power plays

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In France, President Nicholas Sarkozy said Thursday his country would recognize rebels in Libya as the legitimate representatives of Libya. In Dharamsala, the Dalai Lama announced that he would cede his political functions to someone freely elected by the Tibetan people while in Wisconsin, the Republicans used a political end run to assure that public sector workers would be stripped of their collective bargaining rights.

The longtime Libyan ruler, Muammar Gaddafi, has been offered no sanctuary in any country, as I understand it. His proposal that he be given certain guarantees in return for stepping down was rejected by the National Libyan Council. The French declaration sounds like the newest step in a march towards some kind of military involvement by forces outside Libya. The righteous West sounds more and more willing to kill others as a means of elevating its stock and assuring its political toe hold. Gaddafi, like a lot of other leaders, has been accused of the excesses in which the powerful indulge, but killing children seems like a poor way of underscoring anyone's distaste.

Who will fill the Dalai Lama's political shoes? The Tibetans are being offered a way to have a democratically elected representative, but where will they find anyone with as much visibility and clout? His power is magnetic ... his power is distasteful ... just like power in other venues.

And will the disdain for working people in Wisconsin (and elsewhere) be enough to galvanize a movement that asserts and protects the middle-class ... the class that assures the upper classes their gated communities and sense of worth? The older I get, the more inclined I am to think that money, while useful, is such a poor way of assuring excellence and peace. Where there is a love of money, look for mediocrity to assert its role.

Power, power, power ... me, me, me. Since power cannot be escaped, the only route that makes much fruitful sense to me is found in the mirror. Maybe the ultimate dictatorship would be found in a world where all the mirrors were smashed.
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