people beging to turn against the system.
The death of Gadaffi is proof that no matter how much power and control you have, the system depends on keeping the people behind you. The worlds financial system is so far removed from people that few can possibly understand how it works. All we know is that it isn’t working for us.
The banks have become such an integral part of the system that governments felt they had no alternative but to support them but the effects have been devestating for millions of people around the world. Whatever the worlds leaders decide to do next they need to remember the lessons of Gaddafi. They may not face being found in a sewer and shot through the head but they do face the wrath of the people if they forget who they are supposed to represent
Related posts:
