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Laws for ruling:
Rulers rule by laws. Laws are written, interpreted and enforced by governments. Governments are either selected by a few as in monarchies and dictatorships, or elected by the majority as in democratic constitutions and parliamentary systems. In monarchies, the king or queen is appointed by right of birth. In dictatorships, the dictator is self-appointed by right of fight and might.
In America, the rule of the land is dictated by elected executive and legislative branches of the government.
The legislative branch called congress makes laws. It has 2 houses. The house of senate with 100 elected senators, 2 from each state who serve for 6 years and the House of Representatives with 435 elected representatives representing various districts for 2 years. The congress makes federal law, declares war, approves treaties, delegates funds, and can remove members of the government including the president by impeachment.
The executive branch like a sheriff enforces laws that the national courts of justice interpret. It proposes and prepares draft laws and policies for the legislative branch to implement. It is headed by the president and his cabinet. The cabinet, selected by the president must be approved by the congress. The president can propose laws to the congress to pass, can veto laws that are passed, and can enact laws on his own by executive order.
Anyone born as a citizen can be nominated to become president. The presidential candidates who wish to represent their political parties are voted on by citizens in state elections called primaries or caucuses. There, citizens vote for “delegates” selected from faithful party members to represent each of the candidates. Depending on how many votes each candidate gets, a number of delegates are sent to the convention held for each political party.
There they vote for one candidate to represent their party. An electoral college of “electors” is chosen by the political parties from faithful party members. Each state has as many electors for each of the parties as it has elected politicians. Citizens vote for a president and vice president on election day on a state by state basis. The presidential candidate who wins this popular vote gets to send all of his or her “electors” for that state.
The president serves 4 years and can serve only 2 times in a row. The president is commander-in-chief of the military and with approval of the senate appoints the cabinet and any supreme judges who need to fill vacant positions. They are appointed for life.
In Switzerland, the rule of the land is dictated by elected executive and legislative branches, and the citizens have veto power using plebiscites and initiatives.
The legislative branch called “parliament” makes the laws. It has 2 houses -the Standerat with 46 elected senators, 2 from each canton serve for 4 years and the House of Representatives Nationalrat with 200 elected representatives representing various districts. The senate acts like the board of directors of a corporation while the parliament acts like its shareholders.
The executive branch, or federal council called the “Bundesrat” are selected by the parliament enforces laws that the national courts of justice interpret by a secretive vote of the elected members of parliament. They propose and prepare draft laws and policies for the legislative branch to implement. It is headed by the president who is the head of the state. The president serves for 1 year on a rotational basis and is chosen from the 7 member of the federal council or cabinet who are elected or re-elected every 4 years by the parliament.
In England, a constitutional monarchy, and in other democratic countries in the world, authority is vested in the parliament which is elected by the citizens with the monarch, if there is one, holding symbolic veto powers.
The legislative branch called “parliament” has 2 houses makes the laws. The House of Lords (upper house) has over 800 selected lords recommended by the Church of England and are appointed by the monarch or the prime minister for life. The House of Commons (lower house) has 650 elected members representing districts for 4 years.
The executive branch is symbolically headed by the monarch who is the head of state with a right to veto. The prime minister and his cabinet members called ministers form the real functioning executive branch. They are selected by the parliament, which in turn are elected by the citizens. They get their democratic legitimacy from the parliament and they are accountable and intertwined with them. This greatly facilitates and speeds up the passing of laws.
Laws of ruling:
Politics, the art of ruling, is never free of corruption because power inherently corrupts. This is because getting to a level of power, if you are serious about it, requires cheating. You must cheat as much as you can get away with because you are not alone in trying to get up the ladder to power. All your competitors cheat; some of them cheat and steal openly just to get a short term competitive edge on you. Getting up there is a dirty game and you have to play dirty to win. If that greatly offends your morals, the best you can do for your peace of mind is to convince yourself that once you are in power you will outlaw cheating.
Then you become a dictator. To stay in power, you have to ruthlessly defend your hard earned position from all the lame competitors who are dying to kill you. The best you can do is to recruit a few to scare the rest enough to leave you alone. No matter what your intentions were at the beginning, once you become the dictator of a nation of people you will end up being corrupt.
This law of politics, of ruling and being ruled, parallels the law of nature where the strongest heads and leads the herd. Fortunately there is one exception to this law. The exception in nature is called a family. The exception in politics it is called a benign monarchy. A loving monarch ensures the nation’s health and happiness, just like loving parents raise healthy and happy families.
Over many thousands of years, families slowly grew into villages and communities and then gradually into towns and cities. Over many centuries, cities grew into civilizations. When they got too big, they broke up. Just like mountains break up when they get too old, or families become dysfunctional when they get too modern. The monarchies started to degenerate. They became selfish, arrogant, vain and incompetent super stars hiding from paparazzi.
While the monarchies were becoming dysfunctional, the dictators replacing them evolved a sophistication seen in the many Hitlers and Sadam types that emerged. Many dictators started out as robin hoods and ended up to be Gadaffis.
Wearing the cloak of democracy and the hat of diplomacy, many dictators used the media, the schools, and pieces of paper with false promises called fiat money to sell everybody freedoms only experienced by the wealthy privileged.
They called themselves capitalists, and like collectors, they accumulated money they called capital. The media they used were the books, magazines, newspapers and radio and television. Eventually the media became the message as there was only one message that could be clearly seen and heard - the message to consume.
Indoctrination centers called schools were organized. Starting at an early age with kindergartens, children were removed from the tutelage and sanctity of families and from the exploitation of factories. They were cultivated under a program of brainwashing called education where they were programmed and trained to be obedient and skilled adult workers and brainwashed to be good consumers. Chains and whips were replaced by money and the freedoms it promised to all Christians, Muslims and Jews, as long as they were freedom loving consumers.
Some dictators sang a different message - the message to cooperate and produce instead of to compete and consume. Those Robin Hood dictators took everything away from the few who had much in order to distribute it evenly to the many who had less. Most spent so much effort confiscating this wealth that they did not have any energy left to distribute it. They usually ended up keeping most of their booty for themselves, their families and their comrades. They called themselves communists.
Some people got very upset to see their country being exploited by both the capitalists and the communists and were committed to save their nation from both elements.
They were called fascists. Fascists get very upset when they see their nation fail and fall. They welcome a strong dictator to save their nation from doom. They are prepared to sacrifice some of their personal freedoms and profits for the benefit of their country. They oppose anything that threatens their security, especially any opposition to their dictator who is regarded to be the savior that many are willing to die for.
Some people got very upset to see their religion being exploited by capitalists, communists, fascists, and pagans and were committed to save the world from all of them. They were called religious fundamentalists and they believe that all pagans need saving and welcome a strong leader, who can effectively sell their religion to the other pagans. They oppose anything that threatens their security to practice their beliefs. They promote opposition to any opposing beliefs which they regard as sinful. Many believe in their god so much that they are willing to kill for him.
Capitalism proved to be very profitable for some people. They got so prosperous that they abandoned their nation, expanded and spread out worldwide to make even more profit. They were called multinational corporations and their citizens were called consumers and shareholders. Consumers get very angry when the price of their products soars. Shareholders get very upset when the price and demand of their stocks plummet. They demand a strong leader called the CEO to grow the company and generate profits at any cost. Companies are prepared to lie and steal from their competitors who they regard as deadly enemies in their beat or be beaten and eat or be eaten world.
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