The following text is a partial translation of the original Russian article, performed by ChatGPT (gpt-3.5-turbo) and this Jekyll plugin:
“Спасти дракона”
If we believe historians, first there were empires, emperors, and slavery. Then the empires fell because they became ashamed, and dark years of medieval feudalism followed, which at some point bored all enlightened people, and “under the cries of the newly discovered redskins” came the New Time, and then the Renaissance. Slavery was not abolished immediately, but democracy was gradually introduced. All former slaves were given equal rights by printing laws and constitutions for them. Kings and emperors were either hanged or renamed as “constitutional”, thus freeing the individual from the oppression of others, but in vain…
The main achievement of many years of our struggle for freedom is the recognition of the right of every individual to have their own beliefs. What prevented them from having them before the victory of liberalism? Not what, but who. Other individuals interfered with the freedom-loving individual, who, unsurprisingly, also had their own beliefs. From the king to the county landowner, everyone had their own opinion, which the serf had to take into account. And not just consider, but obey someone else’s will, sometimes under the threat of death. It’s good that all of this is already in the distant past.
Liberal reforms depersonalized power, replacing the master with the parliament, and his good or evil will with laws. In dark times, runaway peasants were returned to the feudal lord, who both executed and pardoned them. In the present times of victorious democracy, border violators are caught by the customs control service and punished by the penitentiary system. Interestingly, we are satisfied with the power of laws, while the power of a specific person causes rejection. We are much more ready to be slaves of the constitution, the police, and society, rather than of an individual. We have replaced the power of specific authorities with the authority of nameless power.
The United States, as the guardian of liberalism, has been attacking its opponents with the same weapon for many decades: “the lack of rotation of power speaks of restrictions on freedom!” It doesn’t matter how the dictator behaves - his prolonged presence in power is a threat to the liberal world order. No matter what freedoms he bestows upon his subjects, no matter how successful the economy is, no matter how just his will is, and no matter what support he enjoys from his people - he is a usurper and a medieval tyrant. The freedom-loving people are obliged to overthrow him and establish the power of impersonal laws and corrupt parliaments.
The civilized world takes pride in the rotation of power. Presidential and parliamentary elections, capturing the attention of the entire population, regularly remind us that those in power will be replaced in the near future. Why will they be replaced? Because they failed? Turned out to be deceivers? Did not live up to our trust? No! They will be replaced because we do not recognize anyone’s authority over us, except for the authority of laws. We do not acknowledge the power and influence of another individual over us. Each of us is a unique and inviolable person, with our own inner world, convictions, opinions, and understanding of life. We may tolerate another talker in a suit behind the podium for a while, but to acknowledge that they are the ones determining our fate — never!
To further strengthen us in our belief in our victory over the forces of despotism, they show us the insignificance and vulnerability of people in power. We are no longer surprised by the corruption and sexual scandals surrounding U.S. presidents; it is time to put one of them behind bars. It’s so democratic that presidents can fall in love, get divorced, and accept bribes. Unlike the kings of the time of Louis, about whom the common people only knew that they were chosen by God and would execute their subjects in the most brutal ways at any convenient opportunity.
We, ordinary people, have triumphed! Power belongs to us! The kings have been overthrown! Only clowns remain (sometimes, quite literally, we recall Reagan and Zelensky), from whom little depends! Everything depends on us, on our will, on our voting voice!
Neither power nor resources can be depersonalized, nor can they belong to everyone at once. A human being is not only a social creature but also a herd animal. It is inherent in us to desire to form hierarchies and to submit to leaders. The apparent absence of dictators and power pyramids with those personally subordinate to them only indicates that their existence is carefully concealed. Both power and resources have long been distributed among those who realized in time that the profession of a king had become unsafe and retreated into the corporate shadow, leaving well-paid puppets on the podium.
Masking themselves as actor-politicians and controlling resources through corporations, the people in real power act in their own interests, not in the interests of the people who unconsciously entrusted them with both power and resources. Can we, the people, control them if we don’t even know the names of these plutocrats? We are familiar with the names of “bloody” dictators. Even though they make mistakes and usurp power, at least their own conscience and sense of responsibility towards people control them. But who or what controls the oligarchs?
Returning to the causes: our liberal rejection of “royal power” has led us to the power of the oligarchy. They bribe us with promises of “freedom and equality,” but in the end, they sell us democracy in its most abhorrent forms: with fake politicians and absolute irresponsibility of those in power.
Translated by ChatGPT gpt-3.5-turbo/39 on 2023-10-02 at 17:26
